Crime Solvers Central
Crime Solvers Central
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Forum Posts for Brenna Kathleen Machus:
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On the night of July 15, 2013, 20-year-old Brenna Kathleen Machus was working as assistant manager at a Family Dollar in Dearborn, Michigan. When employees arrived to open the next morning they found co-worker Joseph Orlando dead of a gunshot wound inside the store and Brenna missing, her personal belongings left behind. A manhunt followed; two days later her body was recovered in a nearby wooded area and an autopsy confirmed she had been shot in the head.

Surveillance footage showed a hooded man in the store. Investigation led police to 34-year-old former employee Lavere Bryant, who had been fired earlier that spring. Authorities say DNA and other evidence linked Bryant to the scene; he was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery and unlawful imprisonment, and prosecutors argued the killings were revenge against former co-workers. A jury convicted Bryant in November 2014 and imposed life without parole, but the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the murder convictions in August 2016, finding that testimony about his past convictions and sex offender status had unfairly prejudiced the trial; prosecutors said they would seek review by the state Supreme Court.

If anyone knew Brenna, where she worked, or saw activity near the store that night, please share what is known.