Briley Brothers

Linwood was survived by one son, Norman Laquan Ampy, who later served time in prison for bank robbery and died in 2015. James is survived by three daughters, who live in Richmond. The brothers are buried at the Council family's cemetery plot in Bethel, North Carolina.

The group's initial plan was to escape into Canada. Two inmates, Lem Davis Tuggle Jr. (convicted of raping and murdering one woman shortly after being released for another such crime; executed by lethal injection on December 12, 1996) and Willie Leroy Jones (convicted of two capital murders; executed on September 11, 1992), almost succeeded, making it as far as Vermont before being captured at gunpoint by police. The group was held at Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland, pending their extradition back to Virginia. Splitting off from their two remaining co-escapers at Philadelphia, the Brileys went to live near their uncle, Johnny Lee Council, in the north of the city. They were captured on June 19 by a heavily armed group of FBI agents and police, who had determined their location by placing wiretaps on their uncle's phone line.

In short order, the remaining appeals ran out for both brothers. Several weeks before his execution, James Briley married a writer who was convinced of his innocence claims, Evangeline Grant Redding, on March 28, 1985, in a prison ceremony attended by his father, James Sr. The brothers were executed in the electric chair at the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond; Linwood on October 12, 1984, and James on April 18, 1985. Linwood's last meal consisted of grilled tenderloin steak, a baked potato, green peas, a salad with French dressing, rolls with butter, cake, peaches, punch, and milk. His last words were "I am innocent." James's last meal consisted of fried shrimp with cocktail sauce and a lemon-lime-flavored soft drink. In his final moments, he smiled at the witnesses and twice asked them "Are you happy?"

Linwood and James Briley were the ringleaders in a six-inmate escape from Virginia's death row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center on May 31, 1984. During the early moments of the escape, in which a coordinated effort resulted in inmates taking over the death row unit, both Brileys expressed strong interest in killing the captured guards by dousing them with rubbing alcohol and tossing a lit match. Willie Lloyd Turner, another death row inmate (convicted of murder; executed by lethal injection on May 25, 1995), stepped in James' way and blocked him from doing so. Meanwhile, Wilbert Lee Evans, on death row after being convicted of the murder of Alexandria City sheriff's deputy William Truesdale, prevented Linwood from raping a female nurse. Evans was executed on October 17, 1990, despite pleas for clemency and confirmation from the Mecklenburg guards who said they owed their lives to Evans. Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney John Kloch opposed the clemency and Democratic Governor L. Douglas Wilder, the state's first African-American governor, ultimately denied clemency.

A single life sentence with parole eligibility was handed down to Anthony Briley, youngest brother of the trio, due to his limited involvement in the killings. Because of Virginia's "triggerman statute", both James and Linwood received numerous life sentences for murders committed during the spree, but faced capital charges only in cases where they had physically committed the actual killing of the victim. Linwood was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of Gallaher, while James received two death sentences, one for each of the murders of Judy Barton and her son Harvey. Both were sent to death row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center near Boydton in early 1980.

Linwood Earl Briley, James Dyral Briley Jr., and Anthony Ray Briley were a sibling trio of serial/spree killers, rapists, and robbers who were responsible for a murder and robbery spree that took place in Richmond, Virginia, in 1979.

In 1979, the three Briley brothers and an accomplice, Duncan Eric Meekins, began the seven-month series of random killings that terrified the city and surrounding region.

Their first attack occurred on March 12, 1979, when Linwood knocked on the door of Henrico County couple William and Virginia Bucher. Claiming that he had car trouble and needed to use their telephone, Linwood eventually forced his way into their home. He held the couple at gunpoint and waved Anthony inside. The two Brileys tied up the couple and robbed the house, dousing each room with kerosene after stripping it of valuables. As they left, a lit match was tossed on the fuel. The two hurriedly packed their stolen loot – a television, CB radio, a .32 pistol, and jewelry – into their trunk and drove out of the area. William Bucher managed to free himself and his wife from their restraints, which Meekins apparently had not tied tightly enough, and escape just before the house became engulfed in flames. They would be the sole survivors of the rampage, although their cat perished in the blaze.

Five days later, on October 5, just two blocks from the Briley home on 4th Avenue, 75-year-old Blanche Page and her 59-year-old boarder Charles Garner were murdered by the brothers. Page was bludgeoned to death while Garner was fatally assaulted and stabbed to death with various weapons, which included a baseball bat, five knives, a pair of scissors, and a fork. The scissors and fork were left embedded in Garner's back.

Linwood murdered a woman in 1971 and served a year in a reformatory. In 1979, the three siblings (with help from an accomplice, Duncan Eric Meekins) went on a killing spree in their home city of Richmond, killing at least eleven people. Two would-be victims escaped unharmed. Linwood and James were sentenced to death. In 1984, the two elder brothers escaped death row with four other inmates but were recaptured within three weeks. Linwood and James were executed by electric chair in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Anthony Briley and Duncan Meekins are both still incarcerated.

On January 28, 1971, the first killing was committed by Linwood, at 16. While alone at home, Linwood fatally shot Orline Christian, a 57-year old neighbor, with a rifle from his bedroom window as she was hanging out some laundry on a clothesline. The crime almost went unidentified, but her relatives noticed a small bloody mark under her armpit at the viewing and asked a funeral director to re-examine the body. Upon a second examination, a small caliber bullet wound was discovered under her armpit.

The three Briley brothers, Linwood Earl (March 26, 1954 – October 12, 1984), James Dyral Jr. (June 6, 1956 – April 18, 1985) and Anthony Ray (born February 17, 1958) were brought up by their parents, James Dyral Briley Sr. and Bertha, in Richmond's Highland Park neighborhood. Their oldest brother, Edward Jerome "Boot" (July 7, 1952 – November 19, 2020) left the home to live with relatives in North Carolina in his early teen years and was not involved with his younger brothers later criminal activities. With their younger brother Anthony, Linwood and James were regarded by older neighbors as young people who would help them repair cars or mow lawns. The brothers collected exotic pets, such as tarantulas, piranhas, and boa constrictors. When the brothers reached their teenage years, Bertha and James split up and she moved away. James Dyral Briley Sr., reportedly the only person the brothers respected, kept his bedroom door padlocked from the inside overnight.