American Murderer /// Part 1 /// 623 | Forensic Files

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and
with me as always is a man who knows every mom on Elm Street, the Captain. Yeah, Freddy's dead. That's what I said.
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people. And that is enough of the business. All right, everybody gather around, grab a
chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. The following is from the Arizona Republic newspaper.
Tuesday, November 30th, 2004. The headline read, "Armored car guard shot, killed.
Slayer flees on bike after Ahwatukee robbery." The article by Emily Bitner reads in
part, "An armored car guard was ambushed and killed on Monday, November 29th, 2004
in Ahwatukee foothills in which the shooter escaped on a bicycle. Robert Keith Palomares, just aged 24,
was carrying the weekend deposits out of the AMC Ahwatukee 24 movie theater. The shooter
lay in wait near a ticket booth. Keith Palomares, a guard for Dunbar Armored, did not have a chance to draw his gun.
He was wearing body armor, but was shot several times and died later. The other guard
stayed in the vehicle, which is standard procedure when one guard is making a collection.
Police declined to disclose how much money was taken. Witnesses said that the suspect rode a
black and red mountain bike southeast away from the Arrowhead Foothills Town Center and carried the black and tan
money bag. He is described as a 25-to-30-year-old man, about 5 ft 8 in tall. He was wearing a
dark hooded sweatshirt or jacket and dark jeans. Authorities set up a perimeter around
the theater, but investigators have no good leads. Police found a bicycle abandoned nearby,
but it did not fit witnesses' description of the robber's bike. Video surveillance from nearby
businesses was not helpful in identifying a suspect. A spokesman for Dunbar, which at the
time was the largest private armored car service in the country, said that fatal
robberies are rare, but that its employees put their lives on the line daily. Keith Palomares, the guard that was shot
and killed on that Monday morning back in 2004, was just 24 years old. He had his whole life and future in
front of him. He was working hard in the early stages of building a career. And just months before his death,
he celebrated his first wedding anniversary. Make no mistakes about it. This was not just a robbery. This was
cold-blooded, premeditated, first-degree murder. Did the shooter do this for personal
profit or self-preservation? At the end of the day, none of that matters. It certainly didn't matter for Keith
Palomares' family. And it did not matter to the Phoenix Police or the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Robbing an armored truck is a federal crime. The manhunt was on. In the early stages of their
investigation, detectives and agents learned that the man that they were looking for
was Jason Derek Brown. American Murderer. This is True Crime Garage. American Murderer Jason Derek Brown has
been on the run from the FBI and the Phoenix Police now for all about 17 years, 330 days if my calculations are
correct there, Captain. Currently, Jason Derek Brown is 53 years of age. He is wanted for unlawful flight to avoid
prosecution, first-degree murder, and armed robbery. And I would like everyone to pay close attention here because the
number one purpose of this episode is to locate, apprehend, and charge Jason Brown with murder, deliver him to the
courts for sentencing. Because this guy's been on the run for far too long for a crime that is
completely senseless, totally heinous, and this guy should be locked up. When Jason Brown went on the run, he was
listed as 5 ft 10 in tall and 170 to 180 lb. He is Caucasian with blonde hair and
green eyes. He speaks French fluently. According to Fox News, Jason Brown loves to go out
drinking and doesn't have close ties to his family except for his brother. He enjoys skiing, snowboarding, and
riding dirt bikes and ATVs. He kept his house extremely clean, requiring visitors to remove their shoes before
entering. That could be a possible identifier. Uh he is believed to be using aliases
that include Jason D. Brown, Derek Brown, Greg Johnson, Hairline Johnson, Greg Hairline Johnson,
John Brown, and Jay Brown are just some of the aliases that he may have used in the past or maybe currently using. Well,
Jason is well-built. And to describe his hair at the time that he went missing, it was almost like
he was doing his best Pauly D. Almost like he had a blowout. At one time, the FBI was offering a $100,000
reward for information leading to Jason Derek Brown's arrest. I don't know the current reward for his
capture, although I am positive that there would be one. Authorities provided age progression photos of Jason Brown to
news outlets years ago, and we will post those on some of our socials. On Twitter
for sure, follow me @TCGNIC, and follow the show @TrueCrimeGarage. He's one of those ones, Captain, that he
when he hit the list, when he first went onto the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitive List,
he was mentioned in several news articles as looking like Sean Penn and looking like a surfer dude. And that's
why a lot of people thought that he kind of stood out from the other nine individuals that were on the list.
And his FBI most wanted picture Jason in his red hoodie became very famous. You saw this on Dateline. You
saw this on other news networks and all over the internet. Some of you that paid close attention to
today's trailer and if you are a long-time listener of this fine program, then you are thinking this case sounds
familiar and you would be right. That is because we discussed this case on some old shows that were titled Most Wanted.
Those shows were released back in early August of 2017 and they are episodes number 130 and 131 on your True Crime
Garage listening dial. Thousands of wonderful people listened to those two episodes. One person in particular who
we know that was listening is friend of the show Matthew Gentile. Matthew is a writer and director who I'm certain is
on his way to Hollywood greatness. Matthew became quite fixated on this case, the details of the events leading
up to Jason Brown committing this murder and then Jason fleeing the area and now
Jason is on the run, an American murderer and more importantly an American fugitive.
Back in 2017 when we covered the FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Jason Derek Brown was on that
list. This robbery homicide or as the FBI Crime Classification Manual may classify this as a profit felony
homicide took place in 2004 as described in the trailer. But on December 8th, 2007,
Jason Derek Brown was named by the FBI as the 489th fugitive to be placed on its 10 most
wanted list. He is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. A little bit of follow-up here, Captain, because
that list, that 10 most wanted list, has changed considerably since we covered it 5 years ago.
Right. In fact, earlier this year, in early September, so on September 7th of 2022,
Jason Derek Brown was actually removed from the 10 most wanted list without being captured. However, of course, he
is still wanted. He is still a wanted man. He was replaced on the list by Michael James Pratt. And actually, there
was a bit of a news break here. You can go to fbi.gov and research all the people that have been added to the list,
removed to the list for whatever reason. If you look up Jason Derek Brown, again, he's number 489th.
He was added in December of 2007 and was removed in September of this year. And then under that, it states, "Jason
Derek Brown is wanted for the murder and armed robbery of an armored car guard in
Phoenix, Arizona in November of 2004." He was removed from the list after it was determined that he no longer fit the
criteria for inclusion on the list. Yeah, which is obviously a vague explanation. Yeah,
and like I said, the the list has changed considerably since we covered it 5 years ago. Jason Derek Brown is not on
there currently. Also, of course, there were several wanted fugitives that were located and apprehended since 2017. So,
they've been removed for the purpose for that purpose. And I know one of the cases that we highlighted in those
episodes, the individual turned himself in to police. Now, there were two others
that we covered that were removed from the list just like Jason Derek Brown was. And this was a little surprising to
me and we'll get into the workings of the FBI's 10 most wanted list here in a minute, but it was surprising to me when
I looked up the list, Captain, cuz this is something that I do look up a couple times a year. I don't stay on top of it
weekly or anything like that, but look it up a couple times a year and I've noticed that a lot of the faces that
were on there in 2007 are no longer on there. There's one, Alexis Flores or Alexi Flores if I'm pronouncing his name
correctly. I recognize him as still being on there from five five years earlier, but Jason Derek Brown was
removed. Another guy that we covered is this William Bradford Bishop Jr. Remember he was the man that murdered
his family and he's been on the run ever since. And he's been on the run for a very
very long time. He was actually removed from the list in 2018. So, less than a year after we covered
the 10 most wanted list, he was removed and it simply states that he was removed
from the list making room for the FBI to put another dangerous fugitive on the list. He had been on the list for a
considerable amount of time. He would have been 81 years of age if if in fact he is still alive. He would have been 81
years old in 2018 when they removed him from the list. Yeah, on the run shiting his pants not
because he's scared, but because of his age. Another individual that was removed
and he was removed rather recently as well. Is this Robert William Fisher. Some of
our listeners may know him. There is a documentary out there that was released in 2011.
Documentary is titled Where is Robert Fisher? I know it was on Amazon for quite some
time and maybe on Netflix. So, I'm sure a lot of our listeners have watched or viewed that. This documentary relies
heavily on interviews with journalists and detectives and features interviews with Robert Fisher's sister
and one of his neighbors. And the documentary includes home footage of Fisher taken by his wife Mary, which was
described as eerie and disturbing because the crime that he is wanted for is the murder of his family and then he
set the home on fire afterwards. Now, he was allegedly You know, this is all alleged activity. None of this has been
proven even with William Bradford Bishop Jr. It's not been proven in court that Jason Derek
Brown killed the armed guard. And it's not proven that Robert William Fisher. But in all three
of these cases we're talking about, this is the prime suspect in all three of these cases. These three guys are still
wanted. In the case of Robert Fisher and William Bradford Bishop Jr. Those two were considered to be the only suspect
in those crimes and because they fled and they have the police have proof in both cases that they fled
well, then they were placed on this 10 most wanted list and they're considered a a fugitive by the FBI
on the federal level. And then with our guy, with the subject of today's show, of this week's shows, Jason Derek Brown
they were able to recover fingerprints from the getaway bicycle that was used during the commission of this robbery
homicide that was committed by again allegedly Jason Derek Brown, but we can sit here Captain the two of us and with
all garage confidence say Jason Derek Brown committed this murder. That is why the FBI has been looking for him all of
these years. Yeah, you're absolutely correct. If one were to go to fbi.gov you could look up
the current 10 most wanted list as it is today, but a little history a little background on the list itself before we
get into more of the story about Jason Derek Brown. The FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list has been in existence
since March 14th, 1950. This is when a reporter for the International News Service asked the
Bureau for the names and descriptions of the quote toughest guys the Bureau would
like to capture. The resulting story generated so much publicity and had so much appeal
that late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover implemented the 10 most wanted fugitives program. The first person to be placed
on the list was Thomas James Holden wanted for the murder of his wife, her brother and her stepbrother.
Since its inception 529 fugitives have been on the 10 most wanted fugitives list and
happy to report here that 492 of them have been apprehended or located. Yeah, I'd give that a hell yeah. Go team
America. Some interesting facts about the program are 163 fugitives have been captured
located as a result of citizen cooperation. So the list is working in that regard.
Two fugitives were apprehended as a result of visitors on an FBI tour. The shortest amount of time spent on the 10
Most Wanted Fugitives list was 2 hours. This guy was only on the list for 2 hours. This was Billy Austin Bryant back
in 1969. The longest amount of time spent on the 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list was over
32 years by Victor Manuel Gerena. Nine fugitives were arrested prior to publication
and release. So, they were added to the list, but it before it could be released
to the public, they were actually apprehended. So, I guess they're still considered to be officially on the list.
The oldest person to be placed on the list was 80-year-old Eugene Palmer, who was added in May of 2019.
And of course, this program relies heavily on the assistance of citizens and the media.
Publicity from coast to coast and around the world has been important to this list in helping to apprehend some of
these fugitives. Like we said, it's been very successful, the program. 492 have been apprehended or located out of
the 529 fugitives that have been placed on the list. Media's involvement and participation in this list and sharing
this list in other countries has been very important to capturing these criminals. As one can imagine, a lot of
these fugitives are on the run and when on the run, a lot of them will flee to other countries given the opportunity.
And so, this program and the media's involvement with this program and putting out these guys'
pictures, we say guys because most of the people on this list have been of the male type and pictures of these
guys and what their crimes are and what aliases they may be using, where they may be hiding out, all of that
information when broadcast globally is so important because a lot of these dudes will flee to other countries and
many of them have been apprehended in other countries. And like we said, you can check out this list at fbi.gov.
And one of the fascinating things about the website itself is on fbi.gov, there's some frequently asked questions
about the list. So, we're going to dive into a couple of those. Yeah, we cherry-picked a few of these
because there's some that are natural questions that I think pop in one's mind immediately once thinking about the 10
Most Wanted List or viewing the current status as it is of the 10 Most Wanted List. So,
the first question is what is the purpose of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives Program? The answer, the 10
Most Wanted Fugitives Program is a publicity program funded by the FBI that started in March of 1950 in conjunction
with the nation's news media. It is designed to publicize particularly dangerous fugitives who might not
otherwise merit nationwide attention. The FBI recognizes the need for public assistance in tracking fugitives. 163
of the 10 Most Wanted Fugitive apprehensions have been the result of citizen recognition of the 10 Most
Wanted Fugitive. Well, this kind of goes to the idea of our true crime podcast or is true crime media sources
is this important to law enforcement? I think if you talk to the dummies the big the big big dummies
they would tell you, "No, we don't we don't need these podcasts covering these cases or putting out information."
And sometimes the information that people are putting out is incorrect. But if you talk to
the good guys on the force most of them will tell you, "Look, these are helpful. It's helpful for people to
be talking about these cases and sharing information online and sharing uh pictures and sharing
sharing the story because some people will come out later with little details because they they hear about this
they hear about a show covering a case and they feel like it's important to share their details about the case which
they may have never shared with law enforcement before. Well, and what's so interesting too here in this situation
is today is really a weird episode for us, right? Because we feature unsolved cases, we feature solved cases, we
feature missing persons cases, we've done several suspicious deaths or undetermined cause of death cases,
suicide, homicide, sometimes it's not so clear. This is the rare show that we actually feature a case where I would
consider it to be solved as in we know what happened, how it went down, and who was responsible but not solved in the
sense that the man is not behind bars. The person responsible, the person who committed this horrible serious crime
is not been apprehended, not been located. Well, and on top of that then you can go
further and say, "Well, this is a solved crime yet not solved but we also have a missing person
because we do not know where Jason is and we don't know if Jason is still alive. So then the aspect of the way you
look into a missing person case is very similar on how you have to look into Jason's case as well. Another frequently
asked question is who actually decides which fugitives go on the list. The answer
The Criminal Investigative Division CID at FBI headquarters calls upon all 56 field offices to submit candidates for
the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list. The nominees received are reviewed by special agents in the CID and the Office
of Public Affairs. The selection of the proposed candidates is then forwarded to
FBI executive management for final approval. So there is quite the process involved for putting somebody on this
list. And what is the criteria for getting on that list or being placed on the list? First, the individual must
have a lengthy record of committing serious crimes and or be considered a particularly dangerous menace to society
due to current criminal charges. Second, it must be believed that the nationwide
publicity afforded by the program can be of assistance in apprehending the fugitive who in turn should not already
be notorious due to other publicity. So I I'm going to kind of throw something out there that goes to the early part of
that last statement. It doesn't follow through with the second part of it, but here is a unique
situation because we mentioned Matthew Gentile earlier and the reason why we said that we know he was listening to
our most wanted episodes back in 2017 is because he told us he was and partly he
was listening because he became fixated on the Jason Derek Brown case and he went on to write the movie and direct
the movie that is in select theaters now called American Murder which is all about the Jason Derek Brown case. Now,
we sit here in late October of 2022. Jason Derek Brown having been removed from the list in September of this year,
but what's interesting to me here Captain is I think we were able to watch the movie and I very much enjoyed the
movie but one of the disappointing aspects to the movie to me was I thought that it would have been better served
that they actually show Jason Derek Brown's picture, that famous picture of his that was taken days before he
commits the homicide and it's put that was his FBI most wanted list picture. I thought that that would have been smart
by the movie makers. They chose to go different route and they featured a picture of the actor that plays him
instead. The other misstep that I think is is had here is by the FBI itself. Now, I don't know that they had any
information that this movie would be coming out. It's a little weird that he's removed from the list just months,
well, not even a full 2 months before this movie comes out. But I think that the
movie and the FBI working hand-in-hand together, the publicity that this movie could generate could be a really good
tool for law enforcement with the purpose of maybe potentially apprehending this guy finally after all
of these years. Well, and if you read about Jason's case, it also seems like out of all the people on the most wanted
list they get so many calls about him, sightings that people think they saw Jason somewhere.
So, like you said, now that there's going to be more publicity about this case and more
people talking about this case, to remove him right before that kind of seems a little silly. Yeah, and
so I don't know if they were aware that this movie was coming out, but regardless,
today they would be because the movie's in theaters now. It was in theaters as of last Friday, I believe, the 21st.
And we recently have one of the current 10 most wanted fugitives was recently captured. This is Rafael Caro Quintero.
So, you may have an opening on that list, and I do know that there have been, in certain instances, back
throughout history, that an individual has been placed on the list more than one time. So, what what I'm begging of
the FBI is use this tool that came out with this movie coming out as an excuse to let's put him back on the list. He He
He's certainly not less wanted today than he was yesterday. Right. Put him back on the list. He's
incredibly dangerous. He is a menace to society. He clearly fits the criteria because he has been on
the list before. I'm sure there's already workings to put somebody on this list to take the place of the
captured Rafael Caro Quintero, but if it's not Jason Derek Brown, I'm asking, let it be Jason Derek Brown because this
is the opportunity that you can have your 56 field offices. You can get Let's get one person from each field office to
contact a media outlet, a news outlet, and say, "Hey, Hey, screw them, Schaefer.
We got some news for you. People want They crave, unfortunately, true crime news.
It's It's all over the place. It's not just on podcasts, it's on these local news
stations frequently. As of the It's always been in the news, but in the last several years it's ramped up quite a
bit. So, let's get somebody from these field offices to contact a news outlet and
say, "Hey, I've got a a story for you. Here's this guy that's wanted by the FBI. He's been on our FBI wanted list
all of these years. He was removed from the list because of Yada yada yada. Da da da da da. They don't give a
complete reason why or a very firm reason why. But tell us why he was removed and say, "Hey, look, we've
placed him back on the list because we need the public's help to apprehend this individual. Now there's this movie
that's come out, American Murderer, that's about the story, that's about Jason Derek Brown. We would like We
would like to take this moment to broadcast this out to as many people as possible. And I think now is a good
time. I think the last time that they produced age progression photos of Jason Derek Brown, I believe might have been
2013 or 2014. I think now's the time to update those as well. And let's start peddling this picture out and this name
and this story out to every news outlet that we can get out there because I think that this could, if he is still
out there somewhere and within the long reach of the law, now's the time to get this guy.
statute of limitation on murder, but you also wonder what the intel of the FBI is.
And also, is it possible that they get intel of where they think he is, they get a lot more sightings, they're
tracking this individual, they end up pulling him off the list cuz they want him to feel
a little more safe. And maybe by pulling him off the list, they think maybe he will become more vulnerable
uh because he will feel safe and maybe that will lead to the the capture of Jason Derek Brown.
A lot more to get to after this quick beer break. All right, we are back. Cheers, mate.
Cheers to you, Captain. Uh some other questions that I find interesting that are on the FBI's website and this is
really plays to our individual that we are seeking help with, Jason Derek Brown.
One question is when are fugitives removed from the list? The answer, 10 most wanted fugitives are only removed
from the list when they meet one of the following conditions. First, they are captured. That makes sense.
Duh. Second, the federal process pending against the individual is dismissed. This is not an FBI decision. So, this
sounds like if you were placed on the list, you were wanted for these reasons for
for it being believed that you committed these crimes. Well, at some point evidence could
change that and maybe you are no longer considered a suspect that they would remove you for that purpose. And then
the third answer that they give, this is the vague area where I believe like Jason Derek Brown and some of the others
that we mentioned Bishop Jr. and Fisher, Robert William Fisher may fall. It says third, they no longer
fit 10 most wanted fugitives criteria. So, that's a nice vague answer. Now, it says that in the 13 cases where
fugitives were removed for the third reason, it was determined that each fugitive was no longer considered to be
a particularly dangerous menace to society. When a fugitive is removed from the list, another is added to take his
or her place. So, where you have somebody like William Bradford Bishop Jr. who has been on the run for so long, is
81 years of age at the time when you remove him from the list in 2018, that makes some sense because they're
probably thinking like, "Look, this dude's been on the list for all of these years. Him being on the list has
clearly not led to us finding him or him being apprehended. And now if he is if he is still alive,
he would be old, he would be ancient, he'd be 81 years old. He may not be particularly dangerous to society if he
is still alive, but there's also the added factor that he might not be alive. And now he's just this cog,
you know, he's just this this thing that's jamming up a spot on your 10 most wanted fugitives list. So, I think at
some point you do have to decide, do we take these guys off? Uh but but what's interesting to me here, captain, is what
we're seeing is this list has been around since 1950. We talked about the numbers, 529
individuals making this list since 1950. Over 400 of them have been apprehended.
It's got a really good success rate. And And they're saying only 13 cases do we have where a fugitive was removed for
the third reason. Was not captured or the federal process pending against the individual dismissed. Well, what we know
about Jason Derek Brown, this douchebag boner boner hanger, he was not caught and the
charges were not dropped. So again, maybe if there's some intel that they have that possibly he is
deceased. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, especially when you read in
so many articles and so much information out there saying this guy is one of the number one calls
that the FBI gets is about Jason Brown. So if you're getting all these calls and you got to assume that that some of
these calls are credible leads that you would not want to stop that information from coming in. Yeah, and
again, we will post those pictures. I hope that they update the age progression photos of Jason Derek Brown.
I think now would be a good as good of a time as any and a good excuse to update
those photos and get those back out to the public. Now, one outlet, we we discussed news outlets earlier and how I
would use them if I were at the FBI and in relation to Jason's case. But one news outlet that was doing such
stories was News 12, NBC News 12 out of Arizona. When back in 2017, they were running regular segments on
their news what they were calling Arizona's Most Wanted. And of course, they featured Jason Derek Brown's case
then and there. And I wanted to read some parts of that article because it gives some further explanation and more
detail about this individual, this wanted individual, and the crime that he is accused of committing.
And it reads, "Wanted for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The FBI and
Phoenix police say Jason Derek Brown murdered Dunbar armored car guard Keith Palomares
after he collected the box office receipts from the AMC theaters in Ahwatukee on November 29th, 2004. Ahwatukee is in
Arizona. FBI supervisory special agent Lance Leising says Brown fired six rounds from
a .45 caliber semi-automatic. Five bullets into Palomares' head. The FBI says Brown got away with $56,000
in the money bag. He took off on a mountain bike from the side alley of the movie theater. The bike was later
recovered and was dusted for prints. The FBI says the prints matched that of Jason Derek Brown, who had previous
arrests. The agent in charge was among the first to respond to the scene. And he goes on
to say, "When we responded to that 911 call, you had you kind of have an idea in your head of
what the criminal's going to be like, maybe his previous history. When you respond to a crime of this magnitude,
you expect that the suspect is going to have a lengthy criminal history. So, this crime, this murder, to break it
down even further, note the date there, November 29th, 2004. That would have been
a Monday, and this was the Monday after the long Thanksgiving weekend. And we all know how busy the movie theaters get
on Thanksgiving Day weekend. Really, what Jason Derek Brown's plan was that this would be a huge score.
That this would be one of the best days to hit this kind of robbery because it would be a big take. That the
the movie theater would have had a really big weekend and he would be making off with a ton of money. Now,
what's so cold-blooded and calculated and this is why Jason Derek Brown deserves to be on this list and this is
why I consider him to still be a menace to society. Think about how cold-blooded
this homicide is. He knew going into this that he was going to kill somebody. Yeah, it wasn't a robbery that went
wrong. No. This was part of the plan. This is premeditated murder. He knew he had
watched that movie theater. He had watched that truck, that armored car pull up and pick up that money several
times before committing this crime. He knew that the armed guard, Keith Palomares, who was in his
mid-20s, had his whole life ahead of him. Jason Derek Brown knew that whoever was holding that bag walking out of that
movie theater, that's who he was going to kill on that Monday morning. And he knew too that this this guard would be
protected, would have a bulletproof vest on. And that's why he shot him in the head
so many times. And they say that when Brown attempted to grab the bag and flee after shooting
Palomares, that Palomares one was ambushed. We got to consider how chicken [ __ ] and how
cowardly this whole act is. You know, where some people will say, "What, you know, this guy must have have stones the
size of grapefruits to to pull this off in broad daylight and and attack a man who's carrying a gun.
Palamarez was ambushed. Derek Brown, Jason Derek Brown popped out from behind a pillar
near the the entrance of the movie theater, gun already drawn and already pointed at Palamarez before before he
even knew what was going on. Keith Palamarez did not have an opportunity to pull his weapon to defend himself.
When he shot mul- multiple times in the head, and then when Jason Derek Brown goes to flee the scene, Keith Palamarez
was doing his job, just just a man out there working that day, just a guy hoping to go home at the end of the day
like the rest of us, loses his life, but Jason Derek Brown had to fight Palamarez
to get the bag from his hand. To pry it from his hand as he was dying there, and Brown takes off. He hops on
this bike, and he high-tails it out of there riding his bike off to where he had a vehicle stashed, a getaway vehicle
stash, and he hops in that that vehicle, and because there were several witnesses
at the scene, they tell police, "Hey, this is what the guy looked like. This is how the crime went down. And oh, by
the way, he fled on a bicycle." Well, when they recovered that bicycle, they dusted it for prints, and because Jason
Derek Brown had a police record, his prints were on file. That's how we know that he committed this crime. One thing
that's weird, Captain, that is not widely discussed on on this case, but is of interest to me, is there is an
individual that is listed as a potential co-conspirator or a potential partner in
crime here for this particular crime. There was a man Jason Derek Brown was staying in a hotel
that was somewhat near the crime scene at the time of the crime. And there was a man that he is seen talking to on the
surveillance camera of that hotel. Now, that man has not been identified. He could be somebody that has nothing to do
with these crimes or he could have been somebody that was an accomplice to Jason
Derek Brown. We clearly don't know because Right. all we know is that Jason Derek Brown had an interaction, had some
kind of conversation with this individual, but we do not know who this individual is. It'd be interesting if
somebody could come forward and say, "Hey, I was that guy. I had nothing to do with these crimes. I may not even
know, you know, I don't even technically know Jason Derek Brown. We were just two
strangers exchanging pleasantries." Well, and if you were a witness to this attack, I mean, this is a horrific
attack. Maybe you wouldn't notice other things. Like, was this guy used as a pawn to
distract individuals at the movie theater? Was this individual used as a pawn to be a lookout for Jason Derek
Brown? Who knows? Some more highlights of this article that was put together by News
12, NBC News 12. The special agent Lance Leyson goes on to tell us a little bit more about the
crime and describe Jason, what is Jason like? And he says, he, Jason Derek Brown, thought this was going to be a
big payday. He thought this was going to be millions of dollars. It was not. That, of course, is why he went to these
extremes to commit murder. Again, he knew he was going to be killing somebody that day. That's what's That's what
needs to be reminded here, that it the cold-blooded nature of this crime. Uh and then asked, "What is Jason like?"
The special agent says, "Uh greedy is a good example. Vain might be another good
word to explain him. Put himself in front of everyone else. That's why he chose to end somebody's life for money.
I mean, it's a ridiculous thing to end somebody's life for. Well, before this point in his life, Jason seemed to just
be kind of a douchebag. And I know I say that a lot about these individuals, but this guy
was This guy was cocky. This guy was arrogant. This guy fits the definition of douchebag. Probably more to a greater
degree than than many other douchebags that we've discussed on the show. And he was basically a con man. Mhm. And
so he'd run these little cons when he could, and he would con his family, and he was
a known drug user, and I'm guessing that's why part of the reason uh he needed the money, but also he he
would rent very nice houses, and he would drive very nice cars. He drove a Escalade and a BMW.
So, this guy was basically looking at life, and it seems like he was a good guy to start.
Maybe a good person to start, and then it There was like a a switch that went off in him. He He
went from It went from being a religious person, somebody that was married, seemed to
have everything going in the right direction. He even did some missionary work. And then he goes through this divorce,
and it seems like he just was like, "Okay, well, this is life, and I don't want to play by other
people's rules. I'm going to play by my own rules from now on. And I'm going to use people, and
manipulate people, and to the point, like the Colonel keeps saying, to the point where he realized,
"I could score big, and all I have to do is murder somebody. All I have to do is
take somebody, wipe them off this earth." A person he knew nothing of. He He did not know this individual. He did
not care who the person was. It's not like he had any kind of beef with the guy. It was any one of us could have
been the person carrying out the bag that day at the movie theater. And this guy has decided that he is
going to take that person's life regardless of who it is. And again, there's not just one victim here.
This victim had a family. Had friends. Had co-workers. And Jason didn't care about any of that.
He didn't care about manipulating the system. He didn't care about manipulating his friends. He didn't care
about manipulating and stealing from his own family. Keith Palomares, as I said earlier, was in his early 20s. Had just
been married the year before that he was killed. This young man had Jason Derek Brown not taken his life that day for
$56,000. This man likely would have you know, went on to start a family of his own. While this
guy, this horrible guy has been on the run since 2004. I mean, we're talking Captain, we're
coming up on 18 years since this crime was committed. Keith Palomares would would very likely
be a very happy father at this stage in his life had he not been killed that day
in 2004 with with kids that are now entering high school. Well, and I think that's one of the most
fascinating things about this case though is if this wasn't going to be a big hit and
going to be millions and millions of dollars then maybe you could see that somebody
like Jason would have the funds to stay on the run to flee the country. But 50, what? $58,000?
56. Yep. $56,000 is not going to last you Right. And the crime happened on November 29th, 2004.
It was December 4th, 2004 in which Jason Derek Brown was officially charged with
first-degree murder and armed robbery. He was then later charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in a federal
arrest warrant that was issued 2 days later on December 6th by the United States District Court for the District
of Arizona. So, you mentioned earlier, Captain, about where this guy could be, and there have been some sightings and
and some known activity, too. So, let's go through some of that known activity first. So, soon after being identified
as prime suspect A number one in this case, Jason Derek Brown fled the state of Arizona to Henderson, Nevada.
And then they Authorities know that he continued on to Las Vegas. This is where he swapped out his BMW M3 for a black
Cadillac Escalade that he had in storage. He then drove to Orange County, California, where he stayed with some
relatives until December 6th, 2004. When FBI agents carrying out an arrest warrant, they believed that they missed
They went to go arrest Jason Derek Brown. They believed they missed him by just 1 hour. Wow. That he got out of
there just 1 hour before they could show up to to get him and apprehend him on December 6th. Makes you wonder how much
information that his family had at that time about what Jason Brown was doing with
his life. would fit the definition of douchebag as well. Uh Jason Derek Brown apparently used his
credit card, and this is why they know some of his activity. Uses credit card at a gas station in Southern Orange
County, California. He traveled to San Diego near the Mexican border. Makes sense. Guy on the run, get across
the Mexican border. But then they tracked him to Portland, Oregon. And then after this, the FBI
says that Brown became a ghost and completely went off the grid. So, they lose track of him physically there
at that point in the timeline, but it was the next month in January, it was January 16th, 2005 that authorities
discovered Jason Derek Brown's abandoned Cadillac that he left in long-term parking. He left this in the parking lot
at the Portland International Airport. This is really interesting to me here, Captain, because a couple of things.
He goes to San Diego, maybe giving the appearance that he wants to cross into Mexico. Then we are able to track him,
the authorities track him up to Portland, Oregon, maybe giving the idea that no, maybe he wants to cross over
into Canada instead. Well, if I was running from the law, I my first pick would not be Mexico. I
could live in Vancouver. Yeah, I with just with the violence that goes on in in some of the cities in Mexico, you
know my luck, Captain. If I if I fled to Mexico, I'd end up dead there for some other reason.
Well, yeah, well, just think about But just think about this. Like you said, all this violence going on in
Mexico, and then you go, well, what are Canadians known for? Being nice people. I'll take my chances with the nice
people. And some more information here. It says that by 2005, so in in the course of less than 1 year,
the FBI received over 200 leads in the case. These are potential sightings of where Jason Derek Brown could be with
the majority of those leads being outside of the state of Arizona. Uh several of these leads came from outside
of the United States as well with possible sightings in Canada, like we had just mentioned as a possibility. And
again, due to his California surfer dude look and appearance, they think that this this could be like
a a double-edged sword here, right? Where in some cases may make him stand out or make him more memorable to people
that have seen him on the 10 most wanted fugitives list, but they also say that this could give
him the ability to blend into crowds and to to go unnoticed because he kind of fits the scenery. Well, I'd describe
Jason like I said, he kind of has that frat boy look, but because he had this strange haircut this almost like a
blowout like Pauly D from Jersey Shore. You shave your head, you get a new haircut.
This guy looks like an average white dude. And then, like you said, I think to catch a guy like this,
it's it's all going to depend how many characteristics of his personality, of his lifestyle that he keeps. Like I
said, he's known to drive nice cars or want to drive nice cars. So, a a BMW, Escalade. Well, that's pretty simple to
to fix. Get rid of the Escalade, get a pickup truck. You got You have a haircut style
that is very distinct. Change your haircut. But, there's some things like "Hey, come into my house, take off your
shoes." Oh, this guy kind of looks like Jason Brown. Has similar characteristics.
That that might be a personality trait that he doesn't change. Or like I said, Jason Brown has a
good physique. If he wanted to keep that up, is he working out at his house? Is he working out at a gym?
I would I would guess that there was a lot of sightings that were reported to the FBI.
You know, somebody working out and having a guy come into a gym that maybe wasn't familiar to the other
people that come into the gym and go, "Hey, that guy kind of looks like the guy on the
FBI most wanted list." Well, and you talk about the change in appearance or potential change in his
appearance. Just the passing of time. It's been almost 18 years since the crime was
committed. Just the passing of time alone will make Jason Derek Brown look different. He could
as you're pointing out, could look considerably different than he did 18 years ago. And you know, he does
speak French fluently. So, fleeing to Canada would make a lot of sense. Well, the
other thing too, he has a very distinct nose. So, but that is something that he could
obviously change. Now, looking at these age progression pictures that they that the FBI provides us,
I'm giving these a one bottle cap out of five. These look awful. These don't even look like real people.
They did this with the Brian Shaffer case. They did a age progression where I just go,
"This guy looks like he's in his 70s. This guy looks like he's wearing a a mask of an old man. Uh you'd think that
they'd be able to do a better job of these age progression images." Now, for persons on the 10 most
wanted fugitives list, there is a minimum reward amount of $100,000, but in Jason Derek Brown's case, the FBI was
offering a reward of up to $200,000 at one time while he was on the list. Again, I'm guessing that there is a
reward out there for him. How much that amount is currently, I can't say with any level of confidence here. But yeah,
you're right. I I I think that it's time to update these age enhanced photographs
of Jason Derek Brown. And one thing that's that's good for the case, good for the chance of apprehending him,
but also eerie at the same time, is the photograph of Jason with that spiked hair, with the blowout hair like you
described, taken in 2004. He's wearing the red hooded sweatshirt that if you watch the movie American
Murderer, he's wearing that sweatshirt uh at the time of uh committing the crimes.
And he that picture was taken literally days before this homicide. And so, this is
one of those really weird situations where you have a a very updated photograph that is going out of a wanted
individual shortly after it's determined that he was responsible for these crimes. This picture was taken on the
day that he purchased uh I I I should straight up tell that captain and say I I don't know if it was
the day that he purchased the gun, but I believe that it was the day that he purchased the gun that he
ended up using to commit this homicide. I think the other thing here with Jason Brown
is all of his validation, you know, he a greedy guy, but why? Because I want to rent a nice house, because I want to
drive a nice car, I want to wear a fancy watch. I want to go out on a boat. I believe he
owned a boat at one point. He He wants to live this flashy lifestyle. I would think that this would
be very difficult to keep up for 14 years. It's not like he was Ted Kaczynski living out in a
cabin and went missing. A guy like that, you might never find because he can just go to Alaska and
live off the you know, live off the land and be a recluse and they're they're fine with that. They can they thrive
thrive in that condition. I don't think somebody like Jason Brown can thrive in that situation. Their validation comes
from outside sources. Thank you so much for joining us here in the Flying Garage Ship. Yeah, we might
not be on America's Most Wanted list, but we are top 10 in your hearts of true crime.
So much more to get to. Join us back here in the Flying Garage Ship tomorrow and until then,
be good, be kind, and don't litter. Hey.

American Murderer /// Part 1 /// 623

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

This week in the Garage we take another look at a Wanted Fugitive case. Jason Derek Brown has been on the run from the F.B.I. and the Phoenix Police now for almost 18 years. Currently Jason Derek Brown is 53 years of age. He is wanted for Unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, 1st degree murder and Armed robbery. Jason Brown is described as 5 foot 10 inches tall and 170 to 180 lbs. He is caucasian, with blond hair and green eyes. He speaks French fluently.

He is believed to be using aliases that include Jason D. Brown, Derek Brown, Greg Johnson, Harline Johnson, Greg Harline Johnson, John Brown and Jay Brown. Authorities urge citizens not to engage with him but call for help immediately. Jason is wanted for 1st degree murder and should be considered armed and extremely dangerous at all times.

If you have any information concerning Jason Derek Brown, please contact the FBI's Toll-Free tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). You may also contact your local FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

Beer of the Week - Adjunct Trail by Angry Chair Brewing and Prairie Artisan Ales

Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

Jason Derek Brown, wanted for murdering an armored car guard in 2004, remains at large after nearly 18 years on the run.

Key points

Cold-Blooded Murder. The murder of armored car guard Keith Palomares was premeditated and brutal.
The Manhunt for Jason Derek Brown. Jason Derek Brown has been on the run for over 17 years after committing murder.
FBI's Most Wanted List History. The FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list has been crucial in capturing criminals since 1950.
The Process of the FBI's Most Wanted List. The FBI's selection process for the most wanted fugitives involves multiple layers of review and criteria.
The Release of 'American Murder'. The film about Jason Derek Brown's case raises questions about his removal from the FBI list.
The Cold-Blooded Crime of Jason Derek Brown. Jason Derek Brown's robbery and murder of Keith Palomares was premeditated and calculated.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This was not just a robbery. This was cold-blooded, premeditated, first-degree murder.

Describing the nature of the crime committed by Jason Derek Brown.

5:47WatchOct 26, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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