Killer in 1991 case released from prison

Dec. 31—HIGH POINT — A man who pleaded guilty in 1995 to killing his sister-in-law's husband in High Point has been released from prison on parole.

Leroy W. Wentzel, 79, pleaded guilty in January 1995 to second-degree murder in the death of Frederic C. "Fred" Brown Jr., 45, who was killed the night of April 24, 1991, along N.C. 68 near Gallimore Dairy Road. Wentzel was sentenced to life in prison.

North Carolina eliminated parole in October 1994, but people convicted of crimes that took place before that remain eligible for early release on parole.

The N.C. Post Release Supervision and Parole Commission announced Friday that it had approved Wentzel's parole, but by that time he already had been out of prison more than a week. Wentzel was released from Southern Correctional Institution in Troy on Dec. 22, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety.

Wentzel was the last of the three people convicted in the killing still behind bars.

Fred Brown's killing was featured in March on an episode of "Snapped," a popular true-crime television series.

According to court documents and newspaper accounts, Patricia Brown persuaded her sister, Sheila "Dee Dee" Wentzel, and Leroy Wentzel, Sheila's husband, to help her kill her husband to collect the insurance benefits. Patricia Brown reportedly paid the Wentzels $1,000 up front and promised an additional $30,000.

The Wentzels pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and various other felonies.

Sheila Wentzel, 66, was sentenced to 50 years in prison but was released on parole in January 2001, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. Her parole ended in 2011.

Patricia Brown was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. She died in prison in January 2002 at age 53, DPS said.