Investigation Discovery broadcasted ‘A Time To Kill: Fast Food Cold Justice’ on Thursday, April 6, at 9:00 pm ET, featuring the Terri Brooks murder investigation.
The synopsis for the upcoming episode reads:
“A late-night break-in at a Pennsylvania chain restaurant leaves assistant manager Terri Brooks brutally slain; when another female restaurant employee is murdered in a nearby town, detectives fear there’s a serial killer on the loose.”
This heinous crime took place in February 1984, inside a local restaurant in Falls Township, Pennsylvania.
The murder remained unsolved for almost 20 years until forensic technology helped the investigators to catch the perpetrator.
The show provides a detailed account of the case, including the victim’s background, the events leading up to her murder, and the brutal details of the crime.
How did Terri Brooks die?
Terri Lynn Brooks was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1958, to Frances Nathalie Wakefield and George Elmer Brooks.
She worked as a Night Manager at a Roy Rogers restaurant in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, in February 1984.
Tragedy struck when her fiancé knocked on her father’s door one morning to report that Terri was missing.
George checked Terri’s room and discovered that she had not returned home after her shift. The news of Terri’s body being found inside the locked restaurant came as a devastating blow to her family.
Police reports revealed the gruesome details of Terri Brooks murder. Her body was found near the kitchen with a butcher knife stuck in her neck.
Investigators found moisture from Terri’s breath inside the trash can liner used to suffocate her, suggesting that she was still alive during the heinous act.
Someone brutally stabbed her neck, strangled her, and repeatedly slammed her head on the concrete floor, causing fatal injuries.
The autopsy report of the Terri Brooks murder showed that Terri had black and blue marks and bruises all over her body, with hand marks around her neck indicating strangulation.
The stab wound likely paralyzed her but did not render her unconscious.
The medical examiner determined the official cause of death for 25-year-old Terri to be asphyxiation by suffocation using a trash bag.
Tragically, she was still alive when this occurred, making the brutality of her death even more horrific.
Furthermore, she was discovered wearing her winter coat, its contents strewn about.
The investigation
The brutality of Terri Brooks murder shocked the community, and the investigation became a top priority for law enforcement.
The brutal murder of Terri Supino, a young employee at a local fast-food restaurant, left the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, reeling in 1983.
The crime scene was disturbing, with Terri’s shoes found a short distance from her body against another wall.
The restaurant manager reported a substantial amount of cash missing from the safe, and he noticed that the drive-thru window was partially open when he arrived.
The viciousness and overkill of the murder suggested that the killer was not a random robber but someone who knew Terri.
The police interviewed Terri’s colleagues and learned that she had recently fired Steve Daley, a former Marine and cook at the restaurant, due to his temper tantrums.
Steve had taken to visiting the establishment daily to annoy Terri, leading the police to question him about the crime.
Despite passing a polygraph test, he could not provide a solid alibi, and the investigators let him go.
The investigators ruled out Terri’s colleagues who worked with her on the night of the murder as suspects as they provided concrete alibis.
Additionally, they discovered skin tissue under Terri’s fingernails and near a defensive wound on the bottom of her right ring finger.
However, since the case took place in the 1980s, forensic technology had not yet advanced enough to allow DNA analysis of forensic evidence.
Despite pursuing some other leads, including two other separate attacks on female employees of different restaurants in the following weeks, the investigation went cold.
In 1998, Arnold Conoline, the former police chief, reopened the case. During the re-investigation, the officers learned a startling fact from Terri’s friend, Cindy Bradney.
Investigators did not question Cindy during the initial investigation, but she later provided a breakthrough for the case.
The officers discovered that Terri had a difficult relationship with her fiancé, Alfred Scott Keefe, who was 36 years old at the time of her murder.
Surveillance on Scott’s home revealed that he lived there with his brother, Charles.
After obtaining a search warrant, the police retrieved Newport cigarette butts, the brand Scott smoked, from the garbage.
Although Charles’ cigarette butts were obtained from a restaurant’s ashtray, his DNA did not match the forensic evidence.
However, Scott’s DNA matched the evidence found under Terri’s fingernails, leading to his questioning in February 1999.
Scott initially denied any involvement in Terri’s murder, but the DNA evidence was undeniable. During further interrogation, Scott broke down and confessed to the crime.
According to him, he and Terri had gotten into an argument over money, and in a fit of rage, he hit her repeatedly with a crowbar. He then strangled her, staged the robbery to cover up the crime, and fled the scene.
Scott was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Terri Brooks murder case highlights the importance of forensic evidence in criminal investigations and the need for law enforcement agencies to re-examine unsolved cases continuously.
Who killed Terri Brooks? Where is he now?
Scott’s movements after Terri’s murder remained a mystery until 1998, when the former police chief, Arnold Conoline, decided to reopen the case.
Investigators discovered that Scott had married, had a child, and then divorced his wife before moving back to his parents’ home in Falls Township.
His movements after the Terri Brooks murder were suspicious until he was recently arrested for driving under the influence in another jurisdiction.
When questioned, Scott failed a polygraph test and made several incriminating statements, finally confessing to the murder.
He stated that he had lost his temper when Terri tried to call off the wedding and break up with him, and he had staged the scene to make it appear like a random robbery.
Scott claimed that, to make himself appear innocent, he went to the Brooks family home on the morning of the murder, which allowed him to evade capture for the next fifteen years.
Authorities arrested him for Terri Brooks’ murder in February 1999, and charged him with first-degree murder and robbery. During his 2000 trial, he pleaded guilty to both charges and received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
According to court records, Scott is currently serving his sentence at the State Correctional Institution in Albion, Western Pennsylvania.
The Terri Brooks murder case remained a long-standing mystery, but the investigators’ dedication and persistence ultimately brought the perpetrator to justice.
