Jason Derek Brown
Encyclopedia
Jason Derek Brown is an American fugitive
wanted for first degree murder
and armed robbery
in Phoenix, Arizona
on November 29, 2004. On December 8, 2007 he was named by the FBI
as the 489th fugitive to be placed
on the Ten Most Wanted list
.
. Additionally, Brown speaks fluent French
and has a master's degree
in International business
.
Brown is a former Latter Day Saints missionary, who proselytised in Paris, France from 1988 to 1990.
Between 1990 and 2004, Brown resided in several places in Orange County, California, including Corona del Mar
neighborhood of Newport Beach
and Dana Point
. Brown owned two businesses based in Salt Lake City, Utah
, identified by computer records as Toys Unlimited and On The Doorstep Advertising. Both of these businesses were operated out of his Utah home. Brown had been employed as a toy salesman and golf equipment
importer to support his luxurious lifestyle and expensive tastes with material possessions. Brown had portrayed himself as a wealthy man despite the fact he had defaulted on at least one large loan and was racking up tens of thousands of dollars of debt in 2004.
In November 2004, Brown took a firearms class in Salt Lake City. He bought a .45-caliber Glock pistol
days before the class at Totally Awesome Guns & Range in Salt Lake City. Brown passed a background check
, which flags potential gun buyers with criminal records. As part of the class, Brown was fingerprint
ed and his prints were sent to state and federal authorities. Brown's instructor Clark Aposhian described him as "an obnoxious student" who was inexperienced with firearms. Brown accidentally fired a round into a truck during a practice shooting. He paid its owner $300 for damage.
Shortly before crimes in the area, Brown was living in an Ahwatukee hotel near a movie theater. He was captured on surveillance tape having a conversation with another man in the hotel lobby. This man is considered to be a possible accomplice or witness of crimes allegedly committed by Brown. His identity remains unknown.
with a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock. Five out of six bullets struck him in the head. Palomares was armed, but did not have a chance to defend himself. While the victim died at the scene, the hooded gunman took a bag of money containing $56,000 in cash and fled into a nearby alley with it, leaving a bicycle behind. Palomares was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Witnesses initially described the shooter as a 25-to-30-year-old Hispanic man. Authorities recovered the bicycle and fingerprints subsequently linked Jason Derek Brown to the murder. Brown was soon considered a prime suspect in the case and an Arizona state arrest warrant
was issued by Maricopa County Superior Court charging Brown with first degree murder and armed robbery on December 4. Brown was additionally charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in a federal arrest warrant, issued by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
on December 6.
Investigators have considered that a possible motive for Brown to commit these crimes could have been his desperate financial situation.
At the time Brown was identified as a suspect, he fled from Arizona to Henderson, Nevada
. According to authorities, Brown later traveled to Las Vegas
and swapped his BMW for a black Cadillac Escalade
he had in storage. He traveled to Orange County, California
, staying there with relatives until December 6, 2004, when FBI agents carrying an arrest warrant missed him by an hour.
On January 16, 2005, authorities found Brown's Cadillac in a long-term parking lot at Portland International Airport
in Oregon
. While in Portland, Brown mailed a package containing clothes and golf equipment to his brother David John Brown II in San Diego. On April 20, 2005, David Brown II was indicted for obstruction of justice
. The indictment claimed he tampered with evidence when he cleaned out Jason's BMW in early December after driving it from a Las Vegas storage facility to California.
On December 8, 2007, Jason Derek Brown was named by the FBI
as the 489th fugitive to be placed
on the Ten Most Wanted list
. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture.
The most recent confirmed sighting was in August 2008, when an acquaintance of Brown recognized him while they were stopped at a traffic light
near Hogle Zoo
in Salt Lake City. Their mutual recognition prompted Brown to drive through the stoplight. Aware that Brown was a fugitive, the witness informed authorities of the sighting. According to him, Brown had longer hair and a deeper tan than in the 2004 photograph of his wanted poster. Brown is considered armed and extremely dangerous.
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
wanted for first degree murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and armed robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
on November 29, 2004. On December 8, 2007 he was named by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
as the 489th fugitive to be placed
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s
-FBI Headlines in the 2000s:The 2000s started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the Trilogy project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then, Virtual Case File, or VCF, planned for completion in 2003, was officially...
on the Ten Most Wanted list
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
.
Personal life
Brown was born in California in 1969 to David John Brown, Sr. He attended Laguna Beach High SchoolLaguna Beach High School
Laguna Beach High School is a 4-year public high school located in Laguna Beach, California, United States. It is the only high school in the Laguna Beach Unified School District. It was established in 1934 and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and as well as being...
. Additionally, Brown speaks fluent French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and has a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in International business
International Business
International business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary...
.
Brown is a former Latter Day Saints missionary, who proselytised in Paris, France from 1988 to 1990.
Between 1990 and 2004, Brown resided in several places in Orange County, California, including Corona del Mar
Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, California
Corona del Mar or CdM is a neighborhood in the affluent city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, as well as the development of Irvine Terrace, just north of Avocado...
neighborhood of Newport Beach
Newport Beach, California
Newport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...
and Dana Point
Dana Point, California
-Climate:Dana Point enjoys a mild climate where temperatures tend to average around the 60's. The warmest month of the year is August with an average temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest month is December with an average minimum temperature of 44 degrees Fahrenheit.-2010:The 2010...
. Brown owned two businesses based in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, identified by computer records as Toys Unlimited and On The Doorstep Advertising. Both of these businesses were operated out of his Utah home. Brown had been employed as a toy salesman and golf equipment
Golf equipment
Golf equipment encompasses the various items that are used to play the sport of golf. Types of equipment include the golf ball itself, implements designed for striking the golf ball, devices that aid in the process of playing a stroke, and items that in some way enrich the playing...
importer to support his luxurious lifestyle and expensive tastes with material possessions. Brown had portrayed himself as a wealthy man despite the fact he had defaulted on at least one large loan and was racking up tens of thousands of dollars of debt in 2004.
In November 2004, Brown took a firearms class in Salt Lake City. He bought a .45-caliber Glock pistol
Glock pistol
The Glock pistol, sometimes referred to by the manufacturer as Glock "Safe Action" Pistol, is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Glock Ges.m.b.H., located in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria. The company's founder, engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearm design or...
days before the class at Totally Awesome Guns & Range in Salt Lake City. Brown passed a background check
Background check
A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....
, which flags potential gun buyers with criminal records. As part of the class, Brown was fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
ed and his prints were sent to state and federal authorities. Brown's instructor Clark Aposhian described him as "an obnoxious student" who was inexperienced with firearms. Brown accidentally fired a round into a truck during a practice shooting. He paid its owner $300 for damage.
Shortly before crimes in the area, Brown was living in an Ahwatukee hotel near a movie theater. He was captured on surveillance tape having a conversation with another man in the hotel lobby. This man is considered to be a possible accomplice or witness of crimes allegedly committed by Brown. His identity remains unknown.
Robbery and murder
On November 29, 2004, Robert Keith Palomares, a 24-year-old security guard, was carrying the weekend deposits outside of the AMC Ahwatukee 24 movie theater at 4915 E. Ray Road in Phoenix, Arizona. At approximately 10:00 a.m., a hooded gunman ambushed and shot Palomares execution-styleExecution-style murder
Execution-style murder, also known as Chicago-style murder, and execution-style killing are news media buzzwords applied to various acts of criminal murder where the perpetrator kills at close range a conscious victim who is under the complete physical control of the assailant and who has been left...
with a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock. Five out of six bullets struck him in the head. Palomares was armed, but did not have a chance to defend himself. While the victim died at the scene, the hooded gunman took a bag of money containing $56,000 in cash and fled into a nearby alley with it, leaving a bicycle behind. Palomares was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Witnesses initially described the shooter as a 25-to-30-year-old Hispanic man. Authorities recovered the bicycle and fingerprints subsequently linked Jason Derek Brown to the murder. Brown was soon considered a prime suspect in the case and an Arizona state arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
was issued by Maricopa County Superior Court charging Brown with first degree murder and armed robbery on December 4. Brown was additionally charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in a federal arrest warrant, issued by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
United States District Court for the District of Arizona
The United States District Court for the District of Arizona is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Arizona. Court is held in the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and Prescott. The district was created on June 20, 1910, by 36 Stat. 557...
on December 6.
Investigators have considered that a possible motive for Brown to commit these crimes could have been his desperate financial situation.
Fugitive
In 2005, the FBI had more than 200 leads in the case. The majority of leads were outside Arizona and dozens were outside the United States, including possible sightings of Brown in Canada.At the time Brown was identified as a suspect, he fled from Arizona to Henderson, Nevada
Henderson, Nevada
-Demographics:According to the 2000 census, there were 175,381 people, 66,331 households, and 47,095 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,200.8 people per square mile . There were 71,149 housing units at an average density of 892.8 per square mile...
. According to authorities, Brown later traveled to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and swapped his BMW for a black Cadillac Escalade
Cadillac Escalade
The Cadillac Escalade is a full-size luxury sport utility vehicle sold by the General Motors luxury brand, Cadillac. It was the division's first major entry into the popular SUV market. The Escalade was introduced for the 1999 model year in response to German and Japanese competitors and to Ford's...
he had in storage. He traveled to Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, staying there with relatives until December 6, 2004, when FBI agents carrying an arrest warrant missed him by an hour.
On January 16, 2005, authorities found Brown's Cadillac in a long-term parking lot at Portland International Airport
Portland International Airport
Portland International Airport is a joint civil-military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of passenger travel and more than 95% of air cargo of the state. It is located within Portland's city limits just south of the Columbia River in Multnomah...
in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. While in Portland, Brown mailed a package containing clothes and golf equipment to his brother David John Brown II in San Diego. On April 20, 2005, David Brown II was indicted for obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
. The indictment claimed he tampered with evidence when he cleaned out Jason's BMW in early December after driving it from a Las Vegas storage facility to California.
On December 8, 2007, Jason Derek Brown was named by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
as the 489th fugitive to be placed
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s
-FBI Headlines in the 2000s:The 2000s started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the Trilogy project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then, Virtual Case File, or VCF, planned for completion in 2003, was officially...
on the Ten Most Wanted list
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture.
The most recent confirmed sighting was in August 2008, when an acquaintance of Brown recognized him while they were stopped at a traffic light
Traffic light
Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
near Hogle Zoo
Hogle Zoo
Utah's Hogle Zoo is a zoo located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the state's largest zoo, housing animals from diverse ecosystems. It is located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon....
in Salt Lake City. Their mutual recognition prompted Brown to drive through the stoplight. Aware that Brown was a fugitive, the witness informed authorities of the sighting. According to him, Brown had longer hair and a deeper tan than in the 2004 photograph of his wanted poster. Brown is considered armed and extremely dangerous.