The Trail Went Cold - Episode 49 - Donna Branion

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2017

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

December 22, 1967. Chicago, Illinois. After leaving work and picking up his son from school, Dr. John Branion, a prominent African-American physician who treated Martin Luther King Jr., returns home to discover that his wife, Donna Branion, has been shot to death. Police become suspicious of Dr. Branion’s behaviour and eventually charge him with the murder after discovering that the likely murder weapon, a Walther PPK, and four shells are missing from his home. Even though Branion appears to have a solid alibi and his defense team argues there was not enough time for him to commit the crime, he is found guilty at trial. While free on bond to appeal the verdict, Branion flees the country, but is recaptured years later and dies in 1990. However, questions remain about the validity of the original conviction. Was Donna Branion actually murdered by her husband? Was an innocent man wrongfully convicted? Or is the real answer a lot more complex? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” examines a very controversial murder case which is still debated 50 years later. We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”. Additional Reading: http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/John_Branion http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-25/features/9103030674_1_prominent-chicago-police-cmdr-apartment http://law.jrank.org/pages/3172/John-Marshall-Branion-Trial-1968.html https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/1970/41622-6.html https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/855/1256/372355/ “The Doctor, The Murder, The Mystery” by Barbara D’Amato The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We would like to send out a special thanks to Sock Club for supporting the trail went cold.
0:05.0	And we would like to thank you the listeners by offering you the chance to earn 15% off your next
0:09.7	order of socks when you visit Sock Club.com slash cold and use the discount code cold.
0:16.0	That's sock club dot com slash cold and the discount code is cold.
0:21.0	Enjoy the show. December 22nd, 1967 Chicago, Illinois. When a Walthar, P.P.K and four bullets are discovered to be missing from the home,
0:44.3	Dr. Branion is charged with the murder.
0:47.0	Even though Branion appears to have a solid alibi, and his defense team argues there was not enough time
0:52.0	for him to have killed his wife, he is found guilty at trial, but please the country after attempting to appeal the verdict.
0:59.0	Ranion is eventually recaptured and dies in 1990, but questions remain about whether the right person
1:06.0	was convicted of the crime. After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh, and uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to our newest episode of the Trail went cold.
1:52.0	I'm your host Robin Warder and we're going to be covering a pretty
1:55.8	controversial case on the podcast today, the 1967 murder of Donna Branion. This case is pretty unique in that it's technically solved, but a lot of debate still surrounds what actually happened.
2:08.0	The story was featured on unsolved mysteries as one of their final appeal segments in which they would examine
2:14.4	a case where someone had been convicted of a crime, but there was some doubt about whether they
2:18.8	were actually guilty.
2:20.6	A lot of notable stories were featured as final appeal segments, including the Tommy Ziegler case, which I covered on the podcast last year.
2:28.0	In this particular segment, the appellant was Donna Brannion's husband, John John Branyon, a prominent African American physician
2:35.2	who also happened to have a personal connection to Martin Luther King Jr.
2:39.5	When the case was covered on unsolved mysteries in 1989.
2:43.0	Branyon was in desperate need of a heart transplant, which he was not going to get if he was a convicted murderer.
2:48.9	He was really hoping to clear his name, but passed away within the next year. Now obviously, because the accused is now deceased,
2:56.4	this isn't going to be a serial or making a murderer type of situation. No matter what we say here,
	...

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