Smiths Station family 'terrified' by cross incident

A family in Smiths Station was “terrified” when it returned home Tuesday night and found three crosses in the front yard.

“I was just in shock,” said Crystal Brown. “My husband was terrified. My kids were terrified.”

The Browns called law enforcement. According to a complaint filed with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the crosses ranged in height from 3 to 5 feet tall. One had “KKK” spray painted on it and a nylon rope tied in a noose hanging from it.

Sheriff Jay Jones said Wednesday two juveniles were questioned in connection with the incident. Because they are juveniles, the sheriff’s office won’t release their names, Jones said. No charges had been filed as of Wednesday. The crosses had been taken down and logged as evidence in the case, he said.

Brown said her 9-year-old daughter cried hysterically after she noticed the letters “KKK” and the noose.

“She knows what the KKK is,” Brown said. “She said she wasn’t going to be able to sleep because she thought someone was going to come in and kill us.”

Brown said there was nothing in their front yard when they left earlier that evening to go to her husband Jeremy’s softball game in Columbus, Ga. They discovered the crosses when they got home a few hours later.

Brown said no one slept well in the house that night, and no one probably will until the sheriff’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are able to find who was responsible.

Capt. Van Jackson said the incident does not meet the federal statute of a hate crime, but the FBI was brought in to aid the investigation.

“Anytime we have a complaint with any racial tones, we notify them,” said Jackson.

“It’s rare that we get this type of complaint,” Jackson said. “But whenever we do, we take it seriously.”

Jones called it “an unfortunate incident.”

“This is 2008, it’s not 1966,” Jones said. “It’s a crime of ignorance as much as it is of violating the law.”

Crystal and Jeremy Brown, their three children — ages 9, 5, and 2 — and another couple reside in the home on the 400 block of Lee Road 454. Crystal Brown said they relocated to the larger residence in Smiths Station just three weeks ago. They had lived in another part of the city.

She said the incident was far from a “welcome to the neighborhood.”

“I’m just shocked it happened to us,” Brown said. “We haven’t done anything to anybody.”

Jeremy Brown is biracial, according to his wife. Everyone else in the house is white. She said he didn’t take the incident well.

“My husband doesn’t have any enemies,” she said. “Everybody likes him. He’s as country as country can get.”

Whether the family was a target of racial harassment or the victims of a bad joke, Crystal Brown said the family will be worried until someone is arrested.

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to contact the Lee County Crime Stoppers at 1-888-522-7847.

Katie Stallcup contributed to this article.