PITTSBURGH,None — Pittsburgh police have charged a registered sex offender with the fatal stabbing of a teenage girl whose body was dumped near a Sheraden high school.
VIDEO: Man Questioned In Sheraden Girl's Death
Tushon Brown, 35, was arrested on a parole violation Wednesday at a beauty salon where his mother works in Goldsboro, N.C. After Pittsburgh police traveled to North Carolina to interview him, Brown was charged Thursday with homicide. He is awaiting extradition to Pittsburgh.
Lauren Deis, 14, had been missing for several days from her East Liberty home when her body was found wrapped in trash bags on Tuesday near Langley High School.
Tushon Brown Tushon Brown Tushon Brown
Police said Brown met Deis during a chance encounter on July 7, which then became a sexual relationship. Brown told police that Deis agreed to have sex with him for $200, but Brown said he took the money back and they got into a violent argument.
Brown then told police that Deis attacked him with a knife and he fought back, stabbing her at least a dozen times and killing her.
According to the criminal complaint, Brown sexually abused her dead body, tried to hide it in his basement and then dumped her body and took off to North Carolina.
"This case here we some evidence. We were able to work off surveillance video and some other tips that led to the identity of Mr. Brown. Unfortunately we did work very hard on this case but it doesn't bring back Lauren," said Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Tom Stangrecki
Police said that paperwork is being processed in North Carolina and a private security team will bring Brown back to Pittsburgh.
The criminal complaint said the Deis met Brown at a neighborhood market. The manager said he remembers him coming in to the store to purchase things.
"I saw that guy a couple of times. He would usually come in the store to buy something," said Sheraden Market manager Sunny Singh.
Brown pleaded guilty to rape in 2002. A judge sentenced him to 5 1/2 to 11 years in prison. After uncovering court documents, Target 11 investigator Rick Earle found that Brown was released in August 2009 after serving almost six years.
According to probation and parole documents obtained by Target 11, the board decided to release him because of a number of factors, including "his positive institutional behavior, his level of risk to the community and a positive recommendation by the department of corrections and his acceptance of responsibility."
Courtney Granata, a friend of Deis', said she's shocked of the news.
"I was bawling hysterically last night for like two hours," said Granata. "I didn't sleep very good. It was pretty bad. I think it was someone she knew (who killed her)."
Deis' friends said she was a streetwise and trusting person. Police said she was last seen alive walking on Minton Street.
City homicide detectives served a search warrant at Brown's home in the 3000 block of Glenmawr Avenue in Sheraden on Wednesday. The home is just blocks away from the crime scene. Several items were removed from the home, including blankets, a mop and clothing. Investigators were back at the home Thursday.
Neighbors said police visited the home late Tuesday night as well.
"They were here all night long," said Wanette Wilson. "I couldn't figure out what was going on."
A man who was doing yard work next door to Brown's home said he saw Brown and a girl who looked like Deis go into the home last week.
"Right off the back of my head, I said this was the same girl that was on the porch with him," the man said.
Neighbors said Brown lives at the house with his wife and her children. Residents living nearby said they are furious that they didn't know he was a Megan's Law sex offender.
"I have little kids, a niece and a nephew that live three doors up. We should know where a sex offender lives in the neighborhood," said one neighbor.
Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said Dies was stabbed several times, mostly in the neck and torso area.
Police said they've pulled surveillance video from school and area businesses as part of their investigation. In one video, police said they could see a car pulling up to the Dumpster near where her body was found.
Previous Stories: July 15, 2010: Body Found Near Sheraden School Was Missing Girl, 14
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