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E154: Jason Derek Brown
6.6k Plays2 years ago
Jason Derek Brown is the 489th entrant on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list. Wanted for robbery and the assassination of an armored truck courier, Brown fled, making several curious choices along his route. That is… before he disappeared completely.
Click here for a link to Jami Brown's book Center of Attention: A True Crime Memoir, available on Amazon.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Sponsors
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy.
FBI's Most Wanted List Overview
00:00:05
Speaker
It's the list of some of the most heinous criminals at large in our society.
History and Evolution of the List
00:00:11
Speaker
The FBI's top ten most wanted list. We've all heard of the list and the names that have been on it. The likes of Osama Bin Laden, James Earl Ray, murderer of Martin Luther King Jr., and Ted Bundy.
00:00:26
Speaker
The first official list was released on March 14, 1950, and in the past 70 years, the criminals who have appeared on this list have reflected the changing nature of crime.
Criteria for Most Wanted List
00:00:38
Speaker
According to the FBI.gov page, FBI Top 10 list turned 70.
00:00:45
Speaker
Historically, the top 10 list has reflected the concerns of the time. In the 1950s, bank robbers, burglars, and car thieves populated the list. The 1960s saw fugitives wanted for kidnapping, sabotage, and destruction of government property. Members of organized crime groups and murderers were present on the list of the 1970s.
00:01:06
Speaker
Drug kingpins and serial killers were a priority in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the list reflected the increasing threat of international criminal activity. Over the past two decades, the top 10 list has focused on the most violent of fugitives, sought for homicides, armed robberies, gang activities, and mass shootings."
00:01:29
Speaker
But there are tons of criminals who fall under those categories. So how do they decide who gets placed on the list? According to that same website, there are two main criteria. Number one, they are considered dangerous, likely to commit further crimes. And number two, the FBI believe that the added publicity will likely result in leads and subsequently an arrest.
Jason Derek Brown's Story Begins
00:01:54
Speaker
This second criteria explains why the FBI has caught 492 of the 529 fugitives who have been on the list, a capture rate of 93%. But there's one case that has haunted FBI agents for decades. Though his picture was on the FBI Most Wanted list from December 8th, 2007 to September 7th, 2022,
00:02:22
Speaker
To this day, he has yet to be caught. This is the case of the 489th entrant on the FBI's most wanted list, Jason Derek Brown.
00:03:08
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases
Family Visit and Suspicion Arises
00:03:13
Speaker
cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:03:17
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:03:45
Speaker
It was Tuesday, November 30, 2004, when Jason Derek Brown called up his sister, Jamie. She had just recently moved from Laguna Beach to Rancho Santa Margarita.
00:03:58
Speaker
It was tradition for Jamie that she go all out in decorating her home after the Thanksgiving weekend. And that's exactly what she was doing when Jason called. And Maggie, that is so you to go all out decorating for the fall. I am already listening to Christmas music as we speak. Has it started? Only because the Backstreet Boys released a new Christmas album.
00:04:26
Speaker
Well, November 5th is where the videos start playing Christmas music, and that is when I start tuning in. So I'm right there with Jamie on all of this. In their conversation, Jamie mentioned how much she and her son missed Jason since she hadn't seen him much in the past year. And he said that he would come and visit soon, and they got off the phone. Immediately, the doorbell rang.
00:04:50
Speaker
When Jamie answered, there was her brother, Jason, grinning from ear to ear, his black Escalade parked in the street outside. Surprise, he yelled. And Jamie and her son were both ecstatic, though her son was a little bit sad because he was about to leave for the rest of the week. And so he only calmed down with the thought that Jason would still be there when he returned the following Sunday.
00:05:18
Speaker
Okay, I know he's on the FBI or was on the FBI's most wanted list, but that's really sweet. With her son out of the house, Jamie and her brother lived it up for the week, going out every night to a different hotspot in what felt like every town along the California coast. Again, living it up, meeting up with a different friend group of Jason's old friends at each bar.
00:05:44
Speaker
and then closing the place down, partying each night until about two to three a.m. I'd be exhausted. Yeah, I would be angry as well, because I would be sleepy. But they were having so much fun together. Jamie's son returned Sunday evening, and her brother Jason drove him to school the next morning on Monday, December 6th. He told Jamie, Jason did,
00:06:10
Speaker
that he was going to go golfing with their brother David and that then he would be home where he would have dinner with Jamie and her son. However, while Jamie was out still running errands, Jason called again to ask if she were home yet.
00:06:26
Speaker
He said he needed in because the sprinkler system at his home in Arizona had gone off and that it was flooding his house. So he needed to grab his things that he had brought with him when he came to visit her and then head out. And he'd already been there for like five days at this point.
00:06:44
Speaker
That's kind of strange though, but okay. Yeah. So he says my sprinkler system's going, it's flooding my whole place. I've got to get out. And she says, okay, well, you know, it'll be just a minute for me to get home. And he wasn't stressed. He took his time packing his clothes. Once she got there, he was folding them neatly, organizing them into his vehicle. So if the flooding were an emergency,
00:07:12
Speaker
He didn't seem particularly in a hurry. Yeah, I would be like throwing things in my car. Yeah. Actually, I probably would have just left all of my crap and been like, you can ship it to me in Arizona. Right. But yeah, I mean, he just calmly, slowly packed everything, loaded it in the car, reorganized. And after he packed, he gave his sister Jamie a hug goodbye and drove off in his Escalade.
Connection to Crime and FBI Involvement
00:07:38
Speaker
It wasn't until a cousin called to tell Jamie to turn on the news that she saw that every station was showing images of her brother Jason in connection to a murder and robbery that Jamie knew the true reason why he had left. She was thinking this cannot be true.
00:08:02
Speaker
So freaking out, Jamie took two Xanax and poured a glass of wine. And when that didn't calm her nerves and not wanting, cause you know, her phone is now ringing off the hook by people calling to see, you know, if she had seen the news.
00:08:18
Speaker
And she didn't want to disturb her son. He was in another room, oblivious to this entire situation. And since she couldn't calm down, she put her phone on silent. She clipped the leash on her dog and took the dog for a walk to clear her head. While walking around the block, Jamie, who was taught by their father to be ever vigilant and aware of her surroundings, noticed unmarked vehicles around her block.
00:08:49
Speaker
So she saw one, then she saw a second, then she saw a third, and her anxiety rose. She's also very loopy, I'm sure, at the moment. I mean, I don't know what that, you know, combination has on a person, but I would think
00:09:12
Speaker
she's maybe her anxiety paired with, you know, seeing the vehicles and then paired with the drugs and wine may have escalated it even more. Potentially. And she said, I mean, she said, you know, normally that would make somebody feel intoxicated, but she said her adrenaline was so high that
00:09:33
Speaker
It didn't even seem to happen. So her anxiety is rising because she's thinking, oh my gosh, they've come for Jason, but he's gone. What if they think my son is Jason? And he comes out and they shoot him. So she begins to quicken her pace and then eventually to run toward her house. And that was when she was tackled to the ground by FBI agents.
Jason's Background and Influences
00:10:02
Speaker
They brought her inside and began questioning both Jamie and her son about Jason. So now I'm gonna backtrack because I want you to understand how we got to this point with Jason Derek Brown. So Jason and his siblings were raised in Southern California in a large family that was very involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
00:10:29
Speaker
which is what they go by, right? I think for a while it was Mormon than LDS, but now it's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jason was born on July 1st, 1969. His childhood, especially as he gets a little bit older, could only be described as tumultuous. On the one hand, their father made life fun.
00:10:58
Speaker
He was constantly betting the kids money if they could pull his shoes off while they were still on his feet or drink a jug of milk, a whole jug, he'd bet them. Jamie stated in her book, Center of Attention, a True Crime Memoir, quote, life was a game and there was money to win, end quote. And her parents didn't argue in front of the kids. Their mother,
00:11:27
Speaker
She was very involved in the kid's life, but it was all a facade. Their mother was meek and soft spoken, mostly because she was always continually trying to appease their father, her husband. According to Jamie, things were good as long as everyone did what their father wanted.
00:11:52
Speaker
And then I feel like she spent her whole childhood probably tiptoeing around her dad. Yeah. And so at the same time, there's that fun loving, like, I'm going to bet you $20 you can't drink this whole thing of milk. There's also the other side that especially showed itself when their parents divorced. So Jamie talks about it in her book about her mom finally making the decision to leave the marriage and
00:12:23
Speaker
That's when everything went downhill and she said her father's true self really came out. Jamie told Colleen Sakura of 12 News Phoenix, quote, Jason didn't just wake up one day like this. He was trained as a young child from the age of eight, nine years old to be a criminal. My dad used to beat the bad out of him.
00:12:51
Speaker
because he knew he was just like my dad, and then he ended up becoming my dad's little minion, helping him with all his dirty work." See, their dad, David Brown Sr., had a long history of swindling and stealing.
00:13:09
Speaker
For example, when their father was younger, he had stolen collectible stamps and other items and then was subsequently expelled from Brigham Young University. He gambled away his money and he would call on others to make up for his own debts. And the children wanting so bad for their father
00:13:28
Speaker
who had custody of them after the divorce because Jamie says he falsely accused their mother of abusing the kids, right? So she said he made up the story again as like a form of control. Okay, so did they lose contact with their mom then after this? Almost. So all of the kids except for Jamie basically cut their mom off.
00:13:55
Speaker
because they wanted so bad for their dad to praise and love them. So they would do whatever he asked them to do. So essentially then, whatever Jason Derek Brown did, he learned how to do it from his father. Yes. In fact, here's what Jamie had to say about some of what he taught them. My father's behavior
00:14:21
Speaker
resonates in all of us because he taught all of us criminal activity. He taught all of us how to do the most insane, craziest things like breaking a key off in your front door if you don't want anyone that has a key to come into your house or teaching us how to steal or
00:14:44
Speaker
And I think that with Jason, he didn't know the difference between right and wrong. And the sins of the father are carried down generations. Their father would even leave $100 bills lying around the house and urge the boys to take what they needed when they needed it. So in hindsight, for Jamie, this is a manipulative way to draw them into his lifestyle.
00:15:13
Speaker
He would have his children lie to the police, to friends, to debt collectors alike in order to protect him, to protect their father, and especially so after the parents divorced. And if the debt collector called, then they would have to lie on the phone and say he wasn't there.
00:15:33
Speaker
In her book, Jamie said of herself and her siblings, quote, we were at one, his children, hostages, enablers and his bodyguards, end quote. And all of that, of course, was at the expense of the children. Jamie said of Jason the following. And it was innate. I mean, it was genetics. It was, you know,
00:15:59
Speaker
Like it's the sins of the father visited upon the children, you know? And that narcissism and sociopath behavior, you know, is genetic. And Jason did have that in him as much as he tried to fight those demons. He wasn't able to, you know, went on a mission. He tried his best, but he couldn't escape
Life Changes and Financial Struggles
00:16:21
Speaker
them. That doesn't mean he didn't try.
00:16:24
Speaker
Despite the emotional roller coaster that was their childhood, Jason went on to attend Laguna Beach High School and to serve his mission for the church from 1988 to 1990. And since I'm not familiar with the religion, I spoke with a coworker of mine who is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to gain some insight into the expectations of the church.
00:16:47
Speaker
and of its young members to go on mission. So young men are expected to serve 24 months, hence why he was gone for two years. And before they go on mission, they go to a missionary training center for nine to 12 weeks where they do this intensive study of gospel, of the gospel, and they do an intensive language study.
00:17:13
Speaker
And my coworker said it's so intensive that when they come back from mission, they sound exactly like a native speaker. And she said that she read that the FBI actually predominantly hires members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
00:17:33
Speaker
for language interpretation because of this intensive study, because it's so good. So basically they could go in just knowing how to speak English and they come out being fluent in French or fluent in whatever. And Brown did serve his mission in France. And as a result of that intensive training, he spoke fluent French. After coming back, Jason Derrick Brown was engaged and then married in 1991.
00:18:03
Speaker
He also owned a golf business that he ran from his home. So Jason and his brother David, yeah, would go around to golf courses, which they loved to golf. So this was a perfect fit trying to convince these golf courses to buy advertisements. So it was like a golf slash advertising business.
00:18:22
Speaker
However, things changed for Brown in 1995. That was the year that he and his wife divorced. She wanted the white picket fence and children and he didn't. Jamie said her brother Jason had expressed concern actually over having children and said he was too afraid that they would turn out like him, which sat all that just breaks my heart. Yeah, that's heartbreaking.
00:18:50
Speaker
It was also the year that David Senior, their father, disappeared. Either as a result of foul play that led to his death or trying to flee from all of his accumulated debts. And he's never been found. Wow. Jamie actually happened upon her brothers, Jason and David, cleaning out their father's things.
00:19:21
Speaker
And I'll come back to that here in a bit. But from that moment, it seems all of Brown's priorities shifted and he no longer acted the same. So when they're cleaning out his house, do they know that he is potentially fleeing because of his death or could be dead? Yes. I'll tell you more about that here in a bit.
00:19:43
Speaker
At this point in Brown's life, if not before, it seems that there was a distinct difference between the perception of Jason Derek Brown and the reality, which of course only blurs the truth. I mean, maybe Jason is a little bit of both versions of himself. Maybe he is one version, but desperately wanted to be the other version. It's hard to tell. Those from the outside who were looking at Brown
00:20:13
Speaker
believed that he imported golf equipment and was very successful at it, as evidenced by all of his toys. He was seen as a big kid at heart and he loved his ATV, dirt bikes, snowboarding, going out to nightclubs, and he was generous with his money, always picking up the tab when he was out with friends.
00:20:37
Speaker
For the past six months, so for most of 2004, and remember that's the year that we're in with the crime. For the past six months, Brown had been living in Salt Lake City, Utah, renting a house in the 3900 block of Nighthawk Way.
00:20:53
Speaker
According to an article from the Associated Press published on Awatuki.com on November 27, 2012, quote, neighbors described him as a high roller with plenty of boy toys from large green televisions to boats and cars, end quote. One of those neighbors, John Pike, who had a house down the street from the one that Brown rented, told the Associated Press in that same article, quote, he was like a kid. He was friendly and young, end quote.
00:21:24
Speaker
and a friend, Jared Lively, told law enforcement that Brown was, as cited in Tom Marcink's March 1st, 2014 article in Phoenix Magazine, quote, a really cool guy, end quote, fun to hang out with, end quote. He went on to state that Brown had a quote, endless checkbook and would quote, spend three, four, $500 a night on drinks and whatever, end quote.
00:21:54
Speaker
Even ex-girlfriends, like one who came forward to Phoenix Law Enforcement, said that Brown gave her $5,000 cash to get breast implants, and that he often spent money on, quote, strippers and partiers, end quote. So that's the side he's showing. Oh, yeah, so he definitely is living a lavish lifestyle. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Despite the show of money, though, Maggie, another part of reality was that Brown was beginning to grow desperate.
00:22:24
Speaker
He was in debt, defaulting on large loans. He was riddled with tens of thousands of dollars in that debt. Previously, he had relied on the kind of cons and schemes that his sister says he learned from his father to pay for things. According to a November 27, 2012 article in the Salt Lake City Tribune by Michael McFall, Phoenix detective Paul Brown
00:22:53
Speaker
declared his belief that Jason Derrick Brown could have been the face behind several unsolved thefts and home invasions around the area, though that theory has never been proven true. That's just his.
00:23:05
Speaker
theory. Speculation. Exactly.
Planning and Execution of the Crime
00:23:08
Speaker
Additionally, a Fox News article by Melissa Underwood, published on February 7th, 2008, notes that others believe Brown to have succeeded in multiple check and bank fraud schemes over the years, even sometimes purchasing vehicles using a fake address and social security number. So whether true or not, most people believe that Brown was very good at the con game.
00:23:34
Speaker
Oh, for sure. But his money troubles were catching up to him. And this time his money troubles were different. While we don't know the details of what he was going through, giving insight obviously into that side of him was not part of the image that he wanted to publicly share. And that's why we don't know. The theory of motivation, if he committed this crime,
00:24:01
Speaker
is that this kind of debt that he was in was something he needed big money for. And that this situation required something more drastic than the standard schemes. And he landed on a plan, but it was a plan that would require him to cross from what we know of new and unthinkable boundaries.
00:24:28
Speaker
His plan was not something that he kept to himself, even though it was something he may have carried out alone. More on that word, may, later. He told several of his friends about his plan to rob an armored truck. But he brought it up in such a way, Maggie, that they thought he was either joking or they chalked it up to random drunken comments. They didn't know how serious he was.
00:24:56
Speaker
And I feel like that's quite an undertaking because it's an armored truck. Right. Yeah. Yeah. This isn't, you know, Girl Scouts.
00:25:07
Speaker
right that you're robbing or even like a Walmart, you're robbing an armored truck. The sky was clear and the temperatures hovered around 47 degrees at 10 a.m. in Awatuki, Arizona. It's an urban village on the southernmost point of metropolitan Phoenix on the morning of November 29, 2004.
00:25:29
Speaker
Young 24-year-old father and armored car courier for Dunbar-Armored, Robert Keith Palomares, got out of the truck to collect the Thanksgiving weekend box office money from the AMC Theater, located at 50th Street and East Ray Road. 4915 East Ray Road, to be precise. As always, the truck driver stayed behind with the vehicle to protect it.
00:25:55
Speaker
However, it wasn't the content of the truck that was at risk. It was the deposit from the theater, which is actually very smart because at one point that person carrying the money from the theater to the truck
00:26:13
Speaker
is going to be alone with just a bag of money. Right. And that Thanksgiving weekend deposit should have been a big one. It was the opening weekend for National Treasure and Christmas with the Cranks and other movies that had recently come out like Polar Express.
00:26:33
Speaker
Yes. The SpongeBob SquarePants movie and The Incredibles were all still playing. 2004 was a good year. It was a good year for movies. Keith Palomares had just been handed the bank bag containing $56,039.07 and turned to walk toward the truck when a man jumped in front of him.
00:26:57
Speaker
The man was wearing black jeans and a dark hooded sweatshirt, and quickly pointed a .45 caliber handgun at Palomares. Without making any demands or speaking a word, and before Palomares was even able to unholster his weapon, the perpetrator fired six shots in quick succession. Five of those six shots hit Palomares in the head.
00:27:25
Speaker
Wow. This shooting was at 10 a.m. in broad daylight among a crowd of witnesses. The calls from frantic eyewitnesses immediately began pouring in. The content of the calls were accounts of seeing either a Caucasian or Hispanic man. Most of the eyewitnesses said they saw a Hispanic man with a goatee
00:27:54
Speaker
wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Was Jason Derek Brown Hispanic? He was not. He looked to them to be between 25 and 30. The witnesses either heard or saw the shooting. One man reported that he saw the man struggling to wrench the black and tan bag of money
00:28:16
Speaker
from Paul Ameris's hand as he still had a grip on the bag. And once he was fully able to break the bag loose, the man fumbled, dropping both his gun and the bag of money, which he quickly picked back up before hopping onto a red and black mountain bike to make his getaway. One witness, a painter in the area, had yelled, stop! And the perpetrator had actually stopped the bike and looked at the man.
00:28:47
Speaker
Of course, then the man, realizing this is probably not a good idea to put myself in danger since I'm not armed, ran away and the shooter rode off. Wow. And I don't know why he chose a bike as his getaway.
00:29:03
Speaker
I wonder if maybe he thought it would be less obvious, but it's slow. Yeah, it's super. Yeah. Way slower than a vehicle. But I do think you're right because there were a lot of bicyclists in the area. So maybe he's attempting to blend in, get lost in the crowd. I mean, plus, you know, you've got the fact that a bike doesn't have a license plate. Yeah. And it can, I guess, weave in and out of traffic and go into narrow places. Yep.
00:29:28
Speaker
And it's harder to describe. And easier to get rid of. Yeah, exactly. It's a lot easier to ditch. Mm-hmm. One 911 transcript. According to an article from December 7, 2004 in the East Valley Tribune reads, quote, there's been a shooting. An armored car officer just got shot to death, and the guy just stole his money. The guy has been shot at least six times. The officer, he's still moving. We need an ambulance here fast, end quote.
00:29:59
Speaker
An ambulance was dispatched to the scene and Palomares was taken to nearby Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Because there were so many witnesses, at least local law enforcement knew what they were looking for. And because this crime involved the robbing of an armored vehicle, so a truck carrying federally insured funds across state lines,
00:30:25
Speaker
the FBI was immediately alerted and brought into the investigation as well. Keep in mind, it goes back to what you said earlier, an armored car robbery compared to even a bank robbery is far more rare because they tend to be more violent. Because the guards of this armored car are armed, they have on bulletproof vests.
00:30:54
Speaker
And there's always at least two of them. Right. So a large scale land and air search immediately commenced. According to an article by Byron Wells in the East Valley Tribune, dogs were brought in and those dogs were able to follow the scent from the scene of the shooting to near the location of the bike.
00:31:17
Speaker
That's amazing. Yep. And then the aerial search also confirmed that they saw a bike ditched in some bushes near a shopping center in an industrial area. So whomever had committed the crime had then either fled on foot or taken a car. The bike was taken into evidence and immediately tested for fingerprints. Those prints came back as belonging to 35 year old Jason Derek Brown.
Evidence and Investigation
00:31:47
Speaker
I wonder why though, if he's basically been conditioned since childhood to be this criminal. I wonder why he wouldn't have thought about fingerprints. I'm so glad you brought that up because it also makes no sense to me. So we're going to talk about some of those oddities like that here in just a bit.
00:32:14
Speaker
What also seemed puzzling for law enforcement was that Brown's record when they ran it wasn't that bad. I mean, generally speaking, those who graduate to something like this kind of a crime, a violent assassination, have a history of violent crimes on their record. Brown didn't.
00:32:38
Speaker
Now, you might be wondering how they have his fingerprints, you know, if he hadn't committed a crime like this in the past. And it's because of two reasons. First, Jason had been arrested before, right? I mean, he'd had these
00:32:53
Speaker
these scams and schemes, right? So he'd been arrested for those. He had been arrested before in North Carolina. Remember, I said that he and his brother were going around to different golf courses trying to convince them to advertise with the business. Well, in this particular instance, Jason and his brother David had stolen from several golf shops there in North Carolina. So David would distract the worker while Jason stole high end clubs.
00:33:22
Speaker
And it's kind of like what Jamie said, even as kids, their dad would distract the cashier, the kids would steal.
00:33:30
Speaker
And some of the Gulf workers in the shops caught onto it, alerted the authorities who were able to kind of figure out where they might be going next. And once they figured that out, law enforcement actually pulled them over. And both Jason and David gave California IDs that were not their real names. So they had fake IDs as well.
00:33:56
Speaker
So they had, but again, not like crazy, violent things. Right. Exactly. Stealing is bad, but you're not murdering someone. Right.
00:34:06
Speaker
The second reason that his prints popped up was because earlier in November 2004, just a couple of weeks before the murder robbery, Jason had filled out an application for a concealed weapons permit and had taken a firearms instruction class at the Totally Awesome Guns and Range in Salt Lake City.
00:34:30
Speaker
It wasn't look fishy at all. I know. Yeah. For the concealed carry application, Brown had been fingerprinted and his picture taken as well as his background checked. And like I said, the check came back with no like major violent criminal, you know, red flags with weapons. Really, it was just like that arrest in North Carolina and things like that. So Brown purchased the gun, a .45 caliber Glock.
00:35:00
Speaker
and high power, hollow tip ammunition from the gun store. And then he took the instruction course to improve his shooting skills because Jason didn't really know how to shoot. Later, when asked by law enforcement, the instructor for the firearms course recalled Brown as a quote, obnoxious student, end quote, who was inexperienced with a gun.
00:35:31
Speaker
Oh, this would 100% be how I would be described. Every time Anthony tries to take me to like a range or something to shoot, I squeal every time I pull the trigger. It's just not for me. Yeah. Yeah. So here's Jason who's not a very good shot, right? He needs this practice. We do know also that in the days between the purchase of the gun and the crime,
00:35:57
Speaker
Brown had been practicing his shooting in the desert right outside of Phoenix. He had been setting up paper plates at various distances as targets. And we know this because there was a campsite nearby one of his shooting practice locations and one of his shots had missed the plate and had instead hit a nearby 1999 Ford F-250 pickup truck that was at the campsite.
00:36:24
Speaker
So Jason goes over, he profusely apologizes to the truck owner for the damages, and he actually wrote his name and contact information on a paper plate that he then handed to the man who had been camping with his young son. So Brown left with the promise that he would pay this man to have the truck fixed. I feel like you shouldn't be practicing
00:36:51
Speaker
shooting targets where there are, you know, potentially people you could hit. Right, right. So with the recent date of the gun shop fingerprinting, law enforcement headed there. And the man who sold the gun to Brown remembers how thrilled the FBI had been to put a recent face with the name.
00:37:13
Speaker
Also, imagine how taken aback they must have been that Jason Derek Brown was smirking in the photograph in their mind, knowing full well the reason that he was purchasing that gun and practicing how to shoot.
00:37:30
Speaker
In addition to the link between Brown and the purchase of the gun matching the murder weapon, once they began running financial records, law enforcement were able to uncover the fact that Brown had been staying at the Extended Stay America Hotel at 50th Street and Chandler Boulevard a week before the murder, only a couple of miles away from the crime scene.
00:37:56
Speaker
Was he doing that to scope things out or get a timeline of deliveries and pickups? Yes, because he had been driving a silver BMW two-door sedan with a custom M3 package and one worker had even seen Brown struggling to get a bike out of the BMW. Hmm.
00:38:19
Speaker
The description of Brown's silver vehicle coming in also matched witnesses from the area who had remarked that in the days leading to the homicide, they had seen a silver vehicle parked in various places near the theater, like a different place each time for hours at a time. So it did seem like Brown had been surveilling the scene and plotting details of how the crime would take place.
00:38:51
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:41:30
Speaker
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Speaker
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Escape and Family Dynamics
00:42:25
Speaker
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Speaker
go to zencaster.com forward slash pricing and use our code coffee and cases, all one word. You'll get 30% off your first three months of Zencaster Professional. We want you to have the same easy experience we do for all our podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story. So from there, Maggie, they were able to put a lot of pieces into place concerning Jason Derek Brown.
00:43:01
Speaker
Based upon a close eye on Brown's finances, they were able to see a $2,000 deposit made into his bank account. That deposit, and this is after the robbery, that deposit was made in Henderson, Nevada. So we were in Phoenix, Arizona. Yeah, and Salt Lake City, Utah for a little bit, right? That's where he was staying right before all of this went down.
00:43:31
Speaker
because the robbery happened in Awatuki, which is that suburb of Phoenix. But now he's making a deposit in Nevada. So since it was clear that Brown had fled, and now with a fingerprint match on the bike, the purchase of a gun matching the murder weapon, and all of this evidence seeming to link him to the crime with sightings of his car in connection with the area and in connection with the bike,
00:43:56
Speaker
It was important for local law enforcement to hold a press conference to reach a broad audience alerting the public to be on the lookout for this man who had crossed state lines.
00:44:10
Speaker
This press conference, though, had actually been a point of contention between the FBI, who wanted more time before the public was alerted, and the local police, who now that, in their minds, they knew their suspect, wanted everyone to be on the lookout in order to apprehend Brown. According to an article from the archives of fbi.gov, on December 4, 2004, only five days after the shooting,
00:44:40
Speaker
quote, an Arizona state arrest warrant was issued by the Superior Court of the state of Arizona, charging Jason Derrick Brown with first degree murder and armed robbery. Two days later, Brown was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and a federal arrest warrant issued by the United States District Court, District of Arizona, end quote. So now he has both a state warrant
00:45:07
Speaker
and a federal one. The result of that press conference, though, Maggie, was not that someone phoned police with a tip that led to Jason Derek Brown's arrest, however. Okay, that's what I was going to ask. Was it at least successful? No. Instead, the result was for the media to attempt to call because, of course, the media is at this press conference. So the media wanting a story
00:45:33
Speaker
attempts to call every Brown in the phone book, trying to get in contact with a family member of some sort who they could interview so they could have a story. One call came in to Jason's brother, David, who immediately called Jason to let him know that a reporter from Arizona had called him. His face was all over the news.
00:46:00
Speaker
So then I'm gonna guess because of that, we are kind of in this predicament of him potentially fleeing to end up on the FBI's most wonderful place. Right, so when his brother tells him this, instead of the press conference leading to Brown's capture, it actually led to him being tipped off that he needed to flee.
00:46:26
Speaker
And it was right after he met his brother at his brother's office and his brother told him all this that he had made up that story about the sprinklers flooding his home to his sister to explain why he needed to leave. OK, so now we've come full circle. Exactly. And so he's having this conversation with his brother, though.
00:46:48
Speaker
And this makes no sense to me, but right before he still nonchalantly, calmly packed his car and without rush hugged his sister goodbye and drove off. You know, I wonder if it's one of those things where you are so anxious about something and then you finally just come to grips with that or come to terms with it. And it's almost as if you can just breathe again and you're just fine with it.
00:47:16
Speaker
You know, right? Yeah, I just was so so clear headed at that point. He made his decision. He knew what he was going to do. Maybe. And so when Jamie was tackled to the ground by the FBI that I told you about in the very beginning of the episode. At this point, it was, you know, again, hard for her to believe that her brother had actually committed the crime.
00:47:41
Speaker
Because in her head, if he had really committed such a heinous crime, would he have gone out in public with her all week long and acted like his normal self? So she's thinking, surely they have the wrong guy. And this is just- She's hiding in plain sight. Yeah. Well, she's thinking like, if you commit that kind of a crime and that's why you're fleeing,
00:48:09
Speaker
would you really go out to all these nightclubs and be out in like these hopping joints all night long? So she's like, this has to be a huge misunderstanding. And so then she starts second guessing herself, Maggie, because there were some abnormalities in his behavior over the course of those five days that she had overlooked. So here are some of those weird things.
00:48:34
Speaker
that stood out to her. Normally, he would have picked up the tab on a night after going out. He said that he did. He never let her pay for anything, but he didn't this time. He was insistent on locking the front door of the home. There was one night when she forgot to lock it and he gave her down the road for not locking the front door.
00:49:01
Speaker
There was also one night when they were speeding along to their destination and she said, Jamie said that was a family trait of loving fast cars and going anywhere faster than is required. That was something that both she and her brother Jason shared was that trait that she was driving fast and he yelled at her to slow down. And she's thinking since when did he want to do anything slow? Oh, I bet he didn't want to get pulled over. Well, right.
00:49:28
Speaker
She said that he was listening to rap music that he never listened to before and that he was watching this television show on that was about the San Quentin prison and All the while he's watching it. He was making comments like I could never make it there Hmm
00:49:48
Speaker
Even when he was leaving, there was a twinge of caution at something that he said. In that same article on 12 News Phoenix, Jamie told Colleen Sikora, quote, I remembered hugging him and I said, when are you coming back? And he goes, I'll be back someday. I remember him hugging me again like a second hug, like a tighter hug.
00:50:12
Speaker
And then I just watched him drive off. And in the back of my head, I was thinking, why would he say something like that? Like someday, end quote. But all of these things are in her mind, Maggie. They still don't lead up to what she was hearing he was accused of doing. Right. That is an equal murderer. Yeah. So when the FBI asked Jamie what time her brother left and what he had been driving, she lied.
00:50:42
Speaker
Instead of telling them that he was driving the black Escalade, she told them that he had been driving his silver BMW. And, you know, I feel like we're kind of all quick to say, oh, Jamie, oh, my gosh, she lied. But then put yourself in that situation. And I wonder how many people could honestly say they would not have done the same thing for their brother. Right. I mean, I don't know how to answer that because
00:51:06
Speaker
I would want to say I would have told the FBI the truth, but I've never been in that situation. So who are we to judge her for what she said? Right. And when she was asked what time he had left, she said earlier in the afternoon, and that was not the truth. The truth was that he had left not even two hours before they had tackled her in the front yard.
00:51:31
Speaker
It was that close. So, particularly, they could have caught up to him. As soon as the FBI left, Jamie called David, her brother, to let him know what had happened. And David then told Jamie, quote, you need to tell the FBI exactly what really happened. You can't save Jason now. You've got to save yourself, end quote. And Jamie did finally come clean about her lies.
00:51:58
Speaker
All the while, Jamie had been trying to get in touch with her brother and had no success. He was not answering her calls. They were going straight to voicemail.
00:52:10
Speaker
In an interview with FBI agent Lance Leising, who was in charge of the case, Jerry Williams on her podcast, FBI Retired Case File Review, Leising stated that Brown had ripped out the on-star tracking from his vehicle as he left Jamie's home to Flea Town and head south.
00:52:30
Speaker
What'd he do with his cell phone? Just turn it off? Yeah, because I know he made calls from it. But I asked Jamie if she tried to call him and she said yes, but it was going straight to voicemail. But he still has it. And we know he still has it because of some things I'll tell you in a second. But here's the FBI. There are only two hours behind him. But they're looking for the wrong car. But the FBI are starting to put the timeline together. So the FBI know that.
00:53:00
Speaker
Brown fled in his BMW to Henderson, Nevada. While he was there, he deposited $2,000 in cash that morning after the murder. After pulling cell phone pings, the FBI saw Brown within a two mile radius of the theater at the time of the shooting. They saw the movement of his car based on those cell phone pings toward the Phoenix airport.
00:53:28
Speaker
It pinged at a 24-hour fitness center where the security footage at this fitness center showed Brown take a duffel bag inside the fitness center and leave without it. And after being gone for 30 to 45 minutes, coming back to retrieve the bag.
00:53:52
Speaker
He then drove to the Phoenix International Airport and pulled into a parking garage, stayed there a while, and then exited.
Tactics and Evasion
00:54:01
Speaker
So one, I'm wondering what someone put in the bag that he came back for, right? Because obviously that's what has to have happened. That's why I'm thinking about it too. Did he pull, and it almost makes me think perhaps it was like a passport, a fake passport of some sort, you know, fake travel documents. Maybe.
00:54:23
Speaker
And so do you think he pulled into the Phoenix airport just as a kind of thing, trying to get them off? Yes, I do. I do. Because during that time that Brown was continuing to head south, he was heading south toward the Mexican border. And we know that because we know he stopped to buy gas in South Orange County and he used a credit card to pay.
00:54:49
Speaker
And then he's not really trying to hide where he is. Right. Well, I think that's why I think he was doing it to throw them off. Because that's the only time he uses the credit card. So he pays for gas in South Orange County and then continues to drive to San Diego, an attempt to make law enforcement believe that he was going to cross the border into Mexico.
00:55:13
Speaker
All the while, even though Jamie's calls were going to voicemail, Jason was making calls and receiving other calls. Specifically receiving them from the man whose truck he had struck with a stray bullet.
00:55:28
Speaker
So the man had gotten estimates for repairing his truck of $1,300, and he had left several messages with Jason, including one right around the time Paula Maris was murdered, letting Brown know the cost of the repairs. And the day after the crime,
00:55:46
Speaker
Jason called him back to say how bad he felt that he hadn't yet sent the check out and that he would drop it in the mail. And listen, I know that Jason murdered someone and that he is running from the law and is still to this day a fugitive, but I would almost guarantee he paid that $1,300 to fix this man's truck. Well, we'll get to that and some other theories.
00:56:16
Speaker
At this point, Brown then switched gears and began heading toward Las Vegas. So he didn't cross the border into Mexico. He turns around and starts heading to Las Vegas for a very specific reason. You see, Brown had a rented storage locker in Las Vegas, which held in it a black Cadillac Escalade.
00:56:39
Speaker
So Brown switched vehicles, leaving his now recognizable silver BMW in its place. After switching vehicles, Brown then went to California to visit his sister for the next five days until December 6, 2004. And then when the FBI agents arrived, like I said, with the federal warrant in hand to arrest Jason Derrick Brown, they had barely missed him.
00:57:09
Speaker
So that's how they kind of got all their information. That was their process. Not only did Jamie and their friends and family see Brown's face flashing across the news on December 6th, but so did the truck owner who had just recently spoken on the phone with Jason.
00:57:28
Speaker
And I'm sure at that moment, he probably in his mind wrote off ever getting that money. Yeah. He was like, well, that's never going to happen. Yeah. So he went to the police about his contact with Brown. And imagine his surprise then when he received in the mail not only
00:57:47
Speaker
a $1,300 cashier's check, and a note of apology from Brown, but also a $200 Toys R Us gift card for his son. See, I told you. So Jason Derek Brown had not given the man a fake phone number. He had given this man his real cell phone number.
00:58:10
Speaker
Yeah, and I bet he meant the apology that he gave and the money being delayed. And I think you're right. I think he actually meant that apology because during his escape from the FBI, he stopped to mail money to mail this man the money. And so a random man, right? The same guy
00:58:34
Speaker
who the FBI is telling Jamie had just point blank assassinated a man for money, had taken time to pay this truck owner for damages that he had caused and to think of this man's son. And it's that dichotomy of character that does not make sense to me. It's almost like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That's what it would seem.
00:59:04
Speaker
Yeah. But as I alluded to earlier, the truck owner wasn't the only one that Jason Derek Brown was on the phone with after the murder. He was also speaking with another sibling, his brother David. They spoke with each other no fewer than 40 times the day of the murder. Wow. And that makes some people believe that his brother knew about the crime ahead of time.
00:59:32
Speaker
However, it is a lot. However, his brother said that the calls were just mere small talk and nothing about a robbery nor a murder. Just questions like, hey, what's the address for that 24 hour fitness center that's in Tempe, Arizona that you have a membership to? And that was the very fitness center where Jason had been caught on video.
01:00:00
Speaker
Yeah, dropping off the duffel bag, right? Yeah. And so the duffel bag, the multiple calls, all of that is so bizarre to me. So I'm thinking, was he making all of these calls in an attempt to throw off law enforcement knowing that they would be indicating him going south, right? Because it would be pinging, pinging, pinging, pinging, pinging, right?
01:00:26
Speaker
Is that why he's making all those calls so it would ping those cell towers to throw law enforcement off on his track knowing he's intending to make other plans? And then as for the duffel bag, I'm with you Maggie, what was in it? Why did he have to leave it somewhere for a period of time? Where did he go in the meantime for that 30 to 45 minutes?
01:00:48
Speaker
Was there somebody in the gym who took something out of it or put something in it while it was unattended? I mean, was he in cahoots with someone else?
01:01:00
Speaker
I wonder if there was video footage from the gym of someone else with the bag, like he put it in a locker and someone else got it out and put it back in. Not that I'm aware of, not that I'm aware of, but there is video footage of something else that I'll bring up here in a bit. By this point, the FBI were monitoring everything that Jason owned, and this is of course after he's already switched the vehicles, but now they know that he had two storage units,
01:01:28
Speaker
one in Las Vegas and one in Austin, Texas. They also knew that he had P.O. boxes, so they began to monitor all of those things, the storage units, the P.O. box. And it was the P.O. boxes that showed Brown had stopped two more times. Once in San Diego and then later in Portland to mail packages addressed to his brother, David.
01:01:58
Speaker
to those PO boxes. Those packages included items like a phone and laptop, some videos, a PlayStation, a gun, not the murder weapon, a hoodie, two-way radio, and David's 24-hour fitness membership card. Random things. The FBI contacted David to ask
01:02:22
Speaker
if he had had any contact with Jason. He denied knowing anything about where Jason or his silver BMW might be. However, the FBI got a report when they were monitoring all of these things and they're looking at David because obviously these packages are addressed to him. They got a report that there were two individuals at Jason's Austin, Texas storage unit removing items.
01:02:51
Speaker
When they arrived they found David and a friend of Jason's removing all of the items from the storage facility. They said that they were there to get his things out to sell it. But why? Right. And how would they know?
01:03:10
Speaker
In the meantime, the FBI got a search warrant also for the Las Vegas unit and they were able to finally get in, but there was no silver BMW there. Right. Even though we know Jason dropped it off there. I swear. Did David pick it up? He did.
01:03:32
Speaker
So after initially denying that, saying, I don't know anything about a storage unit in Las Vegas, David finally admitted after neighbors spotted a silver BMW down the street from where David lived, that he had picked up his brother's
Current Whereabouts and Theories
01:03:49
Speaker
BMW from the storage facility, drove it back to California from Las Vegas, and had it deep cleaned. What is strange to me here is
01:04:02
Speaker
I guess, are David's actions, cleaning out the storage unit, getting the car, getting it deep cleaned, before or after he told Jamie she needed to worry about herself that she couldn't save Jason? After. After. Well, yeah, after. Mm-hmm. That doesn't make sense to me. I know. I know. And that's what Jamie said, too. And is this the actions of a brother just like Jamie, who is like, there's no way my brother did this, you know what I mean? Yeah.
01:04:32
Speaker
The deep cleaning of the car seems suspicious. I don't know. It's just weird. Even though David did not provide any details to help the FBI locate Jason Derek Brown, some of the evidence that they confiscated did lead them to their next clue. That final PO box package was mailed from Portland, Oregon, which is what tipped the FBI off to search there.
01:05:03
Speaker
And this idea that Jason had, after trying to make it look like he had crossed the border in San Diego into Mexico, had actually driven straight north. At this point, because Jamie had come clean at her brother David's insistence, they knew that Jason was actually driving a black Cadillac.
01:05:28
Speaker
Jason's black Cadillac was found on January 16th, 2005 in the long-term parking lot at the Portland International Airport with a couple of the windows busted out. Law enforcement completed an investigation of the vehicle, but they were able to find no fingerprints nor DNA other than Jason's. And from there, the trail for Jason Derek Brown has gone cold.
01:05:55
Speaker
do we think he got on an international flight in Portland? I don't, most of the theories, I don't think any of them have him actually getting on a plane. Okay. As I stated earlier, he was placed on the FBI's most wanted list on December 8th, 2007, on the very day that Keith Palomares' mother, Lena Rodriguez, passed away. And he remained
01:06:25
Speaker
until just recently when he was replaced on September 7th, 2022, even though he is still a fugitive. In the time since then, Jason's brother pled guilty to lying to the FBI and was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence for which he served three years probation.
01:06:49
Speaker
The last sighting of Jason is believed to be in August 2008 at a stoplight in Salt Lake City.
01:07:01
Speaker
And remember, he had been renting a home in Salt Lake City like six months prior to the crime and he would be familiar. Yeah, but 2008 is how many years? Well, four years, right? After? So his vehicle was discovered in 2005. So this is, yeah, three years later. And this is, we believe to be, a siding.
01:07:25
Speaker
It was a friend of Jason's who was also stopped at the light and he looked over into the car next to him. Inside, the driver simultaneously looked over and the friend swears that it was Jason, even though his tan looked darker than normal and his hair was longer than he had previously kept it. He also believes he spotted his friend because after making eye contact, the driver ran the red light and sped away.
01:07:56
Speaker
Oh, looks suspicious. Since then, tips and supposed sightings haven't led really much of anywhere, even though those tips and sightings have been plentiful. And I'm talking to this day. They get, I forget how many, multiple, like many tips every month. Well, his name is kind of common, Jason Brown. It is, it is. And, you know, his description is one that could be half the man in California.
01:08:26
Speaker
A lot of people have actually compared Jason's looks to the actor Sean Penn. And there must be something to that comparison because Sean Penn's body double has actually been arrested more than once because of people mistaking him for Jason Derek Brown. Wow.
01:08:46
Speaker
Some people believe that he may be living among the church community somewhere under an assumed identity or even in a relationship with someone who has no clue about his true identity. If he's living abroad, the best guesses are that he's in Canada, France, or Thailand, though, honestly, he could be anywhere, even on a remote French-speaking island somewhere.
01:09:15
Speaker
Because after all, if he did commit this crime, he would still have all of that money. And he could have easily purchased a new ID, could have traveled anywhere in the world, and may have even had plastic surgery to modify his appearance. Because he even brought that up when he was staying with his sister, Jamie. Like, hey, can you give me the number to the plastic surgeon? You know, all of this is just very fascinating to me.
01:09:45
Speaker
And it amazes me that the FBI even really knows where to begin to look for somebody like this. It's literally a needle in a haystack. And there are other things too that we have to keep in mind because he may have had an accomplice. So near the beginning of the episode, I said that Jason had told a bunch of his friends about his plan to rob the money from the movie theater. And I told you that this was a plan that he may
01:10:15
Speaker
have been planning to accomplish alone. That is because there were also witnesses who recalled and security footage which showed, you know, you were talking about security footage and I said, I'm gonna bring up a different set of footage that showed Brown in the hotel lobby right before the murder, having an in-depth conversation with another man.
01:10:41
Speaker
Since the identity of this man remains unknown, the man could be a potential accomplice. So, I mean, was this an innocent bystander that Jason was just chatting with? Or is this someone aiding him in this crime or an escape?
01:11:02
Speaker
So what makes the search for Jason so difficult is his education and his skill set. He is fluent in French, so he could just as easily be in a place where French is the native language as he is where English is the most commonly spoken language. He has a master's degree in international business.
01:11:25
Speaker
He is smart. Yes, he is quite intelligent and he's somebody accustomed to lying and conning others. Mm hmm. He has ties to several states like Arizona, California, Texas and Utah. There are even some who believe he might be somewhere with his father who this is what I was kind of thinking 10 years before Jason did. And when he disappeared, his car was abandoned near the Mexico border.
01:11:56
Speaker
And that disappearance was something that Jason and David had helped ensure happened. So back in 1995, remember I said Jamie saw them getting rid of their dad's stuff. Jamie actually received a phone call from her father's girlfriend at the time that he hadn't come home the night before.
01:12:18
Speaker
So when she went to her father's house, that's when she saw David and Jason loading their father's things into a moving truck and throwing his clothing away. And they were just nonchalantly laughing and chatting. So she demanded what they were doing. And they told her that, quote, dad said if he wasn't coming back in 48 hours to get rid of everything out of the house, he's never coming back, end quote.
01:12:48
Speaker
So Jason would know how to cover his tracks because he had done it for his father. But can't they get in trouble for, I don't know, helping a fugitive or something like that? If the FBI knows for sure, they helped their dad. I mean, I haven't seen that David was charged with it, so I don't know. Hmm.
01:13:13
Speaker
Law enforcement hope that Brown's other interests are what may make him more identifiable. So his love and skill in outdoor sports, skiing, snowboarding, dirt bike riding, and golfing. Jason also had a love bordering on obsession with material possessions. According to Marsynx Phoenix Magazine article, Jamie said of the things that Jason owned, quote, Jason was his toys and what he had.
01:13:44
Speaker
He told Jamie that without his stuff, he'd have no reason to live." And so because of the feelings that his sister has expressed, law enforcement feel he may struggle with not being the center of attention.
Doubts and Psychological Insights
01:14:01
Speaker
as he, according to FBI.gov, quote, is known to frequent nightclubs and show off his high priced vehicles, boats, and other toys and has a history of using false identifications, end quote. So they're hoping one of those traits, you know, will show itself. But you know, we really have what he's in his fifties now. He was born in 1969.
01:14:30
Speaker
I mean, we really only have what a good 20 years, 15 years of him being able to snowboard and ski and hike before he's an old man. Yeah. But there are so many details about his mentality at the time of the murder that I don't understand. And so I wanted to bring those up. It doesn't make any sense to me.
01:14:57
Speaker
why he stopped to mail a $1,300 cashier's check and gift card. It doesn't make sense to me that he would think of everything else, yet leave fingerprints on the bike. It doesn't make sense to me how he could act like absolutely nothing was wrong while he's loading up his vehicle, even though the FBI is closing in on him and his sisters.
01:15:27
Speaker
It doesn't make any sense to me why he would call his brother so many times knowing that his calls are going to be traced. Unless he did that purposely, like you said. Right. And it also doesn't even make sense to me why when a witness yells to stop as you're leaving the scene of a crime to actually stop. Well, I wonder if a lot of that can be chopped up to this is his first big crime.
01:15:56
Speaker
Maybe. And he was maybe an amateur or maybe he wanted to be caught. Well, his sister Jamie would actually like to propose another theory. That it wasn't Jason at all who actually did the shooting.
01:16:14
Speaker
Well, the people did say it was a Hispanic man. Maybe he kind of paid someone or said, you could have a percentage of this money if you do this for me. That's what she thinks. Yeah. She said, you know, there are so many of these witnesses who say that the shooter is Hispanic. She said Jason was not experienced with a gun. Remember, even the guy who taught the course said he was not good with a gun. And this shooter landed five out of six shots.
01:16:45
Speaker
She says that Jason would have been way too smart to leave a print. She said, you know, with the training in crime that their father gave them, that a brown doesn't touch anything. They would have their minions do it, were her words. And so she's thinking what you said, like what if maybe this person from the lobby, maybe somebody else,
01:17:12
Speaker
is actually the one who commits the crime. And she said, you know, her theory is that the guy who actually did the shooting actually took the money as well because she's saying, you know, it would be weird if he had this $56,000. Then when we went out, he would have picked up the tab. Okay. So hear me out. I wonder then,
01:17:39
Speaker
If the double bag he dropped off and picked back up, somebody put money in it. It could be. I don't, I don't know. So she's thinking, you know, if, if that's what happened, if somebody else actually committed the crime, right. And they actually still took the money.
01:18:01
Speaker
And he doesn't know that his print is on the bike and maybe he did plan on splitting the money with somebody and that's why he is, you know, he's been scoping out the place and he's got the bike in his trunk that everybody sees him get out, you know, that he's not thinking he's really in
01:18:17
Speaker
much of any trouble, like he's in financial trouble. And that's kind of how she explained, right? Like maybe he planned on leaving town anyway, like with this money or without to escape that debt. Oh, and maybe it was just a coincidence that the FBI showed up at the same time. Yeah. And she's thinking,
01:18:40
Speaker
Like maybe that's why he was kind of acting nonchalantly for those five days when he was at her house, because she's saying, saying like, maybe he knew he was going to, you know, skip town to escape the debt, but he didn't know that a murder was going to get pinned on him. Yeah. That's a possibility. However, it could.
01:19:08
Speaker
also be his addictions that could help explain those inexplicable contradictions. And both Jamie and David have admitted that their brother Jason did have addictions to both alcohol and GHB, which is often called Rave. It's called Rave or the date rape drug. But it's given as a prescription for narcolepsy. And
01:19:35
Speaker
Jason had actually overdosed on GHB twice in the past.
Emotional Impact and Closing Remarks
01:19:42
Speaker
And Jason's brother David told police that GHB made Jason, quote, feel invincible, end quote. So
01:19:53
Speaker
It could be Jamie's theory. It could be that his past with his father and then now these twin addictions to alcohol and GHB, he's thinking he's invincible and he commits this crime. And maybe that could explain why he really wasn't trying to hide if he felt that sense of invincibility.
01:20:19
Speaker
As his sister Jamie commented in her book, it seems as though his time with her were his final goodbyes. So he wanted to spend time with her as a goodbye that in those days, they seem pretty close. Oh yeah. She said they weren't when they were really young, but they soon, like as they got older, they became best friends. And in those days when they were going out each night with different groups of friends, she said that she noticed
01:20:50
Speaker
each time he would pull like a couple of those friends to the side to talk to them. And after her brother was on the run, she later contacted those friends to ask them what he said to them. And as she reported in her book, they stated something like, quote, he just told me what a really good friend I was, how much he loved me and how much he appreciated our friendship in his way.
01:21:19
Speaker
He seemed to be saying goodbye for good." End quote. Okay. And again, I know that he did bad things, but this makes you feel so sorry for him. I know. Like you understand that those
01:21:38
Speaker
And again, Jamie has a point. There are reasons and things we can't explain that could point to a different person being involved. I'm not saying that Jason was completely innocent in the crime, but perhaps didn't pull the trigger. Or he was like a light switch and could be one way and then immediately another way. Right. And I think it shows you that
01:22:08
Speaker
the trauma from all sides. You know what I mean? Like the trauma that could create someone who could become desperate enough to do this. And the trauma that's caused on Jason Derrick Brown's family. And the family of... Exactly, of Keith Palamiras. Yeah.
01:22:31
Speaker
Jason Derek Brown at the time of his disappearance was five foot 10 inches tall and weighed around 175 pounds. He had blonde hair and has green eyes. He may be living halfway around the globe or he might be living right next door.
01:22:48
Speaker
If you have any details that may lead to his apprehension or any information concerning his whereabouts, please submit a tip at FBI.gov. If you believe you have information and live outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. The FBI has been clear in their instructions not to approach Brown yourself as they consider him armed and dangerous.
01:23:15
Speaker
If he is still alive out there, I know that the Palomares family and the Brown family would want him to come forward. While coming out of hiding and paying for your crimes is not easy, it is necessary for the healing process to begin. A healing process that begins with sincere remorse for the sins of the past. A remorse that Jason Derrick Brown, who would send a Toys R Us gift card, could feel.
01:23:45
Speaker
Jamie has the following message if her brother is out there listening. I would ask him to turn himself in because of all the pain that he has put this family through, our family through, and just to, whether he did it or not, just to come clean and living with no closure
01:24:11
Speaker
and having a father missing and your brother missing and no funeral, no body creates a lot of anxiety, abandonment issues for me. And I'm sure for my son, for my mother, for my sister, and I would want him to turn himself in so that we could just put an end to all this. And that I love him and that no matter what happens,
01:24:42
Speaker
that he just needs to come clean. Here at Coffee and Cases, our hearts and our condolences go out to the family of Keith Palomares for their loss. We are sorry that you continue to experience the pain of this senseless tragedy, and we stand with you in the hope of closure one day. And our hearts go out to the Brown family, who still experience a different form of grief of their own for their little brother.
01:25:14
Speaker
In the coming days, a film will be released called American Murderer, which is based upon Jason Derek Brown and represents a deep dive exploration into his potential psyche. As you go to see the film or stream it, please join me also in remembering the Palomares and the Brown family left reeling in the aftermath of the crime.
01:25:39
Speaker
And join me in praying that the film itself and the light being shed on the crime 18 years after it happened is one more step taken toward justice and one more step taken toward healing. If you would like to hear the full story of Jason Derek Brown from Jamie herself.
01:26:02
Speaker
Check out her book, Center of Attention, a True Crime Memoir, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online, and also linked in our show notes.
01:26:15
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:26:45
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:27:07
Speaker
It's love notes for Maggie and Allison. Okay, we seriously need a musically inclined listener to make us a love notes jingle. Yes, please. That would be everything. Yeah, do it. Yeah. Plus, if you did that, you obviously know you would earn a shout out for doing so. Of course.
01:27:31
Speaker
Of course, and speaking of shout outs, we would like to shout out our love to Erin Marie, Julie, Toni, Ted, Casey, Paige, Trisha, Tiffany, and Elise for reaching out to us or recommending us on social media. If you suggest us to a group, make sure to tag our page at Coffee and Cases podcast
01:27:51
Speaker
So we can know that you did that and give you a shout out. Yes. And we have also gotten some new iTunes reviews, but no written comments yet, which means it could either be just a star rating or an international review that hasn't come through yet. Either way, we love you for it. We also want to share the love with new Patreon members
01:28:14
Speaker
I know, and we've got several of them. Our newest Patreon members are Tanya, Amy, Lauren, Heather, and Jennifer. So welcome to this fancy fam. We are glad you are here. And if you haven't joined Patreon, you don't want to miss out any longer. You can get bonus content at all of the levels.
01:28:42
Speaker
Plus we plan on starting in November, the season of thanks and giving, you know, for members who are joined or will join at the 12, 15 or $20 a month level, we will be giving you guys quarterly swag boxes. And the number of swag items depends upon your level. So these are really cute too.
01:29:05
Speaker
But you have to be a member of one of those levels for at least two months to be eligible. So mark your calendars to join. You only have a few days left in this month. Or go ahead and upgrade today, just like our friend Trisha did. I know, I know. You won't regret it. And so with all that, all our love is going out to each and every one of you. Until next week, Sleuth Hounds.