Medical Examiner, Stepfather Testify As Exam Continues For 5 In Hamtramck Double Murder
HAMTRAMCK (WWJ) - A preliminary examination resumed on Wednesday for five men charged with the murders of two young Hamtramck women.
In Hamtramck District Court, Wayne County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lee Hlavaty testified that both 18-year-old Abreeya Brown and 22-year-old Ashley Conaway were bound with duct tape and shot in the head at close-range.
"The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. There was a contact entrance gunshot wound present on the right back of the head and then there was an accompanying exit wound present on the left cheek," Hlavaty said."That means that the muzzle of the gun was held in contact to the skin."
Also taking the stand on Wednesday as Brown's step-father, Major Chapman, who identified one of the defendants, Brandon Cain, as the man who was standing in the street with a gun on the evening his daughter was abducted.
Chapman also testified that Brown called him on her cell phone from the trunk of a car and told him Conaway was with her.
Brown and Conaway were not seen alive again following their abduction the night of Feb. 28. Their bodies were found almost a month later in shallow graves in a wooded area near 6 Mile Road and Telegraph in Detroit
The five men — Cain, 26, along with 24-year-old Miguel Rodriguez, 24-year-old Reginald Brown, 19-year-old Jeremy Brown and 25-year-old Brian Lee — are each charged with two counts of premeditated first degree murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of torture and two counts of unlawful imprisonment.
Cain and Reginald Brown also face additional weapons charges.
Prosecutors say they killed the women to keep them from testifying in a separate assault case.
