Who Shot The Sheriff?

(6 of 6)

Tom Brown, the public-safety chief appointed to be interim sheriff until a special election in March, has picked up where Derwin Brown was forced to leave off. He's auditing the books, and he has suspended several jail programs and fired four jail staff members whom Derwin had targeted, including a correctional officer whose home has been searched, whose alibi has been challenged by police and whose lawyer says drives a dark suv. Two weeks ago, Tom Brown and other county officials also evicted the seven bail bondsmen from the jail. Now, he wants to run for the job.

So does Geraldine Champion, 60, a former Atlanta homicide detective who had run against Dorsey and Derwin Brown in the Democratic primaries. After losing to Derwin, she joined his transition team. She went to his graduation lunch in Forsyth, but her feet hurt the night of his party, and she stayed home. If Derwin ever felt threatened, she did not sense it: "He never imagined that something serious was going to happen." Neither did she. But now she does. After announcing her plans to run again in March, she asked authorities for special police protection as a political candidate.

Phyllis Brown remains under police protection as well. On a table in her living room is the bouquet of long-stem roses Derwin bought for her birthday. Police had confiscated them as evidence from his car, but a friend in the department returned them. The flowers have shriveled into dark red clumps of memories. On another table across the room is the folded American flag from her husband's funeral. She has not forgotten her last image of Derwin, the hollow look in his eyes. It keeps her searching for answers, she says. Come March, she may run for sheriff. She has no experience beyond being a cop's wife, but she says her husband left her with the qualifications: she has his team and his vision. But nearly five weeks after his murder, the holiday lights still hang from the Browns' home. Derwin normally took care of those things.