Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

Deep in the cobblestone heart of Charleston, South Carolina, past the T-shirt tourist quarter, down among the courtly antebellum mansions that stand in memory of a more mannered time, lived a quintessential Southern belle, a Charleston jewel.

Jackie Olsen, Mary Lynn Witherspoon's sister: It wasn’t just a physical beauty.  I mean she was inwardly beautiful.

Jane Whelchel, Mary Lynn Witherspoon's daughter: I would say the epitome of a Southern belle. Somebody who I never heard use a word of profanity in her entire life.

Charleston was Mary Lynn Withersppon's world. The old South was carefully preserved along exclusive Tradd Street, whose ancient shutters and lace curtains, designed to deflect the Southern sun, now serve also as a shield against the prying eyes of tourists as they wonder in this far.

But there was, as you will see, one strange presence here.

Whelchel: He had the look of a wild animal.

How strange, how dark, you are surely going to find it hard to believe—though Mary Lynn herself had begun to imagine something dreadful...

Olsen: She was fearful. You could hear it in her voice.

What was his shocking obsession?

What was in the twisted mind of that strange presence? After all, gushed an old friend, half the town seemed in love with Mary Lynn Witherspoon.

Stanley Feldman, family friend: If somebody asked you to list all the good qualities you could think of — brains, beauty, nature, fairness. I would bet they would all apply to Mary Lynn Witherspoon.

The stars must have aligned just right to create Mary Lynn Witherspoon. 

And while one shouldn’t reveal a lady’s age, suffice to say she was born near mid-century, one of four South Carolina sisters.

Jackie, just a little younger, was particularly close.

Olsen: She was always so good and kind to me. When she would have boyfriends in high school, you know they would take me places with ‘em. We were not only sisters, we were best friends.

Jackie watched her sister win beauty pageants, score straight As on report cards, graduate as high school valedictorian, become a popular French teacher, marry a doctor... and with him produce a daughter, Jane.

And still, says Jackie, there was no jealousy; her sister was so loveable.

But of course, nothing in this world is perfect. In Mary Lynn’s case, it was her marriage.

Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: Was it a painful breakup?

Olsen: There were many unpleasantries involved in the break-up.

After the divorce, Mary Lynn renewed her passion for this genteel Southern town.

Whelchel: My mom just loved Charleston… loved walking the streets and loved the French Huguenot Church where she attended every Sunday.

Mary Lynn, of course, did not lack for suitors.

Feldman: Had to beat them off with a stick, I would say.  I think they all wanted to marry her.

One in particular: Edmonds Brown III, a member of one of Charleston’s oldest families, a father of two, whose wife had up and left one day.

When he started dating Mary Lynn it was 1981.  Edmonds’ son Tennant was 10, his sister Molly not quite two years younger.

Edmonds himself was smitten.

Olsen: He was so good to her, it was incredible.  And he gave Mary Lynn a lot of support as a single parent in helping her to raise Jane.

Sometimes it seemed to others, like Mary Lynn’s daughter Jane, as if Edmonds cared as much or more about her as he did his own children.

Whelchel: Edmonds was a wonderful man to me. He would come over in the morning and my mom would scoot out of the door. And he would come in and fix my breakfast and take me to school.

And he proposed—again and again.  For eight years. And each time, Mary Lynn said “no.” Not that she didn’t care deeply for Edmonds, it was something else: It was his children.

Olsen: Edmonds’ daughter was so jealous of Jane and they just did not get along. 

And while Brown’s young son Tennent attended the finest schools, and swam at the country club, there was just something odd about the boy. He never quite fit.

Olsen: He wanted to be sweet.  He wanted to be kind.  He wanted people to love him.

Morrison: And he was kind of an ‘Ugly Duckling.’

Olsen: Yes.

Whelchel:  Just kind of a social misfit. Even from a very young age.

Still, he was lonely, too.  And he seemed to love Mary Lynn. And if she did not love him in return, she at least tried to befriend the troubled boy.

Olsen: You know honestly, she was probably the only person that was ever kind to him.  Now she didn’t encourage him along the way, but she was kind. She would speak to him.

But she was a teacher, and knew something was off. And thus, whenever Edmonds proposed, the answer remained no.

Olsen: I think, deep in her heart she realized it was not a situation that was going to be the best for her and Jane. 

It was 1988 when Mary Lynn broke off her relationship with Edmonds Brown.

Who knew that when it came to young Tennent, the break would not be so easy?

Olsen: He would pop up like on her porch, or ride his bicycle by her house, or appear near her driveway. She would speak to ‘em. 

Morrison: How would she talk to him?

Whelchel: Never mean. But standoffish. You know she would have never invited him into the house.

Still, there he would be.  Suddenly standing there.  Watching.

Even when Mary Lynn temporarily moved away from Charleston, Tennant seemed to know.

Whelchel: When my mother and I moved to Mt. Pleasant, Tennet just popped up there at that house.  And I have no idea how he knew that we had moved, and where we lived.

Morrison: You probably would have called the cops or something.

Whelchel: Well maybe, it was almost as if, what would you call the cops for? I mean he’s in the backyard. He’s lingering around. But there’s no real crime being committed.

It was more like a weird feeling of discomfort. Tennant was in his late teens by then, yet she still saw in him the sometimes pathetic little boy.

FREE VIDEO Who was Tennent Brown? Nov. 8: Mary Lynn Witherspoon’s sister Jackie Olsen, and daughter Jane Whelchel, remember young Tennent Brown. How did an attention-seeking odd boy grow into a murderer? Dateline NBC

Of course, it was not the first time Mary Lynn had come across a youngster captivated by her good looks and charm.

Whelchel:  Anywhere she went if she was driving in a car or just simply walking down the street. Even some of her students just thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world and wrote love letters and things like that, so

Morrison: Crushes on her?

Whelchel:  ...she had admirers of all ages.

Then in 1989, a year after she broke it off with Edmonds, a strange thing happened. Mary Lynn was visiting her mother a few hours from Charleston when they came back to the house after a walk.

Olsen: They went in, and of course, they could realize someone had broken in.

It was odd, though. Nothing appeared to have been taken.

Olsen: Mary Lynn’s suitcase was zipped back up and she didn’t open it till she got home, back in Charleston.  And she immediately called my mother and she said, “Mom, she said, “somebody stole my clothes and my make-up.” 

Someone had violated Mary Lynn.  And it was very personal.

It wasn’t just that clothes had been stolen. The incident seemed to portend something disturbing.

Morrison: She was a pretty worried person.

Olsen: She was. She was scared.