By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A Rockford man who has spent 46 years in prison for the rape and killing of 17-year-old Louise Betts will make his 17th attempt to be released on parole.
Curtis Brownell, 69, was last up for parole in 2022, when it was denied 7-1. It was the first time he ever received a vote from an Illinois Prisoner Review Board member in favor of his release. He periodically makes attempts at parole because he was sentenced under the state’s antiquated indeterminate sentencing rules. He has another chance at parole in March.
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Family members of Betts, who have successfully fought Brownell’s release 16 times through written letters, in-person testimony and online petitions, are again asking for the public’s support to keep Brownell behind bars.
“It’s very heart-wrenching, emotional and draining. We’ve never had the chance to heal over this,” said Gary Betts, Louise’s older brother, who lives in Loves Park. “Normally when a loved one passes away, over time the pain of losing them turns into good memories and fondness. With this, we relive the horror of this happening every time.”
Petition to keep Curtis Brownell in prison
A Change.org petition was started on behalf of the Betts family to deny parole for Curtis Brownell and keep him in prison. You can sign the petition HERE.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board takes public feedback into consideration when making its determinations on parole. Betts said the support from the public through petitions and letters has helped prevent parole in years past.
Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley, who works in cooperation with Boone County State’s Attorney Tricia Smith to fight Brownell’s release, said the community has not forgotten Brownell’s crimes.
“It’s been 46 years, but it still resonates in the collective memory of both counties,” Hanley said. “It’s this bruise, this scar that we have on our community caused by Brownell. … The idea of this individual getting out of prison is beyond the pale to everybody, it’s unfathomable.”
Brownell kidnapped Louise Betts in September 1977 as she hitchhiked along North Second Street in Loves Park. He held her at knifepoint as he drove her to rural Boone County, where he raped her and strangled her to death. He left her body in a cornfield, and she wasn’t discovered until April 1978. By then, Brownell had raped another woman.
He abducted a woman who was seven months pregnant from a Rural Oaks Shopping Center laundromat on Jan. 31, 1978. He raped her, pistol-whipped her and then ran her over with his car, according to prosecutors. She only survived because of the deep snow that was packed around her body.
“I feel horrible for the Betts family to have to continue to fight to keep their sister’s killer in jail,” said Smith, the Boone County state’s attorney. “It has been such a burden on the family of reliving this crime and reliving what happened to their sister.”
Brownell has also admitted to other crimes against women, as well as made obscene phone calls and molested his daughter. He told the Illinois Prison Review Board in past appearances that he was a victim of sexual abuse himself at the hands of a family member when he was between the ages of 8 and 10.
Louise Betts would be 63 today. Her brother said they were robbed of the chance to learn what Louise — a fun-loving spirit who enjoyed singing and caring for her puppy — would make of her life.
“She was just beginning her life, and didn’t even have a chance to really start it,” he said.
Brownell is scheduled to meet with a member of the prison review board on Feb. 13 to make his case for release. That meeting takes place at prison in Dixon Correctional Center, where he is being held. Prosecutors and the family will also have an opportunity to present their side. That protest hearing, which will take place by Zoom, has not yet been set.
An en banc hearing, in which review board members vote on whether or not to grant parole, will happen on March 28.
Brownell was first up for parole in 1987, but it wasn’t until 2022 — when a Chicago law firm represented him pro bono — that he got his first vote in favor of release. The vote was 7-1 that year. Lisa Daniels, who cast the only vote in favor of parole, is no longer a member of the board.
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In past hearings, Brownell has argued that he has been rehabilitated through extensive sex-offender treatment and that he has developed healthy means of coping with the mental health issues that led to his heinous crimes.
He was emotional when he last talked to the board about killing Betts, and he expressed remorse for the pain he caused the family, according to meeting records from the Prison Review Board.
Prosecutors say Brownell is attempting to manipulate the board, much in the same way he did in the 1970s as he held a job and marriage while secretly preying on women.
“What Brownell has demonstrated is that he is deceitful and adept at manipulation,” Smith and Hanley wrote in a petition to deny parole in 2022.
Brownell and other “C-number” inmates imprisoned before 1978 were given indeterminate sentences with a range of years. Brownell has been eligible for parole since 1987. There were once about 16,500 C-number inmates, but that has been whittled down to about 75 over the years. Of those 75, there are 39 still incarcerated, according to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board’s last available annual report in 2022.
In 2022, the review board heard parole requests for 29 C-number inmates and denied all but four.
Brownell, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said in 2022 his parole plan involves living in a veterans home in Marion. Attempts to reach his attorneys for comment this week were not successful.
He has also previously argued that his age and his rehabilitative efforts makes it unlikely he will reoffend. Hanley and Smith reject that.
“Curtis Brownell remains a predator and a threat to women and girls everywhere,” Smith and Hanley wrote in 2022. “The very prospect of his release terrifies even his fellow inmates, who inform us that to this day Brownell brags about his crimes and talks about what further depraved acts of violence against women he might commit if released.”
Write the review board
You can write letters and emails to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board in support of or against parole for Curtis Brownell.
Email prb.operations@illinois.gov or written letters can be sent to:
Illinois Prisoner Review Board
Attn: Indeterminate Clerk
319 E Madison Street, Suite A
Springfield, IL 62701
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas