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On the morning of Feb. 20, 2009, Chris Brown was running a little late for work.
It was a frigid day in Wampum, a small town in Western Pennsylvania. Brown said his fiancée Kenzie Houk, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time, but he decided to go to work.
That decision, he told "20/20," is "something that's haunted me."
Brown and Houk had been pregnant and were planning to be married soon. This was their first child together – a baby boy they had already named Christopher.
"She was thrilled, that's what she wanted," Hook's mother Debbie Houk told "20/20." "The clothing was washed. The bed was all ready … diapers were where they were supposed to be and everything, yeah she was ready. "
Courtesy Chris Brown
The two of them, plus Brown's then-11-year-old son Jordan and Houk's two daughters, then-7-year-old Jenessa daughter and then-4-year-old daughter Adalynn, all from their previous relationships moved in together in a farmhouse.
The blended family seemed to be bonding. Jordan said he and Houk had a strong relationship, and he even called her "Mom."
"She was really nice. I liked her lot, "Jordan Brown told" 20/20. "" I was happy [about the baby]… I always wanted a little brother. And … it was a boy. So that's what I was going to get. "
Courtesy Chris Brown
Houk, a hairstylist and a stay-at-home mom, was sleeping in a bedroom. Jordan, who had a bedroom upstairs, had already moved his clothes into that downstairs bedroom.
That morning of Feb. 20, 2009, Jordan Brown said, was "just a normal morning" as he was getting ready for school.
"My sister Jenessa woke me up," said Jordan Brown. "[I] went downstairs, got my clothes, went in the bathroom, got dressed. And we just sat down in the living room and waited on us. So we hurry up and go out the backdoor and ran down the driveway. Went to school. "
Around 8:15 a.m., Jordan said he and Jenessa left the house to catch the school bus.
At 9 am, tree trimming workers arrived at work around the house. Sometime shortly after, one of the tree trimmers spotted little Adalynn in the doorway, sobbing and saying her mother was dead. The tree trimmer called 911.
Courtesy Chris Brown
Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Jeffrey Martin, now retired, says he was one of the first responders on the scene. They found Houk in the bedroom, he said, and thought at first that she had a medical emergency.
"At that point, we assumed that we had hemorrhaged," Martin told "20/20." "We did not touch her, we did not move her. At that point, we're trying to maintain the integrity of the scene. "
It was not until the coroner arrived and started taking photos, Martin said, that they have done this something else.
"I was standing right on the edge of the doorway, and I remember the coroner saying, we're starting to touch the body, 'We have a problem,'" Martin said. "And that's when we realized that it was a homicide."
Obtained by ABC News
Police determined that Houk had been shot in the back of the head. They tried CPR, but it was too late.
"Homicide, something of this magnitude was very, very uncommon," Martin said. "In my 25 years, I believe it was only in that area that I can remember."
Police called Chris Brown at his local business at a local tableware company and asked him to come home immediately.
"They told me that they were gone, and I remember collapsing in the yard," Brown said. "I lost it."
State Police Corporal Troy Steinheiser, now retired, interviewed Chris Brown at the police barracks. Brown's hands were swabbed for gunpowder and cam back clean. Police also have been at work during the shooting.
Meanwhile, officers also went to Mohawk Elementary School to speak to Jenessa and Jordan. Both children were interviewed and told by the police that they did not go out of their way. However, Jordan said he remembered seeing black truck near the garage.
"I did not think anything of it. You know, it's just a truck, "he told" 20/20. " "I thought, you know, it was just some guy doing work or something. But that's why I told them. "
Later that night, as Chris and Jordan Brown were finally starting to nod off around 3:30 am, they were started by a pounding on the door.
It was the police. They had a warrant for Jordan's arrest.
"All I remembered they came and got me at 3:00 in the morning," Jordan Brown said. "[They] put me in the back of the bus and they took me to the police barracks. And I was in there. And then they took me straight to the county jail. And I had no idea where we were going. I was not with anybody. It was just a bunch of strangers dragging me around. "
Just 18 hours before, Chris Brown had lost his fiancée and unborn child. Now, he was losing his son.
The arrest of an 11-year-old for murder quickly acquires wide media attention, and suddenly Wampum, Pennsylvania, a town with a population of roughly 600 people, had millions of eyes on it.
"That mug shot of Jordan Brown is emerging as an icon of the story spread across the world," said Pittsburgh-based ABC affiliate WTAE reporter Bob Mayo.
When his mug shot was taken, Jordan Brown said he had been crying the whole night. Just a fifth grader at the time, he said he did not understand what he was being accused of.
"I did not understand what was happening. I did not know where I was, what was going on or anything, "he said.
The police said what they were doing for the second time.
"When we interview someone, you expect them to give their account, wait a while, we interview them again, and they should give the same account. And I do not know if that happened in this case, "Martin said.
In fact, police said, in his second interview, Jordan changed his description of the black truck and added that it was a person with a hat on, ducking down.
When Jenessa was re-interviewed, police said she had a startling recollection. Jordan moving his guns that morning.
"[Then] "retired retired Pennsylvania State Police Bobby McGraw Trooper Bobby McGraw," added retired Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Bobby McGraw .
Courtesy Chris Brown
Jordan denied to "20/20" doing anything with his guns that morning, saying "I never touched them."
Martin said the autopsy report determined that Houk had been killed with a shotgun and had a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
"I have never expected to shootgun," Martin said. "It's more of a weapon of opportunity. It's not a weapon that someone's going to carry across the field or carry up a driveway. It's three feet long. "
Inside the Browns' farmhouse, police found a collection of handguns, rifles and several rounds of ammunition. They also found a 20-gauge shotgun that belonged to Jordan Brown. Investigators on the case told "20/20" in that rural area of Pennsylvania, "It's pretty common, most – especially young males – would grow up with learning to shoot firearms."
"We had a youth model shotgun in the house that had been fired," Martin said.
But he added that Jordan's hands were never checked for gunpowder residue.
Obtained by ABC News
Police also said they found a 20-gauge shotgun shell casing in pristine condition next to the family's driveway the next day. Trooper McGraw believed Jordan threw the shell to the ground as he was walking to the bus the morning of the murders.
"He kept talking about … a piece of fuzz, and 'I got it out of my pocket and I threw it.' In my opinion, he was focused on the shotgun shell casing that he threw after he left the residence," McGraw said .
Obtained by ABC News
Jordan's motive, McGraw believed, was that he was jealous of the new baby.
"In my opinion, [it was] jealousy, jealousy of the impending birth, "he said.
After the arrest, prosecutor John Bongivengo told reporters he was confident in his case against Jordan Brown.
"It's difficult to charge an 11-year-old with homicide. You have to be sure enough to charge him, "Bongivengo told" 20/20. "
At a time when headlines called Jordan "the world's youngest monster," he was at an age where he still believed in Santa Claus. Elisco said that moniker "fueled the media frenzy and the presumption of guilt that stayed with the case throughout."
Chris Brown told police they should look into another person – Houk's ex-boyfriend of six years, Adam Harvey.
"The police asked me if there was anybody out there that I would have done something to her. And the first person who came to mind was Adam Harvey. She feared him, "Chris Brown said.
Courtesy Chris Brown
Kenzie Houk and her family had a protective order against her husband.
Harvey denied those claims to police.
Harvey also drove a black truck. But when they pulled him out of the woods, they determined that he could not have made it almost 24-mile drive away from Houk's house and back to his hometown. He also claimed he did not know where Houk lived.
"We can not get over that fact that Adam Harvey did not have the time to drive there," Martin said.
Authorities said they also tested Harvey's hands for the presence of gunshot residue and found none.
But what police did discover during their interview with Adalynn, who was believed to be Houk's daughter, was in fact, not his biological child at all.
He acknowledged that he and Houk had argued about money. She wanted to prove that she had refused, that he wanted to prove that the child was his.
"I saw a gentleman in front of me that was crying," said Martin. "Even with the relationship they had, Adam was still in love with Kenzie. I guess you could speculate that. But, with my years of interviewing people– he was crying for her. "
Authorities said Harvey Cooperated during the investigation and agreed to take a polygraph. Harvey told police he did not harm Houk, telling them he was sleeping when he was killed. His father backed up his alibi, confirming Harvey's story that he was home to them.
Within a day, Harvey was cleared as a suspect.
"He said to someone that he said," who said the truck did not like it? " "It's the totality of the circumstances. As an investigator, you have to look at everything. "
"It's such a small window and such an unlikely set of circumstances that one, he found out where she lived. He knew the doors were unlocked. He knew there was a 20 gauge shotgun that they did in the house and gets there after everyone leaves, before it snows with no tracks, and gets by the tree cutting guys. That seems highly unlikely, "added Bongivengo.
While awaiting trial, Jordan Brown was housed for three years at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Center, a juvenile detention facility in Erie County, Pennsylvania.
Courtesy Chris Brown
Chris Brown said he drove every day, 230 miles roundtrip, to see his son at the center. He needed to drive every day, he said, to visit Jordan because "he's my son."
Jordan Brown said those visits were a lifeline: "I do not know what I would have done without them."
"They played a big [role] in, like, keeping my head straight, "he said.
The daily journey, however, writes havoc on his finances, Chris Brown said.
"It cost me my job, and what money I had coming into the gas tank and went into things that he needed," Chris Brown said.
Chris Brown said his complaint for the loss of his fiancée and their unborn baby had to take a backseat.
"[I] have not had a chance to grieve properly, "said Chris Brown.
As the years passed by, Jordan Brown said that he spent much of his time absorbed in the books of his father, reading with a dictionary next to him.
"If I would read something and come across a word I did not know, [I would] look it up. That way I know what he's trying to say, and then that's how I read, "he said. "I was a big fantasy reader … It was a whole different world. I'd like to lose myself in the book. … Time flew when you were reading. "
Courtesy Chris Brown
Throughout Jordan Brown's stay in detention in Erie, his father continued to ask him whether he'd killed Houk.
"I gave him every opportunity. [I’d say,] 'Jordan, listen, if something happens. Accidents happen, buddy. You know, if something happened, tell me. I'm not going to be mad at you. I'm your dad. I'm not going to be your dad. I'm never going to be here every day, '"said Chris Brown.
"[He] never changed his story. You know, [he] maintained his innocence throughout from one day, "he added.
But Houk's family is convinced that Jordan is guilty, and that he should receive the maximum punishment and be tried as an adult.
Houk's mother Debbie Houk told "20/20," "Jordan's a murderer. And I'll say it. And his father needs to be in the mirror every morning and look in that mirror and say, 'I am the father of a murderer.' "
More than two years ago, Jordan Brown was involved, he would have to go to court, where he would get out far earlier. It would be another eight months before Jordan would stand trial for double homicide.
The trial lasted three days. By then, Bongivengo had been replaced by a different prosecutor. Jenessa statements to police were never presented at trial, nor did she testify.
Still, a juvenile court judge found Jordan Brown, then 14, delinquent in the case.
A judge finding a juvenile delinquent is effectively a guilty verdict. It's saying that I'm responsible for this crime, "ABC News" Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams said.
"I can remember just looking at Jordan and feeling like we had failed him. And just feeling so sorry for him at that moment, "Colafella said. "And I just remember looking at him thinking, 'How can this kid have any more hope?'"
During his incarceration, Jordan taught himself to play guitar and said he became a pretty good basketball player.
Jordan Brown's lawyers announced they would appeal two months after his conviction. But it would be a second and a half years before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
His attorneys say police were never able to prove Jordan Brown's shotgun was the murder weapon. They argue that the particle of gunpowder could have been worn out of a recent turkey shoot. In fact, the prosecution's forensics expert testified that these particles can be transferred. And then, Jordan's defense attorneys pointed to the troopers who had said Jordan's shotgun smelted as if it had just been fired when they arrived at the house that morning.
"Those law enforcement officers who said that they smelled [that the gun] "They were recently fired, they conceded that they had no expertise or training," said Jordan's attorney Dennis Elisco.
As for the shotgun shell casing police found near the driveway, Colafella said, "On that property where they lived on a farm, there were shotgun shells all over the place. They routinely shot on that property. The discovery of that shell was not significant. "
Another issue Jordan's attorneys raised to the blood of Jordan Brown's clothing that day.
"It's almost inconceivable that you would have thought that it would be a good idea to do so, but that it would be a good idea," Elisco said. "It was appalling to me that they seemingly just ignored that fact throughout the box."
But the prosecution's expert witness said that the angle in which the gun was shot could have been minimized.
"This is precisely what we should have had," Colafella added. "Jordan Brown was sitting with his stepsister Jenessa in a room where the victim was sleeping, run upstairs, grab a shotgun, load it with a shotgun shell, walk over the bed, shotgun up against her head, pull that trigger, kill her, somehow manage to wipe whatever– bodily fluid or blood might have been contained on the end of that gun, take it upstairs, replace it on the wall, remove the shell, run downstairs while her sister presumably was Waiting for him in this very small house … All without leaving a single clue. "
"All they really have it on, largely, was the statement of Jenessa," Elisco said. "As time went on they completely abandoned that statement, which would have been proven strong in the case, and further developed for this forensic evidence."
Houk's younger daughter Adalynn, which tree trimmers found when she discovered her mother's body, Until now.
In an exclusive interview with "20/20," she told her own account of what happened that morning of Feb. 20, 2009, and some of it conflicts with the timeline font.
That day, she said she remembered being woken up by the sound of a gunshot.
"I was so young. I did not know what the sound was, "said Adalynn, who was 4 years old at the time and is now 13." I was just going to walk in her wake. [Kenzie Houk] up. And her phone rank. "
She remembered picking up her mother's phone and answering it. She said that she was going to the bedroom to get her.
"I went in to wake her up. And her face was facing me, "Adalynn said. "I was just like, 'Hey mom, wake up.' And when I turned her own, I realized-I'd come to the conclusion of what had happened.
"And I went outside, and I had asked, 'Do you guys know my grandma's number?' And they were like, 'No.'" she said. "I went back in the house and I remember a very nice cop had sat me on the flesh. And he told me everything was going right, and I just sat there and cried. "
The tree trimmers saw Adalynn sometime after 9 am that morning. And if you go by Adalynn's account, this means it all, including the murders, happened long after Jordan and Jenessa had left their way to school.
Her family says Adalynn shared bits of her story over the years, but it's something neither nor Jordan's defense team ever heard. They have arrived at a house in a state of shock, and could not provide coherent answers. Jordan's defense lawyers say Houk was killed, but Martin, who worked the case, says after so many years he does not find Adalynn's account credible.
Jordan Brown spent seven summers in detention and was released in 2016 when he was 18.
In July 2018, the court sided with Jordan Brown, writing that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had failed to prove.
Jordan's conviction was overturned. In a rare move, the highest court in Pennsylvania ruled that "there was insufficient evidence" to prosecute the case. While the decision did not declare him innocent of the charges, he could not be retried.
"I was happy. Finally, it felt like a big weight had been lifted off of me. It's been a nightmare for nine-and-a-half years, "said Chris Brown.
Courtesy Chris Brown
"I'm 100 percent, you know, a whole, clean slate. Everything is gone. And that made me happy. Finally, the truth finally got out, "Jordan Brown said.
When asked what he had for the police who have arrested his son, Chris Brown said, "'Shame on you,' is probably the most polite way to put it."
"You took an 11-year-old's childhood away from him. You've, you know, ruined his name in essence. I mean, you 'Jordan Brown' and you get that mug shot picture that pops up, "he said.
Jordan Brown said he has "mixed feelings" about what happened to him.
"It used to bother me all the time. I used to hate it. But then I got to where it did not bother me at all. I did not care. But now I'm kind of, like, I go back and forth sometimes, I think, "he said.
Courtesy Chris Brown
As for Chris, he still mourns the loss of Houk and their unborn sound. "I still love her. I miss her every day, "he said.
"I'll be honest with you, I want to get PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] over this, "Chris Brown continued. "It's kind of a bittersweet feeling, you know. [I’m] happy that this part of it is over with Jordan, you know, being wrongfully accused. But still, that side of it, that suffering from the loss and not having any recourse, knowingly was falsely accused and the road prosecutor and investigators took over, the inadequate investigation. … I think has just ruined us [from] and having the person who did this, and for the person who actually did it to pay for it. "
Retired Pennsylvania State Trooper Police Bobby McGraw said he is still confident Jordan Brown committed the murders.
"This case was investigated by some of the finest police officers in this country, plain and simple. And none of us wanted to put handcuffs on an 11-year-old. That's where the case took us. I have never looked back in my opinion. And I would assume every trooper who investigated that case feels the same way. We did not get this wrong, "McGraw told us" 20/20. "" There is not a trooper on this day that has lost one second of sleep over this case. "
Jordan Brown, who is attending college and studying computer science, is determined to leave behind and ready for brighter days ahead.
"I just want to be successful. I just want to graduate college, you know, get a job in my major and, I do not know, just be successful, Jordan Brown said.
"My biggest hope for him is that he gets a fair shake moving forward, that, you know, people look at this, for what it is, what it truly is," Chris Brown said. "Read that Supreme Court order and realize that this kid was done wrong."
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