The Brownwood Police Department issued the following press release Friday morning:

On Wednesday, November 22, 2023, at approximately 11:40pm Brownwood Communications received a 911 phone call from a citizen residing at the Wayside Apartments (2001 Brady Ave).  The caller reported a male, covered in blood, lying on a staircase outside of an apartment.    

When officers arrived on scene, they located a white male lying on the landing between the 1st and 2nd level staircase.  It appeared that the male suffered severe head injuries given the multiple lacerations about the head and face.  The male was later identified as 58-year-old Richard Leroy Kittle of Brownwood. 

Kittle was cared for by Brownwood Firefighters and AMR ambulance personnel before being transported to the Hendricks Brownwood ER.  A short time later, Kittle was care-flighted to Hendrick North in Abilene where he was placed in their Intensive Care Unit in critical condition. 

Officers at the scene located bloody footprints and blood marks from the staircase to an adjacent apartment on the 2nd floor.  They attempted to contact any occupants inside the apartment, but no one would come to the door.  Given the severity of the offense, Detectives with the Brownwood Police Department arrived to assist.  They wrote a search warrant for that apartment and, when approved, the Brown County Regional SWAT team was contacted and executed the warrant.

When entry was made, they located and identified 38-year-old James David Harvey as the renter and sole occupant of the apartment.  Harvey was escorted to the Brownwood Police Department for an interview and during that interview, he admitted to fighting with Kittle and, ultimately, causing many of the observed injuries. 

Harvey was arrested for Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury and booked into the Brown County Jail. 

At approximately 5:15 p.m., Thursday, November 23, 2023, Brownwood detectives learned that Kittle never regained consciousness and passed away at approximately 5 p.m.  The charge against Harvey was consequently upgraded to Murder.