LANSING, Mich. — Kiernan Brown, a suspect in a double murder in Ingham County, was released from prison in 2018 and many ask the question, could this have been prevented?
FOX 47's Carla Bayron dug into his time during and after his incarceration.
The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) said Brown who was on parole after serving time for a previous violent crime was a model parolee and showed no red flags up until a week before the alleged killings.
Brown was released on parole in March 2018 after serving his minimum sentence for a strangulation assault charge.
Chris Gautz, a spokesperson for MDOC, said Brown was reporting to his parole agent every month like he was supposed to.
"He had never failed a drug test. He was taking college classes and getting very good grades in his classes. He was working, I believe, full-time."
On May 1st, the Eaton County Sheriff's Office said Brown allegedly assaulted a woman. State records show Brown then cut off contact with his parole agent on May 2nd. The state found out about the alleged assault and a warrant went out for Brown's arrest.
"When he didn't come in on the 7th, even before that we were already making plans to try and find him. We contacted our Absconder Recovery Unit team," Gautz said.
But later in the week, early Friday morning, deputies said Brown had killed two women in Ingham County.
Gautz said Brown was a medium-risk parolee, but because he was doing very well while on parole, it's always hard to predict future behavior.
"In the end, you can have all the data you want, you can have all the evidence-based programs and all the top-notch tools at your disposal. But you can never account for someone's actions or behaviors and making a poor decision."
As far as why Brown was put on parole in the first place, Gautz said the parole board usually decides whether or not someone would be a menace to society, and Brown had a clean prison record in his three years of serving time, apart from one infraction.
Gautz said prisoners typically will pick up a handful or dozens of infractions depending on how well they adjust to their sentence.
News 10 obtained Brown's records from his time in prison and he had completed a variety of different programs, including substance abuse, employment readiness, career and technical education.
And even a domestic violence program just a few months before the May 1st alleged assault in Eaton County.
Brown had confessed to the crimes at the time of his arrest but plead not guilty on Tuesday.
He will be back in court on May 23.
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