A Level Plains man has been found guilty of the 2019 death of his mother.

A nine-men, three-women Dale County jury deliberated for half an hour March 24 before finding Chad Dewayne Brogden, 38, guilty of the murder and corpse abuse of his mother, Penny Newton of Level Plains.

Brogden remains in Dale County Jail awaiting sentencing May 12. He faces up to 99 years or life in prison for the murder conviction and up to 10 years for the abuse of a corpse conviction.

The jury heard four days of testimony in the case prosecuted by Thirty-third Judicial Circuit District Attorney Kirke Adams and Assistant District Attorney Jordan B. Davis in Presiding Thirty-third Judicial Circuit Judge Bill Filmore’s courtroom.

“I am beyond thankful to the jury for holding him accountable,” said Adams following the verdict. “I am grateful that Penny’s sisters, brother and other friends and relatives could be there for the trial.

“The things Chad did to (Newton) were beyond imagination,” he added. “I hope this verdict gives them some closure and peace.”

Newton’s murder occurred during Mother’s Day weekend in 2019, according to testimony in court from family friends who said that was the last she had been heard from.

Testimony during the trial, that began March 21, included the fact that on May 9, 2019, Brogden traveled to visit the mother of his child. On May 13, 2019, the mother of Brogden’s child attempted unsuccessfully to contact Newton. No one was ever able to contact Newton again, according to court testimony.

On May 14, 2019, Hartford police received a report of a burnt vehicle under the bridge on Highway 167 North next to the Choctawhatchee River. Law enforcers testified that inside the trunk of the vehicle, which was determined to be Newton’s vehicle, were a shovel, saw blade, three knives, a sharpening stone and axe blade. Also collected from the trunk were human bone fragments and fragments of bones from a small animal.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist told the court that the bone fragments he examined had tool markings that were the result “of a chopping, slicing or sawing motion.”

A state fire marshal testified that a trail on the ground “like a fuse” of “a combustible material,” later determined to be gasoline, was found leading to the burned vehicle.

Investigators testified that Brogdon killed his 58-year- old mother, put her remains in the freezer in the garage at the residence in Level Plains temporarily and ultimately put Newton’s body in the trunk of her vehicle before driving the 20 miles to the location where he set the vehicle on fire.

State forensic officers testified that DNA tests on blood found in the freezer were determined to be Newton’s. Rope found at the location of the burned car matched the rope found by investigators at Newton’s Level Plains residents.

On the same day the burned vehicle was found in 2019, Brogdon appeared out of the woods at an elderly couple’s house where Brogdon said he had been assaulted and was without his truck. An auto repair shop owner in Level Plains testified in court that Brogden had been without his truck since May 1, 2017 when he left the vehicle at the repair shop.

Brogden had cuts and burn marks on his leg and hands when he was arrested. An Alabama Law Enforcement Agency State Bureau of Investigation officer told the court that Brogden told him that the cuts and burns “ain’t got nothing to do with this but you’re going to make it seem that way.”

“The puzzle will be clear and you will have no reasonable doubt of his guilt,” Adams said in opening arguments at the start of the trial.

“When you have a case with over 20 witnesses, it takes a massive amount of coordination,” Adams said after the verdict. “I would like to thank my staff for all their hard work preparing for this case. Law enforcement worked relentlessly to gather evidence to prove Chad Brogdon killed his mother.

“A special thanks to ALEA Agent David McGowan for his dedication to this case. We had ‘regular citizens’ who stepped up and testified in this case. Their testimony was vital to this case and it meant so much to me and Penny’s family that they came and gave testimony.  

“We had five scientists from the FBI lab in Quantico, Va., come give their expert testimony on a variety of topics including DNA, tool marks, footprints, anthropology and trace evidence,” Adam added. “This conviction was a complete team effort.”

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