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Forty years into her marriage, Rhonda Brown learned her husband had killed a woman he’d been having sex with for six years, a judge heard Wednesday.
The private life of the Vulcan County couple was on display in a Drumheller, Alta., courtroom, 16 months after Garry Dean Brown, 62, admitted to strangling Ginnean Briggs-Scout, 28.
Garry is on trial for second-degree murder for the 2024 death of Briggs-Scout.
Rhonda was called as a witness for the prosecution, but spousal privilege meant she was only compelled to testify about her observations or conversations that took place when others, like Garry’s 80-year-old parents, were in the room.
Rhonda told Court of King’s Bench Justice Caroline Magnan that while she retired in June 2024, Garry was “terminated” from his job with the City of Lethbridge that same month. She invoked spousal privilege and didn’t have to explain why.
Earlier in the trial, court heard evidence that Garry was like a “sugar daddy” to Briggs-Scout and would give her money — sometimes hundreds of dollars at a time — in exchange for her company.
At the time, she was struggling with drug addiction and working in Lethbridge’s sex trade.
Garry’s secret unravels
Rhonda testified that her husband managed all of their money and that she was not aware of the state of their finances.
The week before Garry was arrested, he’d told his wife he was heading “up north” to do work for his brother.
What she didn’t know is that her husband had spent several days with Briggs-Scout, ending when he strangled her and hid her body in a rural area near Oyen, a town in central Alberta about 30 kilometres from the Saskatchewan border.
The court previously heard that Briggs-Scout’s boyfriend at the time became suspicious and frantic when he couldn’t reach her. Knowing she had left with Garry, Jonathan Amonson had been texting him, with his messages escalating to threats.
“Put her on the f–king phone now, now, now,” Amonson told Garry. “I swear I’ll make your life a living hell … on my f–king soul, it’s happening.”
Garry confessed to parents, wife
Adding to his stress was the fact that police called Garry on Sept. 17 after finding his name on a receipt that was with Briggs-Scout’s belongings, which had been discovered in a ditch near Oyen.
RCMP labelled Briggs-Scout as a missing person and called Garry to determine his connection to her.
The next day, Garry was “distraught and suicidal,” Rhonda said.
“What did he tell you?” asked prosecutor Vince Pingitore.
After defence lawyer Greg White objected, Rhonda said, “I’d like to assert my privilege.”
Rhonda said she called Garry’s parents, who lived on the same property. They came right over.
The conversation that took place in front of Garry’s parents is not covered by spousal privilege, Magnan ruled, so Rhonda had to tell the court what he said.
“He was saying he had to kill himself. He stated that he had wrecked everyone’s life,” Rhonda said. “He had strangled somebody … he said it was somebody he was having an affair with.”
Wife called police
Rhonda said her husband told her and his parents that Briggs-Scout picked up his cellphone and threatened to tell his family about their relationship. When he grabbed his phone away from her, he said she pulled a knife on him.
“They fought, and he ended up strangling her,” said Rhonda, who confirmed in cross-examination that the only version of events she heard from her husband was that he was acting in self-defence.
She left Garry with his parents and stepped outside to call the police, reporting that her husband was suicidal.
Accused expected to testify
When police and members of the fire department arrived at the Brown home, Garry was “visibly upset, kind of crying, kind of moaning,” according to Sue Dahl with the Carmangay Fire Department.
“I asked him, ‘What’s going on today, Garry?” Dahl told the court.
Garry didn’t want to answer until his parents and Rhonda were out of the room. After everyone but Dahl and a police officer cleared out, she said he told her: “I killed someone last week.”
The constable then placed Garry in handcuffs.
Briggs-Scout’s body was found hours after Garry’s arrest, three kilometres from her discarded belongings.
The trial is over for now and will resume in September.
The Crown plans to have a strangulation expert testify, and the defence is considering whether to call its own expert.
White also told the court that he expects Brown will take the stand in his own defence.