OCEANSIDE — A Vista Superior Court Judge found enough evidence at a preliminary hearing Oct. 2 to order a middle-aged man to stand trial for the gruesome murder of his bedridden mother.
Judge Joel Pressman bound over Adam James Brown, 42, on a single count of first-degree murder for the slaying of his mother, Leonare Brown, on June 8 at their Oceanside home on Carolyn Circle.
An Oct. 16 arraignment date was set for Brown, at which time a trial date may be set. If convicted, the 42-year-old man faces 25 years to life in prison.
Throughout the daylong hearing, Brown — who remains in jail on $5 million bail — kept his head down and sat motionless.
Police said when they found Leonare Brown in her bedroom, she had a large kitchen knife “protruding” from her head, in between her right eye and temple.
Inside the locked bedroom, the bedroom walls, headboard and bed were rife with blood stains, Sgt. Aarron Doyle said. The consistency of the stains indicated the assault had taken place sometime earlier.
Near Leonare Brown’s body was a half-finished crossword puzzle, a pencil and reading glasses, the officer said.
A bloodied white T-shirt was located in the defendant’s hamper in his bedroom.
A key to Leonare Brown’s room was also located in her son’s room.
Witnesses testified Adam Brown was the primary caretaker of his mother while she recovered from hip surgery.
Edward Gibb, the victim’s live-in boyfriend, said the defendant was a “strange individual” who was unsociable even with family members, but that he and his mother had a loving relationship, so much so that Leonare Brown called her son her “guardian angel.”
From the time Adam Brown moved in with the couple five years ago, Gibb said he always felt nervous around him. He said the two never spoke, mainly because the defendant wouldn’t respond to him, though it never entered his mind that he would harm his mother. “It makes no sense why he’d kill his mother,” Gibb said.
“The way Adam Brown took care of his mother showed me the true meaning of love,” Gibb added.
Following the hearing, family members denied a request to comment on the case.
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