Headline is a bit misleading. Looks like she did drown in the car. It just took them several hours to get to her.
Law enforcement believe 16-week-old Lyrik Aliyana Brown had been dead for hours before her body was retrieved from the Red River on Tuesday, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained
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Affidavit: Infant likely died hours before being found
Law enforcement believe 16-week-old Lyrik Aliyana Brown had been dead for hours before her body was retrieved from the Red River on Tuesday, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Register.
Law enforcement records state that the vehicle's condition indicates it had been driven into a stationary object at a “relatively substantial speed” before entering the river and coming to rest on its roof, completely submerged. The Jetta had extensive front end damage.
The affidavit states there was no evidence to suggest the infant’s 30-year-old father, Jeremy Brown, had attempted to rescue her.
At 3:41 p.m. Tuesday, a witness saw Jeremy Brown underneath the I-35 bridge on the south bank of the Red River, according to the affidavit.
Jeremy Brown talked to the witness and during the conversation he said he had wrecked his vehicle, was stuck at the river with his daughter and needed to borrow a cellphone.
Jeremy Brown reportedly called his ex-girlfriend and during that conversation, the affidavit alleges, he denied having his daughter and claimed to have been in a car crash.
The girlfriend, according to the affidavit, immediately contacted GPD to relay the location of Jeremy Brown.
The information was passed on to the CCSO and multiple surrounding agencies responded to the scene.
Previous Register reports state GPD personnel arrived at 3:51 p.m.
When first responders arrived to the scene, Jeremy Brown was in the water near the southern bank of the Red River. As deputies and officers approached, Jeremy Brown began swimming closer to the middle of the river, according to law enforcement.
“As he reached a location further north of the river bank, he grabbed onto a vehicle that was clearly submerged in the river,” the affidavit states. “Attempts were made to communicate with the defendant to determine the location of the child but the defendant refused to advise where she was at.”
The affidavit states Jeremy Brown resisted arrest when deputies tried to detain him. He had to be subdued and handcuffed, court records state. He also reportedly “made the Res Gestae statement that he forgot she was in the car.”
The vehicle was retrieved and that's when officials found Lyrik Brown's body still in the back of the Jetta.
The body was taken to the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas for an autopsy.
Court records show the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office reported to law enforcement that Lyrik Brown had been dead for hours — likely since sometime overnight.
Gilbert said Wednesday, June 10, that the cause of her death was drowning. However, the manner of her death was still pending, he said.
Court records show that Jeremy Brown had talked multiple times in the past about wrecking his vehicle into something to take his own life, had tried to kill himself at least once by driving into a stationary object and had on at least one previous occasion assaulted a former girlfriend by trying to drown her in the Red River near the bridge.
The Gainesville man has a long criminal history dating back to 2009 which includes charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, possession or delivery of drug paraphernalia, firearm smuggling and aggravated assault, Cooke County Jail records indicate.
Jeremy Brown was served a warrant Wednesday for capital murder of a child under 10 years of age, Gilbert said. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Brown's bonds for the murder and assault charge total $1.25 million, jail records showed Thursday, June 11. It’s unclear whether Brown has an attorney.
