Limerick Mom Jennifer Brown Killed By Business Partner: DA

NORRISTOWN, PA — The supposed friend and business partner of 43-year-old Limerick mother, Jennifer Brown, was charged with first-degree murder on Thursday afternoon after a month-long investigation, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said.

The investigation disclosed that Blair Watts, 33, of Royersford reported Brown missing on Jan. 4, the day after he killed her in her home and got rid of her body in a shallow grave in Royersford, Steele said.

Watts told police Brown failed to pick up her 8-year-old son off the bus that afternoon after the boy spent the night at Watts' home, Steele said.

"Watts tried to get rid of her body before he reported her missing," Steele said during a press conference attended by two dozen media representatives. "For 37 days since this devoted mother was found missing, detectives have been accumulating evidence, piece by piece, bringing into focus what happened to Jennifer and who murdered her.

"The picture shows Blair Watts murdered Jennifer Brown on Jan. 3, then moved her body, and ultimately buried it in a shallow grave."

Watts was committed to Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail.

The evidence

Steele said that separate pieces of a broken hair clip found in Brown's Limerick home and in the shallow grave where her body was found indicated Brown was murdered in her house.

According to the district attorney:

- The day before Brown was reported missing, two cash transfers, totaling $17,000 from accounts of a business the two were planning to start were transferred to accounts controlled by Watts.

- A K-9 cadaver dog, Patton, found evidence of human remains in the area where the hair clip was found in Brown's kitchen.

- Other evidence linking Watts to the slaying included connecting Watts' cellphone to Brown's home at 6:37 a.m. on Jan. 4, and evidence that human remains had been in a Jeep driven by Watts.

An autopsy conducted by Dr. Ian Hood, a forensic pathologist, showed that Brown had three broken ribs. The victim's body was not found until Jan. 19, 16 days after she was killed. Hood ruled the cause of death was a homicide.

Brown was last seen at 2 p.m. on Jan. 3 in the Limerick/Royersford area, police previously said. She was scheduled to pick up her 8-year-old son from the bus stop the following afternoon but did not show up.

She was found two weeks later, partially buried in the 200 block of North Fifth Avenue behind a warehouse in Royersford.