August 26, 2008

            LANSING - Attorney General Mike Cox today announced that two juries have found defendants Rosalind Laurice Brown, 50, of Wyoming, Michigan, and Montel Joseph Pettiford, 43, of Flint, guilty of first-degree murder charges relating to the 1985 murder of 11 year-old Christopher Alan Brown.  

"Today's case is the final chapter of a sad story - but it is a reminder that justice never rests, and will always prevail," said Cox. "My thoughts and prayers go out to Christopher's family as they begin the healing process."

Rosalind (stepmother to the victim) and her brother Montel were found guilty of feeding Christopher a substance that incapacitated him and then placing Christopher's body in the Flint River causing him to drown.

On April 12, 1985, Christopher Brown disappeared while residing at his stepmother's residence located at 1066 Harvard Street, Flint.  He was last seen standing in front of the residence playing with a basketball.  The clothing description given to police described Christopher Brown wearing blue jeans, a maroon jacket, shirt, and white shoes. A search of the area revealed no answers and no suspects.  On April 30, 1985, Christopher Brown's body was recovered from the Flint River, wearing the same clothing described above.  The original death certificate determined that the drowning was accidental, and the case was closed.

The Attorney General's office reopened the case in September 2004, and began to interview witnesses who had not been interviewed in 1985.  In February 2005, the Genesee Township Police Department exhumed Christopher's body and toxicology reports showed that Brown had a substance in his system that was strong enough to incapacitate him and that the substance had been consumed through ingestion. 

Both defendants were convicted of first-degree murder and will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on September 22, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.  

The Christopher Alan Brown case was handled by the Attorney General's Office of Special Investigations, formed by Cox in 2003 to investigate and prosecute both cold case homicides and public corruption cases.  Since its inception, Cox's office has reopened numerous cold cases, including:

• The Oakland County Missing Hunters Case - Crime Occurred: 1985, Convicted: 2003.
• Serial Killer Coral Eugene Watts - Crime Occurred: 1979, Convicted: 2004.
• Murderer Ronnie Lee Bullock - Crime Occurred: 1979, Convicted: 2004.
• Serial Killer John Rodney McRae - Crime Occurred: 1987, Convicted: 2005.
• Murderer David Boss - Crime Occurred: 1996, Convicted: 2005.
• Homicide of Janet Chandler - Crime Occurred: 1979, Convicted: 2007.
• Homicide of Christopher Brown - Crime Occurred: 1985, Convicted 2008.
• Homicide of Julia Dawson* - Crime Occurred: 2004, Charged: 2008.

*Case still pending trial.

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