Iowa City man will plead to killing wife in 2019

IOWA CITY — An Iowa City man accused of killing his wife in 2019 before she could learn about his risky high-interest loans and that he drained one of her savings accounts will plead to a lesser charge Wednesday, court records show, and not go to trial Nov. 1.

Documents don’t indicate what plea agreement has been made with Roy Carl Browning Jr., 70, who was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of his wife, JoEllen Browning, 65, on April 5, 2019.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness declined Monday to provide the plea agreement.

After Browning’s murder trial was set for July and then bumped to Nov. 1, he filed a motion to exclude testimony that he declined to be questioned by police or asked for a lawyer; testimony by law enforcement regarding his wife’s activities; their relationship and statements made by others about him; or his wife’s financial information.

The motion also wanted the court to exclude “opinion testimony” about any possible motive he may have had and of any concealment of funds or how they were used.

The defense also asked that any testimony be excluded alleging Roy Browning was seen with “younger women or beliefs he had one night stands” because it’s irrelevant, according to the motion.

After Roy Browning was arrested six months after the murder in October 2019, investigators said they had determined JoEllen Browning, a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics budget executive, was going to learn April 5, 2019, about her husband falsifying banking records and numerous high-interest loans.

Investigators said she had scheduled a meeting with a financial representative that day and would have learned her husband had depleted one of her savings accounts and taken out loans without her knowledge, according to court documents.

During the investigation, law enforcement learned JoEllen Browning had emailed her husband that April 1, asking about the discrepancies in their bank accounts, according to court documents. She told her husband to contact their bank to ensure he could log into their account so the couple could review the accounts that night.

Authorities said about 20 minutes after Roy Browning responded to his wife that he was aware of the April 5, 2019, meeting, he was at a paint supply store buying rubber gloves and towels, which police said they never found.

Investigators found a text message from JoEllen Browning to her husband that said they were to meet with their financial institution at 8 a.m. that day — an hour after she was found dead in her home, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Roy Browning called 911 at 6:59 a.m. April 5, 2019, reporting his wife was “unresponsive.” Police found her on the bedroom floor with multiple stab wounds to her front and back torso and on her left hand, according to court documents. A forensic pathologist determined the cause of death was “sharp-force injuries” — stab wounds — and her death was ruled a homicide.

During the investigation, authorities learned JoEllen Browning had a retirement account and life insurance policy worth more than $2 million, according to court documents. Her husband had no source of income.

According to court documents, Roy Browning is the executor of his wife’s will, which is in probate pending the outcome of the case.

Browning has remained in jail since arrest on a $5 million bail.

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