Abreeya Brown and Ashley Conaway Update: Five men charged in the abduction and slayings of Michigan women

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

Five men charged in slayings of 2 Michigan women

Abreeya Brown and Ashley Conaway

/ CBS/WWJ

(CBS/WWJ/AP) DETROIT - Five men have been charged in the abduction and slayings of Abreeya Brown and Ashley Conaway, two Michigan women who prosecutors say were kidnapped and stuffed in a car trunk at gunpoint.

Brown, 18, and Conaway, 22, were abducted on Feb. 28. Their bodies were discovered March 25 in shallow graves in a wooded area on Detroit's west side, not far from their home in Hamtramck. The women had been bound and shot in the head.

Brandon Cain, 26, Miguel Rodriguez, 24, Reginald Brown, 24, Jeremy Brown, 19, and Brian Lee, 25, all of Detroit, are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of torture and two counts of unlawful imprisonment. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced the charges during a morning news conference Saturday.

Officials said both women were friends of the suspects. According to CBS Detroit affiliate WWJ-TV, police say Conaway may have been targeted for telling investigators that Lee and Cain shot at her nearly three weeks before the abduction.

The two men face attempted murder charges in that case in Wayne County Circuit Court, where they are accused of shooting at Abreeya Brown and Conaway's car on Feb. 8. Witnesses have said Cain had been romantically pursuing Conaway.

Worthy told The Associated Press that the case serves as a reminder about the importance of witness protection.

"This case represents many of our fears when it comes to vital witnesses in a case," the prosecutor said. "These women were heroic. They refused to relent and let these defendants deter them from continuing on with their previous case, and they paid with their lives."

CBS Detroit reports that Cain, Rodriguez and Lee are scheduled to be arraigned later on Monday.

Complete coverage of Abreeya Brown and Ashley Conaway on Crimesider

3 Comments +

Add a Comment


by Mike_in_USA April 9, 2012 11:25 PM EDT: Oh yeah, AFTER you are kidnapped, tortured and murdered THEN the justice system will do something. To bad it couldn't have happened to lawyers.; Reply to this comment

by Mike_in_USA April 9, 2012 11:21 PM EDT

These poor girls big mistake was trusting the police. You see, they had to fight for themselves. They didn't have a whole police department to protect them like judges, lawyers and other police. You think maybe this is why it is so had for witnesses to come forward. Oh yeah, if you defend yourself with a gun, you get arrested. Must be nice to live in a good union town. Maybe the unions shopuld organize the bad guys?

Reply to this comment


by MeesterOh April 11, 2012 2:29 PM EDT: FALLACY: "Oh yeah, if you defend yourself with a gun, you get arrested. " Propositional fallacy, affirming the consequent - Next thing you'll tell me is that if Bill Gates is Rich, then he must own Fort Knox!

FALLACY: "Must be nice to live in a good union town. Maybe the unions shopuld[sic] organize the bad guys?" Informal fallacy, Correlation does not imply causation - Next thing you'll tell me is that Cholesterol Medicine is the cause for a budget shortfall at Beaumont Hospitals! Maybe the CFO should demand a stop to Lipitor generic sales?

I don't think you have it in you to become correct, Mike.