‘A vicious individual’: Man who killed wife & stepdaughter may be a serial killer with ties to 16 other deaths

A Pennsylvania man with a history of violent behavior could be tied to as many as 16 murders, WPXI-TV reports.

Authorities say Regis Andrew Brown, currently serving prison time because he killed his wife and stepdaughter, is a suspect in at least seven other killings and may have knowledge of up to eight additional homicides.

“He’s just a vicious individual,” Pennsylvania State Trooper Joe Vascetti said Thursday.

How do you protect your children from predators? Join Nancy Grace and a team of world class experts for the online course ‘Justice Nation: Crime Stops Here’.

This week, prosecutors charged Brown with homicide, aggravated assault and witness intimidation in connection with the death of a 45-year-old man. Hunters discovered the victim’s body in a creek the day after Christmas last year.

Brown has reportedly admitted to the slaying, confessing that he shot the victim because he was a witness to a burglary.

Vascetti said investigators are assessing whether Brown is to blame for multiple killings that occurred between 1986 and 2016 in the southwestern part of the state.

“He’s either been arrested for or confessed to or is a strong suspect in eight homicides right now,” Vascetti said, adding: “He may be tied to or have knowledge (of) an additional six to eight homicides from that area.”

Vascetti described Brown as a “violent offender” with a “checkered past.”

In March, Brown bludgeoned his 53-year-old wife to death and fatally stabbed her 35-year-old daughter. Brown reportedly tied the daughter to a chair prior to stabbing her and then attacked his wife in their garage, according to the New York Post.

Brown’s 14-year-old step-granddaughter witnessed part of the slayings before he tied her up in a bedroom for much of the weekend.

Police officers went to the home on Monday for a welfare check because neither of the women reported to work. The officers discovered the wife’s body wrapped in a rug and the daughter’s body still sitting in a chair. A sledgehammer and a broken pair of scissors, both with blood on them, were found in the home.

“It was a horrendous scene,” Vascetti said.

Brown pleaded guilty to the slayings and is now serving a life prison sentence.

Witnesses in some of the investigations are being kept secret because Brown has connections to a motorcycle gang.

Join Nancy Grace for her new video series new online video series designed to help you protect what you love most – your children.

[Feature Photo: Regis Brown/Erie County Police]