DNA hit on cold case may have solved 2000 murder, recent sex assaults
| Monday, Sep 21 2009 06:32 PM
Last Updated Monday, Sep 21 2009 06:34 PM
A Bakersfield man convicted in a gruesome drunken driving death six years ago was linked by a cold DNA hit to a grisly rape and murder in 2000.
Michael Charles Brown, 34, was charged Monday with not only the murder, but with four sexual assaults that occurred after he got out of prison for the drunken driving death.
The victims in the sexual assaults were linked to Brown both by DNA and personal identifications, Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said.
Brown could face the death penalty for the June 19, 2000, stabbing death and sexual assault of Ruby Lee Jackson-Meriweather, 39, whose body was found at a home in the 500 block of Grace Street.
Her nude body was found in a bedroom. She was stabbed in the head and neck, and her spinal cord was severed, coroner officials have said.
She left behind four children and three grandchildren.
Her case was unsolved until a DNA match was made on a cold case hit, Green said.
Brown was arraigned Monday on 20 felony counts in a new case that consolidates the murder with the other sexual assaults, Green said.
He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for further hearings November 30. He remains in jail without bail.
Brown was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2003 for his conviction of vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol, and hit and run.
The victim was 40-year-old Gary White who was hit while trying to cross Union Avenue at 10th Street.
The impact lodged White's body in the car's windshield and on its hood.
Brown told police he pulled over at a nearby Wienerschnitzel where White's body rolled off the car. Brown then drove away but was arrested a short time later.
Brown was released from prison some time before November 2007 when a series of sexual assaults began, Green said.
Four women reported that Brown assaulted them between then and March 2008. Brown was arrested that month and was charged with 16 felonies.
He was set for a jury trial Monday when those charges were dismissed and the new case was filed.
