Jordan, who had a bedroom upstairs, had already moved his clothes into that downstairs bedroom. In an exclusive interview with 20/20, she told her own account of what happened that morning of Feb. 20, 2009, and some of it conflicts with the police timeline. The system is very, very wrong.. Jordan Brown (Shooting of Kenzie Houk) | Did an 11-Year-Old Commit Murder? And it was a boy. I'm never not going to be your dad. It was just a bunch of strangers dragging me around.. I remember when this all happened and just read up on everything that has happened since (I had an idea that he was out of prison, but had NO idea that his conviction was overturned based on insufficient evidence). And her phone rang.. Houks older daughter, then 7, also said she had heard a loud noise in the house around the time of the shooting. That's where the case took us. I guess the big question is whether the residue on the child speaks to being in the room, or if it speaks to pulling the trigger. The teen was killed on Tuesday around 12:30 . In statements to the police, Jordan Brown claimed to have seen a black pickup truck parked by his home, resembling the one owned by the ex-boyfriend, on the morning of the murder. What happened to me is so horrible, even though when I was young I would say I didnt understand what was happening I look back and see all the blatant injustices, and that angers me, he said. Houks father, Jack Houk, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he and his wife Debbie, who have raised Houks two daughters since her death, are distraught. In 2016, Brown was released from juvenile detention, but he and his defense team continued to argue his innocence. The farmhouse in Wampum, Pa. where Kenzie Houk was killed. Houk had a restraining order against Harvey because Houk had claimed Harvey threatened to kill her and her family. Jordan Brown, who is attending college and studying computer science, is determined to leave his past behind. Emma Tustin, 32, murdered the boy by . Jordan Brown was 11 years old when he was arrested in the 2009 New Beaver, Pennsylvania, killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn child. He kept talking about a piece of fuzz, and I got it out of my pocket and I threw it. In my opinion, he was focused on the shotgun shell casing that he threw after he left the residence, McGraw said. WAMPUM, Pa. A lawsuit has been filed against four former troopers and a former Pennsylvania State Police commissioner for wrongfully convicting Jordan Brown, who was exonerated in the 2009 deaths of his fathers fiance and unborn child. It's saying that I have a charge in front of me in juvenile court, and I am finding that you are responsible for that crime, ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams said. It was the police. The report also revealed that Houks ex-boyfriend had learned he was not the biological father of Houks youngest daughter just two weeks before the murder. While the decision did not declare him innocent of the charges, he cannot be retried. When his mug shot was taken, Jordan Brown said he had been crying the whole night. It also mentions that he had a significant motive. My biggest hopes for him probably is that he gets a fair shake moving forward, that, you know, people look at this and, for what it is, what it truly is, Chris Brown said. Jordan Browns lawyers announced they would appeal two months after his conviction. And again a third appeal was taken to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. He was 75. He has someone that says that he's at home and from the trooper that interviewed him, who said the truck didn't look like it had been driven and we took photos of the truck, Martin said. Jordan Brown said he has "mixed feelings" about what happened to him. I saw a gentleman in front of me that was crying, said Martin. I am a step dad to twin 12 year old girls, a 7 year old and a 4 year old for the past 3 years. In the nineteenth century the connection between sexual abuse and homicide was simply not part of . I think I have a good idea of the capacity's of each given their age range. It was a whole different world. They told me that her and the baby were gone, and I remember collapsing in the yard, Brown said. Brown, who has lived with his uncle since being put on probation in 2016, was not in police custody and had met all of his treatment goals, Burdick told The Associated Press. Obtained by ABC News Police determined that Houk had been shot in the back of the head. They attempted CPR, but it was too late. The shooting happened at their home in Wampum, Lawrence County. But authorities transferred him to a juvenile center in March 2009 after his attorneys argued that the adult jail with its three cell blocks couldn't accommodate an 11-year-old boy. The justices attacked the evidence as insufficient and said that the juvenile trial evidence pointing to a shotgun in Brown's bedroom as the murder weapon supported an equally-reasonable conclusion that it was not the murder weapon.[1]. I was so young. Police also said they found a 20-gauge shotgun shell casing in pristine condition next to the familys driveway the next day. TACOMA, Wash. - A memorial stands outside the doors of World of Weed in Tacoma honoring the life of an employee killed during an armed robbery that happened this past weekend. Judge Hodge ruled that Jordan would not be released pending that hearing. Houk, 26 and about eight months pregnant with Jordans little brother, was found dead in her bed by her 4-year-old daughter on Feb. 20, 2009. When we interview someone, you expect them to give their account, wait a little while, we interview them again, and they should give the same account. Homicide, something of this magnitude was very, very uncommon, Martin said. They discovered Mrs. Borden's body a short time later. My sister Jenessa woke me up, said Jordan Brown. State Police Corporal Troy Steinheiser, now retired, interviewed Chris Brown at the state police barracks. The Mesquite High School student had just left a party . The police didn't collect all of the potential evidence and didn't so enough investigating into other suspects. I guess you could speculate that. Police said what really turned the case for them were additional interviews they conducted with Jenessa and Jordan the night of the murders. He was almost 21 when Pennsylvania's highest. In her first interview, the girl said she did not hear or see anything unusual, according to the lawsuit. [They] put me in the back of the car and they took me to the police barracks. Jordan Brown (right), seen here with his father Chris Brown (left), was released when he turned 18 in 2015. Even with the relationship they had, Adam was still in love with Kenzie. The 4 year old who is speaking now; she sure does remember some details from a tragic event. They had a warrant for Jordan's arrest. Jordan's mother, Mildred Krause, was just four months pregnant with him when she first entered a courtroom to battle his father, Christopher Brown. It cost me my job, and what money that I had coming in went into the gas tank and went into things that he needed, Chris Brown said. They couldn't prove that the shotgun found in the house was the one used in the murder, other than a sniff-test (smelling of the gun barrel). In April 2017, when Roy Oliver, a 37-year-old white police officer in Balch Springs, a suburb east of Dallas, shot and killed an unarmed 15-year-old black teenager named Jordan Edwards as he. CLICK HERE to find out how. Her partner and Arthur's father, 29-year-old Thomas Hughes, was found guilty of. On May 8, 2013, Superior Court, in the second appeal that came before it in this case, ruled that "the juvenile court committed a palpable abuse of discretion in rendering a ruling that is plainly contrary to the evidence" and vacated the juvenile court's disposition of delinquency. I didn't think anything of it. He shot his father's fiancee in the back of her head, killing her and her unborn child. Judge Hodge put Brown on probation in the custody of an uncle who lived in Ohio, just across the border from Lawrence County. Owing in part to the discovery of a shotgun in the family home, near Wampum, as well as a shell casing outside and evidence of gunshot residue on his clothes, police zeroed in on 11-year-old Jordan. A state police spokesman, Ryan Tarkowski, declined to comment on pending litigation. After his February 21, 2009 arrest, Jordan was placed in the Lawrence County Jail, a facility for adults. I just did & dont understand the grounds they dismissed her ex as innocent. >>PREVIOUS STORY: Man convicted at 11 of pregnant stepmoms 2009 murder exonerated of crime. Jordan Brown was 11 years old when he was arrested in the 2009 New Beaver, Pennsylvania, killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn child. Police said she told them she saw Jordan moving his guns that morning. The Jordan Brown case involves Jordan Brown (born August 12, 1997), who was initially charged at 11 as an adult in the fatal shooting of his father's fiance, Kenzie Marie Houk, 26, in New Beaver, Pennsylvania, which occurred on the morning of February 20, 2009. Speakman said Brown's family lives out of state, so when he heard Jordan was murdered, he reached out to the family on Facebook. This is precisely what would have had to have happened, Colafella added. They investigated for eight hours then charged an 11-year-old as an adult. I came across a blog which claims that Kenzie's abusive ex had threatened to kill her or have her killed. [12] Judge Hodge would announce Brown's disposition (the equivalent of a juvenile sentence) at a later date. Jordan Brown, now 14, was found delinquent by Lawrence County Judge John Hodge - the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict. Dispensary owner Alden Linn said the impact of Brown's death has been felt . I'm not going to be mad at you. I went in to wake her up. This is final piece of the puzzle really providing him of his true feeling of innocent, closure put this behind me, Wright said. Jade Townsend The case that took 44 years to be solved: Arlis Perry Fatim Hemraj Parents Make Shocking Discovery After 15-Year-Old Girl Sneaks Out to Meet a Strange Man Lioness Rue What Leads a. The court said that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to support the conviction, according to The Associated Press. As for whether or not an 11 year old could commit this crime, I absolutely believe it is more than possible. They also found a 20-gauge shotgun that belonged to Jordan Brown. Charles . Houk, who was eight months pregnant at the time. We did not get this wrong, McGraw told 20/20. There is not a trooper on scene that day that has lost one second of sleep over this case.. TACOMA, Wash. Jordan Brown was killed on March 19 at the World of Weed Cannabis Dispensary during an armed robbery. As for the shotgun shell casing police found near the driveway, Colafella said, On that property where they lived on a farm, there were shotgun shells all over the place. The 20/20 interview also gave me the hunch he was guilty. Jordan Brown was 11 years old when he was arrested in the 2009 killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn child in New Beaver. There was a small amount of gun residue on Jordan's jacket, explained by his lawyers as being from a hunt the boy had been on a few days prior. 2023byTango Publishing Corporation All Rights Reserved. [I] havent had a chance to grieve properly, Chris Brown said. Janessa Houk is seen here in this undated family photo. I was standing right at the edge of the doorway, and I remember the coroner saying, as he started to touch the body, We have a problem, Martin said. We had a youth model shotgun in the house that had smelled like it recently had been fired, Martin said. I think the ex boyfriend did it. Its been a nightmare for nine-and-a-half years, Chris Brown said. The justices attacked the evidence as insufficient and said that the juvenile trial evidence pointing to a shotgun in Brown's bedroom as the murder weapon supported an equally-reasonable conclusion that it was not the murder weapon. Were going through hell. Youve, you know, ruined his name in essence. 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