Record report is inaccurate

THE MEETING CONCERNING Thomas Brown on August 21, 2019 was to be a confidential meeting. This is what I was told about the meeting by Rachel Kading the lead AG investigator, “many issues will be discussed. This is not a public meeting and no media will be allowed. Penny was told she could bring you and another family friend. This is not to be repeated or spread around. If it becomes public knowledge it may be canceled.”

Since, the article I’ve gotten permission to discuss the meeting.

The Canadian Record based on transcripts of a recorded meeting called by the Texas Attorney General’s Criminal Investigative Division. If the purpose of the article was to make the public aware that no evidence was found implicating Sheriff Lewis in Thomas’ death, then why reveal other confidential information from the meeting? Why not ask the TAG to release a statement indicating that no evidence was found implicating Lewis in Tom’s death? Sheriff Lewis went to great lengths to protect the integrity of the case, even to the point of suing the Attorney General’s Office to keep from having to comply with an open records request. It just doesn’t make sense. Your article chronicled parts of the meeting and not the meeting in it’s entirety, but was there enough written that could further jeopardize the case?

Also, some statements were taken out of context. The way the article is written, it reads like the AG office is just ok with not knowing, which is not true. For example, Rachel Kading did not say, “it’s okay not to know.” She said, we may never now. I contacted Rachel Kading and she reassured me that she cares very much about this case, and she also wants to know what happened and wants the family to know. She is willing to do what she can; she just needs more to work with.

The only intention of the meeting was to be open and honest about where they were in the investigation. “Suspended,” just means they need more information. The statement “a reasonable person would not find foul play” just meant not enough for a criminal proceeding, no one was saying there isn’t evidence and suspicion.. just not enough to bring charges.

The article states that, “The media release that was delivered at the onset of that meeting is not the one that was read to that gathering....” That statement is not true. They read the media release and said that it was being released as they were reading it.

Also, there was “a” search for the suicide hotline and they did not find evidence on his phone that he had actually placed a call to the suicide hotline.

Another thing that I do not recall is Chris Smyth saying, “But I can tell you that’s what the evidence suggests for us.”

That statement leads the readers to believe that the investigators think that Thomas committed suicide, yet they made it clear that there was not sufficient evidence for the coroner to make a determination in the manner of death. Nothing was said that indicated they were leaning more toward suicide than any other manner of death. If Chris Smyth made that statement, it was taken out of context.

You stated that within hours of the meeting, several people that were in the meeting “returned to the work of stoking the accusations and misinformation and hateful rhetoric on social media.” To whom are you referring and what accusations and misinformation are you referring to?

You stated that Nathan Lewis has been harshly criticized by Moms4Tom, and accused of complicity in Tom’s disappearance and death. Again, that is not a true statement. As of the date of the closed meeting, August 21, 2019, Moms4Tom has not posted anything regarding Nathan Lewis’ complicity in Tom’s death. Moms4Tom has almost 12,000 followers and was created to support Penny in her quest to find answers as what happened to her son, Tom. That is our only agenda. By the way, I was invited to the meeting to support the Brown family as a friend, not as a Moms4Tom representative.

Every story has two sides and as a journalist, you have an obligation to be fair and impartial, but you have been neither where the Brown family is concerned. Why do you continue to victimize the Brown family who are already victims of a great loss. Where is the humanity?

EVA HAMMER