Story of Jordan Brown murder case aired on 20/20

Staff report

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

The story of Jordan Brown, who was 11 when he was accused of killing his father’s pregnant girlfriend at their Wampum, Pa., home in 2009, was aired Friday night on “20/20.”

Brown, now 21 and a sophomore in college, appeared on the show with his father, Christopher Brown, saying he liked “a lot” the woman he was accused of killing, Kenzie Houk, 26.

Investigators and the Lawrence County prosecutor described evidence that led them to charge the boy less than 24 hours after the killing.

The youth model shotgun found in the home smelled like it had been recently fired, they said. Houk’s 7-year-old daughter described hearing a boom while she was waiting for Jordan to come down from upstairs that morning.

But “20/20” highlighted questions about whether Houk’s ex-boyfriend had a substantial motive to kill her – learning a few months earlier that Houk’s youngest daughter was not his, as Houk had led him to believe.

Christopher Brown traveled 230 miles round trip every day to visit his son in a juvenile facility in Erie, Pa.

“He maintained his innocence from Day 1,” Christopher Brown said.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Jordan Brown’s juvenile murder conviction in July, saying prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to support a conviction.