The Claudia Brown

One year ago today, the suspect in Rachel’s murder case was apprehended by police. It had been a long year of waiting, interspersed with beautiful moments of connection with others who sought justice for Rachel – many who had never even met my beautiful best friend.

•••••••

It was June 11, 2024 and my first full day in California. I was there for a writers’ conference and had spent the day prior pitching my book to agents. Rachel and I had shared dreams of publishing our stories and so she was on my mind constantly.

I was taking a morning walk wearing the “Remembering Rachel Morin” shirt when I ran into another writer named Brian from the conference. He gave my shirt a double take and then looked at me with wide eyes.

“Who is this woman? She was so beautiful! Tell me about her!” Brian said. He shared that he was psychic and had just lit some sage before meeting me.

So I told him all about my dear friend, and his eyes filled with sadness. We chatted a while and I learned that he was now living in Florida but was originally from Potomac, MD and he attended the same high school as my good friend Peter!  Brian was back in Maryland last fall for a visit and was doing some hiking with a friend when he first learned about the Ma and Pa Trail.

“What were your thoughts on the Nicole Brown/O.J. Simpson case?” he asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders because I didn’t have much memory of the case, beyond the controversy that surrounded it.

“I became friends with Robin Greer in the 90’s,” he added. “She was Nicole’s best friend. She was always so frustrated that nobody took OJ’s history of abuse seriously.”

I felt the goosebumps on my arm as it dawned on me that this man was friends with the best friend of a beautiful blond mom who was tragically murdered and now he had crossed paths with me: the best friend of a beautiful blond mom who was tragically murdered.

We spent a few more minutes discussing Rachel’s case before heading back to the conference.

“Do you have any idea who might have done it?” he asked me. “What’s your instinct?”

I looked up at the sky and clasped my hands together, and then spoke slowly.

“I am not a police investigator. That’s not my job. Rachel had a very strong faith and she believed in the power of prayer … I have faith that justice will be served.”

Brian looked me solemnly in the eyes and nodded his head in agreement.

“The dead don’t keep secrets,” he replied.

On June 14, I was wearing the little black dress of Rachel’s that her daughter had gifted me when I met with an agent about my father’s book. My father spent his entire lifetime working on a collection of essays about life on the farm, which I was hoping to have published posthumously. The meeting unfolded like a dream with the editor telling me how much she enjoyed my father’s writing.

I had paired Rachel’s black dress with a white jacket and the editor was also wearing black and white. “We are matching!” I said, and I told her about my dress and Rachel’s story.

“It’s funny,” she replied. “I was going to wear a gray dress today, but then something told me to put on black and white…”

Afterwards, I walked along the beach and thought about my beautiful friend.

Hours later in the airport, I spotted a “People Magazine” with Nicole Brown Simpson on the cover. The 30 year anniversary of her death was June 12.

My plane landed in DC at 11:59 pm. Just a couple hours later I was still wide awake from the flight when I got the message that a suspect was in custody.