Christina Downer: Boyfriend Charged With Murder

# DHF-025 — Christina Downer: Boyfriend Charged With Murder **Case No. DHF-025 | Subject: Christina Lynn Downer | Date: 18 December 2025 (reported missing); 29 October 2026 (arrests); 30 October 2026 (arrests announced); 2 November 2026 (charges announced) | Location: Los Angeles, California, USA | Status: CHARGED** **Posted:** 31 October 2026 **Updated:** 6 November 2026 **Status stamp: CHARGED** > **UPDATE — 6 November 2026:** This file was first published on 31 October 2026, when two people had been arrested on suspicion of murder and no charge had been filed. On Monday 2 November 2026, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced formal charges: Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, is charged with one count of murder and two felony counts of injuring a spouse; Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, is charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact. Prosecutors allege Brandon killed Christina Downer on or about 19 September 2025 and that Markowski helped dispose of her body. Downer's body has not been found. The two felony counts of injuring a spouse relate to a separate alleged victim — Brandon's wife — in 2022, not to Downer. Both defendants were set to be arraigned on 2 November 2026 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center; no plea outcome is reported in the sources relied on here. The charges are allegations, not convictions, and both defendants are presumed innocent. The rest of this file is the record as it stood on 30 October 2026, with the changes below marked. > **Image note for readers:** All images in this file are original illustrations created for Dark History Files. They are atmospheric artwork, not photographs and not real evidence. No image in this file depicts Christina Downer, Jimmy Fowlie, Delorean Bijon Brandon, Kaylee Nicole Markowski, any member of any family, or any real person, and no image depicts any act of violence or any death.

Case card for DHF-025 — Christina Downer case, Los Angeles. Status: CHARGED. ## THE FILE CARD | **Case File No.** | DHF-025 | | --- | --- | | **Subject** | Christina Lynn Downer, 38, of Los Angeles, California, USA, sister of Saturday Night Live writer Jimmy Fowlie | | **Date** | 18 December 2025 (reported missing); 29 October 2026 (two arrests); 30 October 2026 (arrests announced by the Los Angeles Police Department); 2 November 2026 (charges announced by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office) | | **Location** | Los Angeles, California, USA — last seen in the Koreatown neighbourhood, according to her brother's December 2025 post; arrests in Highland Park and Tarzana, Los Angeles | | **Status** | CHARGED | | **Investigating authority** | Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Robbery-Homicide Division | | **Court** | Los Angeles County Superior Court, Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Department 30 — both defendants were set for arraignment on 2 November 2026. No plea outcome is reported in the sources relied on here. Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams, Major Crimes Division, is prosecuting. | | **Charges** | Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, charged 2 November 2026 with one count of murder and two felony counts of injuring a spouse (separate alleged victim, his wife, in 2022 — not Downer). Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, charged 2 November 2026 with one felony count of accessory after the fact, for allegedly helping dispose of Downer's body. Both were arrested 29 October 2026 and booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, each with bail set at $2 million. No plea is reported yet. Both are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. | | **LAPD allegation** | The LAPD says detectives identified Brandon and Markowski as the individuals responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of their involvement. That is the police allegation, not a court finding. | | **Motive** | No motive has been announced by investigators in the sources relied on here. This file states none. | | **One-line summary** | Christina Lynn Downer, 38, was reported missing in Los Angeles on 18 December 2025 after her ex-husband requested a welfare check; after her cellphone was found washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach, the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division took over the investigation, and on 29 October 2026 detectives arrested her boyfriend, Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, and Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, on suspicion of murder. On 2 November 2026 the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged Brandon with murder and Markowski as an accessory after the fact; Downer's body has not been found. | > **Why this file is stamped CHARGED:** The stamp records only the legal position as it stands on 2 November 2026. The District Attorney has filed charges — one count of murder against Brandon, two counts of injuring a spouse against Brandon relating to a separate alleged victim, and one count of accessory after the fact against Markowski. No plea, no trial, and no verdict is reported in the sources relied on here. A charge is an accusation, not a conviction. If either defendant enters a plea, or a trial produces a verdict, this file will be updated, dated, and re-stamped to match the court record — never quietly rewritten. ## THE CASE ### Two arrests, ten months after a disappearance On Thursday 29 October 2026, Los Angeles police detectives arrested two people in connection with the death of Christina Lynn Downer. The arrests were announced the next day, Friday 30 October, in a statement from the LAPD's Media Relations Division, and the news travelled fast: within hours it was carried by national outlets, because Downer's brother is Jimmy Fowlie, a writer for Saturday Night Live, and because her disappearance had already been public for ten months. The two people arrested were Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, and Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34: Brandon in the 6000 block of Garvanza Avenue in Highland Park, Markowski in the 6000 block of Tampa Avenue in Tarzana. Both were booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, each with bail set at $2 million. No attorney is named for either person in the sources used here. Brandon, according to the LAPD statement, was Downer's boyfriend — which is why his name had already been part of the public record since December 2025. Markowski, 34, is described in reporting as a Los Angeles resident; the sources relied on here state no relationship between Markowski and Downer, and this file invents none. What the police say the two are responsible for is stated in the LAPD's own words, and this file keeps it in that frame: detectives identified Brandon and Markowski as the individuals responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of their involvement. That is a police allegation at arrest — not a charge sheet, not court evidence, and not a finding of guilt. The next formal step, the LAPD said, is for Robbery-Homicide to present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration. (That decision has now been made — charges were filed on 2 November 2026; see the update box. The stamp is now CHARGED.) Both charged people are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. One thing the arrest announcement does not do matters: it does not describe how Downer died, and it does not say where or when a body was recovered. Readers who followed this case in April 2026 may remember a very different announcement from her family, and the gap between that announcement and the police position at the time is told below, because it explains why this file is careful about what it calls established fact. ### Reported missing in December The case began, in the public record, on 18 December 2025, when Downer's ex-husband requested a welfare check because he had not heard from her for an extended period of time, and Downer, 38, was reported missing. That date and sequence come from the LAPD statement, repeated in every reputable report of the arrests. At the time she was reported missing, the LAPD statement says, Brandon claimed she had moved out several months earlier, leaving behind all her belongings, including her vehicle and her dog. This file reports that claim as Brandon's account at the time, not as a fact established by the investigation. The detail about the belongings matters because it is the detail that made the account hard for her family to accept: a person who leaves everything, including a dog she was said to be very attached to, has not obviously packed up and left. Her brother made the disappearance public four days later. On 22 December 2025, Fowlie shared a missing-person flier on Instagram, writing that Downer had been missing and that the family was concerned for her safety. In a separate post he shared a photograph of Downer and her dog, Rex, writing that his sister was very attached to the dog and had last been seen in Koreatown, Los Angeles. The flier was shared widely. Fowlie's December posts also set out the last-contact dates that frame the disappearance: he had heard from his sister on 26 November 2025, she had been active on social media up to 15 December, and the last time anyone had spoken to her on the phone was 5 October. Those are family-reported dates, not police findings, and the gap between the last phone conversation in early October and the missing-person report in mid-December is part of what made the case difficult to reconstruct. One digital trace, as described by Fowlie at the time, troubled the family. He wrote that the family had reason to believe that in the weeks before she went missing, her phone and social media had been compromised, and that whoever had Downer's phone had used it to request money and to create the impression that she had skipped town and gone off the grid. This file attributes that belief to Fowlie's post, and goes no further: whether anyone used her phone is not established in the police statements relied on here, and a family's suspicion, however understandable, is not evidence. ### A phone on a beach, and a case that changed hands The investigation changed shape when Downer's cellphone was discovered washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach. The LAPD statement, as reported, says that after that discovery, detectives from the Robbery-Homicide Division assumed the investigation. The sources relied on here give no date for the phone's discovery, and this file invents none. The transfer itself is the first official signal in the public record that police were treating the disappearance as a suspected homicide rather than a voluntary absence: Robbery-Homicide is the division that takes cases where foul play is suspected. From that point on, the public record goes quiet for months: no steady stream of police updates appears in the sources relied on here between the phone's discovery and the spring of 2026, and families kept the case visible themselves. ### April: two accounts that did not agree On 29 April 2026, Fowlie posted a long statement on Instagram: the LAPD had informed the family that Christina was no longer alive, and the case had officially transitioned from a missing-person investigation to a homicide investigation. He wrote that the family's prayers for her to be found safely had transformed into prayers for the truth to be revealed and for those responsible to be held accountable, and that he was sharing the news because he believed whoever was responsible was hoping to erase her in every way possible. That post was widely reported at the time, and many readers will remember it as the moment Downer was confirmed dead. But the record is more complicated. The LAPD publicly disputed Fowlie's account: in a statement reported by the Los Angeles Times and other outlets, the department said Downer had not been located and her case had not been reclassified as a homicide, although the circumstances were suspicious. In April 2026, in other words, the family and the police were publicly saying different things about the most basic question in the case. This file resolves that disagreement the only honest way it can: by reporting both accounts, with their sources, and by noting what has changed since. The October 2026 arrest announcement is a police statement, not a family post, and it speaks of Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of the arrested people's involvement — the LAPD, in its own statement, treating the case as a murder. What it does not do is say that a body was found, when, or where. Readers should not take this file, or any report of the arrests, as confirmation that a body has been recovered, and the question of what physical evidence underlies the allegation is, for now, unanswered in public. ### October: the search in the desert Three weeks before the arrests, the investigation surfaced in public again, in a very different landscape. Early in October 2026, investigators searched an Airbnb property in the Joshua Tree area, in the California desert. Reporting of the search, citing the LAPD and NBC's Los Angeles station, says Robbery-Homicide detectives carried it out on 9 October, assisted by K-9 units and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, with fire department personnel in support. Police did not say what led them to the property, did not disclose whether anything was found, and declined to confirm whether investigators were searching for human remains, describing the operation only as a search for evidence connected to the disappearance. The Joshua Tree search is included because it is the last public investigative step before the arrests. A desert search with dogs and sheriff's deputies looks, from the outside, like a breakthrough; in the sources relied on here, it is not reported as one. No finding from the search is stated in any source used for this file, and no source connects the search, in terms, to the arrests that followed three weeks later. The sources do not say whether it contributed, and this file does not guess. What can be said is that by early October the investigation was active, run by Robbery-Homicide, and had reached beyond Los Angeles into the desert — and that by the end of the same month, two people were in custody. ### What the arrests do and do not settle The arrests of 29 October 2026 settle one question open since December 2025: whether the police believed they knew who was responsible for Downer's death. The LAPD's answer, in its 30 October statement, is that it believes Brandon and Markowski are responsible, and that they disposed of her body and concealed their involvement. That is why this file exists now, on the day after the announcement. But an arrest settles far less than it appears to. No motive has been announced in the sources relied on here, and this file states none. No account of how Downer died has been made public, and this file gives none. No formal charge had been reported yet at that point: the case was to be presented to the District Attorney for filing consideration, so the decision about what, if anything, to charge had not yet been made in public. (Superseded; charges were filed on 2 November 2026 — see the update box.) And the two people arrested are presumed innocent unless proven guilty, whatever the police allegation says. There is also the question that has run through this case since April, and that the arrests do not, on the public record, answer: what happened to Christina Downer, in full. Her family has lived with it since December 2025, through a missing-person report, a public search, a disputed announcement in April, a desert search in October, and now two arrests. The arrests are a step towards an answer in court, not the answer itself. The District Attorney's filing decision has now been made — see the update box at the top of this file. The file stays open, and the stamp is now CHARGED. ### 2 November 2026: formal charges On Monday 2 November 2026, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced that it had filed charges. Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, is charged with one count of murder, with the complaint alleging the killing occurred on or about 19 September 2025 — about three months before Downer was reported missing. He is also charged with two felony counts of injuring a spouse, relating to alleged assaults on a separate victim, his wife, in 2022. Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, is charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact; prosecutors allege she helped dispose of Downer's body. The District Attorney's Office describes Markowski as Brandon's girlfriend. Downer's body has not been found, and no motive has been publicly disclosed. Both defendants were set to be arraigned on 2 November 2026 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center; no plea is reported in the sources relied on here. If convicted as charged, Brandon faces life in state prison; Markowski faces up to three years in county jail. The charges are allegations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. What the record does support, without overreaching, is this: Christina Lynn Downer, 38, sister of Saturday Night Live writer Jimmy Fowlie, was reported missing in Los Angeles on 18 December 2025 after her ex-husband requested a welfare check, last heard from on 26 November and last seen, according to her brother, in Koreatown. Her boyfriend told police she had moved out months earlier, leaving her belongings, vehicle, and dog. Her cellphone was later found washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach, and Robbery-Homicide took over. In April 2026 her brother said the family had been told she was no longer alive — a claim the LAPD publicly disputed, saying she had not been located. In early October 2026 investigators searched a Joshua Tree Airbnb, disclosing no findings. On 29 October 2026, detectives arrested Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, in Highland Park and Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, in Tarzana, booking both on suspicion of murder with bail at $2 million each. On 30 October 2026 the LAPD announced the arrests, saying the two were responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of their involvement, and that the case would go to the District Attorney for filing consideration. No motive has been announced, and both charged people are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. (Formal charges were filed on 2 November 2026 — see the update box.) ## TIMELINE - **5 October 2025** — The last time anyone spoke to Downer on the phone, according to her brother's December 2025 post. - **26 November 2025** — The last time her brother heard from Downer, according to his December 2025 post. - **15 December 2025** — Downer active on social media up to this date, according to her brother's December 2025 post. - **18 December 2025** — Downer, 38, reported missing in Los Angeles after her ex-husband requests a welfare check, having not heard from her for an extended period. Her boyfriend, Brandon, tells police she moved out several months earlier, leaving behind all her belongings, including her vehicle and her dog. - **22 December 2025** — Fowlie shares a missing-person flier on Instagram and a photograph of Downer with her dog, Rex, writing that she was very attached to the dog and had last been seen in Koreatown, Los Angeles. - **Undated (before April 2026, date not given in the sources relied on here)** — Downer's cellphone is discovered washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach. The LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division assumes the investigation. - **29 April 2026** — Fowlie posts on Instagram that the LAPD informed the family Downer was no longer alive and that the case had transitioned from a missing-person investigation to a homicide investigation. The LAPD publicly disputes this, saying Downer had not been located and the case had not been reclassified as a homicide. - **9 October 2026** — LAPD Robbery-Homicide detectives, assisted by K-9 units and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, search an Airbnb property in the Joshua Tree area. Police disclose no findings and do not confirm whether they were searching for human remains. - **29 October 2026** — Brandon arrested in the 6000 block of Garvanza Avenue, Highland Park, Los Angeles; Markowski arrested in the 6000 block of Tampa Avenue, Tarzana, Los Angeles. Both booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, bail set at $2 million each. - **30 October 2026** — The LAPD announces the arrests, saying detectives identified Brandon and Markowski as responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of their involvement. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration. The investigation remains ongoing. - **Monday 2 November 2026** — The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announces formal charges: Brandon charged with one count of murder (alleged 19 September 2025) and two felony counts of injuring a spouse (separate alleged victim, 2022); Markowski charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact. Both defendants are set for arraignment at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Department 30. Downer's body has not been found; no motive has been publicly disclosed. ## EVIDENCE & LEADS - **The missing-person report (LAPD, 18 December 2025):** Downer reported missing after her ex-husband requested a welfare check, having not heard from her for an extended period. The first official date in the case. - **Brandon's account at the time (LAPD statement, via reporting, 30 October 2026):** Downer's boyfriend claimed she had moved out several months earlier, leaving behind all her belongings, including her vehicle and her dog. Reported here as his account at the time, not as an established fact. - **Last-contact dates (Fowlie's December 2025 posts, via LA Times reporting):** last phone conversation 5 October 2025; last heard from 26 November 2025; social-media activity up to 15 December 2025; last seen in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Family-reported dates, not police findings. - **The family's phone-compromise belief (Fowlie's December 2025 post, via LA Times reporting):** the family had reason to believe her phone and social media had been compromised in the weeks before she went missing, and that whoever had the phone used it to request money and create the impression she had gone off the grid. Attributed to the family post only; not established by any police statement relied on here. - **The cellphone on the beach (LAPD statement, via reporting, 30 October 2026):** Downer's cellphone discovered washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach; after this discovery, the Robbery-Homicide Division assumed the investigation. No discovery date is given in the sources relied on here. - **The April disagreement (Fowlie Instagram post 29 April 2026; LAPD statement, via LA Times and other reporting):** Fowlie said the family had been told Downer was no longer alive and the case had become a homicide investigation; the LAPD publicly said she had not been located and the case had not been reclassified. Both accounts are recorded here; neither is treated as the settled record for April 2026. - **The Joshua Tree search (NBC Los Angeles / LAPD, 9 October 2026, via reporting):** Robbery-Homicide detectives searched an Airbnb property in the Joshua Tree area, assisted by K-9 units and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, with fire department personnel in support. Police disclosed no findings and declined to confirm whether they were searching for human remains. No finding from the search is stated in this file. - **The arrests (LAPD, 29–30 October 2026):** Brandon, 41, arrested in the 6000 block of Garvanza Avenue, Highland Park; Markowski, 34, arrested in the 6000 block of Tampa Avenue, Tarzana; both booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, bail $2 million each. Attorney representation not reported. - **The police allegation (LAPD statement, 30 October 2026):** detectives identified Brandon and Markowski as responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of their involvement. Stated here strictly as the police allegation at arrest, not as a court finding. - **The charges (Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, 2 November 2026):** Brandon charged with one count of murder and two felony counts of injuring a spouse; Markowski charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact. Prosecutors allege Brandon killed Downer on or about 19 September 2025 and Markowski helped dispose of her body. Both were set for arraignment on 2 November 2026 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. No plea is reported in the sources relied on here. - **The next step (LAPD, 30 October 2026):** the Robbery-Homicide Division presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration, and charges were filed on 2 November 2026 — see the new item above. (As of 30 October 2026, no formal charge had been reported.) - **Motive (reporting, 30 October 2026):** no motive has been announced by investigators. This file states none. - **What is NOT evidence in this file:** any account of how Downer died; any claim that a body was recovered, or where or when; any finding from the Joshua Tree search; any plea outcome (none reported); any motive (none disclosed); any use of Downer's phone or social media beyond the family's attributed belief; any relationship between Markowski and Downer; any motive; and any claim from low-quality web pages repeating this story, which this file does not repeat.

*Caption: Illustration of an empty beach at dusk — atmospheric artwork, not a photograph of Santa Monica Beach and not evidence.* ## STILL UNKNOWN - **What formal charges, if any, will the District Attorney file? — ANSWERED 6 November 2026:** On 2 November 2026 the District Attorney charged Brandon with murder (plus two counts of injuring a spouse, separate victim) and Markowski with accessory after the fact. (See the update box.) - **How did Downer die?** No account of the manner of death has been made public in the sources relied on here. - **Has a body been recovered, and if so, where and when?** No — Downer's body has not been found, as of the sources relied on here (6 November 2026). The LAPD's October statement alleges disposal of a body but does not state a recovery. - **What did the Joshua Tree search find?** Police disclosed no findings from the 9 October 2026 search. - **When was Downer's phone found on Santa Monica Beach?** No date is given in the sources relied on here. - **What is the motive?** None has been announced by investigators. - **What is Markowski's connection, if any, to Downer?** No relationship is stated in the sources relied on here. > **What would change this file now:** if either defendant enters a plea, if a trial produces a verdict, if any count is dismissed, if a body recovery is confirmed by police, or if a motive is announced, this file will be updated with the date, the source, and the new stamp if the facts require it — never quietly rewritten. Until then, the stamp stays CHARGED. ## WATCH THE FULL STORY No companion video yet. If Dark History Files' sister channel Curiozoid publishes a video on this case, it will be linked here. ## SOURCES - Los Angeles Police Department, Media Relations Division statement, 30 October 2026, as carried by PEOPLE, TheWrap, MyNewsLA, Parade and the Los Angeles Times (via DNYUZ): reported missing 18 December 2025 after ex-husband's welfare check; boyfriend claimed she moved out months earlier leaving belongings, vehicle and dog; cellphone washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach, Robbery-Homicide Division assumed the investigation; Brandon, 41, and Markowski, 34, arrested 29 October 2026, booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, bail $2 million each; detectives identified the two as responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body, and the concealment of their involvement; case to be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration. Read in the reporting listed below; the LAPD statement itself is quoted in part in that reporting. - PEOPLE, 31 October 2026 — "2 Arrested on Murder Charges After Disappearance of 'SNL' Writer Jimmy Fowlie's Sister Christina": LAPD announced 30 October that Brandon and Markowski were arrested in connection with Downer's killing, each booked on a murder charge and held on $2 million bail; NBC4 first reported the news; Fowlie's April statement that Downer had been found dead; reported missing 18 December 2025; phone washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach; Joshua Tree Airbnb searched earlier in October, findings undisclosed, per NBC4. Read in full. - TheWrap, 31 October 2026 — "2 Arrested in Murder of 'SNL' Writer Jimmy Fowlie's Sister": LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division arrested Brandon, 41, Downer's boyfriend, and Markowski, 34, Los Angeles resident, on 29 October; full LAPD statement passages on the welfare check, the moved-out claim, the phone on Santa Monica Beach, and the allegation of murder, disposal and concealment; bail $2 million each; Fowlie's late-April Instagram post and December flier shared by SNL cast members. Read in full. - MyNewsLA, 30 October 2026 — "2 Arrested in Murder of Former 'SNL' Writer's Sister": arrest locations (6000 block of Garvanza Avenue, Highland Park; 6000 block of Tampa Avenue, Tarzana); booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, $2 million bail each; Fowlie's 29 April Instagram post quoted; tip numbers for the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division West Bureau Section (213-382-9470), non-business hours (877-527-3247), and Crime Stoppers (800-222-8477, lacrimestoppers.org). Read in full. - Los Angeles Times, 31 October 2026 (read via DNYUZ reprint) — "Boyfriend of 'SNL' writer's missing sister among two arrested on suspicion of murder": arrests 29 October, booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center, $2 million bail each, attorney representation unclear; 22 December flier and Koreatown last-seen detail; last-contact dates (heard from 26 November, social activity to 15 December, last phone conversation 5 October); family's phone-compromise belief; phone washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach; Joshua Tree Airbnb search early October per NBC, findings unclear. Read in full. - NBC Los Angeles reporting, October 2026, as carried by PEOPLE, MyNewsLA and other reporting: Joshua Tree Airbnb searched earlier in October 2026 (9 October per , citing KTLA and SFGATE), with K-9 units and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department assistance; findings undisclosed; police declined to confirm a search for human remains. Used only for the search's date, agencies, and the absence of disclosed findings. - IB Times Singapore, October 2026 — "Jimmy Fowlie's Missing Sister: New Joshua Tree Airbnb Search Raises Questions": 9 October search date, KTLA/SFGATE sourcing, LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman's confirmation to SFGATE of fire department support, and the April LAPD dispute (Downer not located, case not reclassified as a homicide). Used to corroborate the search date and the April dispute. Search extract. - Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, announcement, Monday 2 November 2026 (as reported by USA TODAY, MyNewsLA, Entertainment Weekly and the Golden Coast Journal) — Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, charged with one count of murder and two felony counts of injuring a spouse; Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact; prosecutors allege Brandon killed Downer on or about 19 September 2025 and Markowski helped dispose of her body; Downer's body has not been found; both defendants set for arraignment 2 November 2026 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Department 30; case 26CJCF07003 (as reported by the Golden Coast Journal); Brandon faces life in prison if convicted as charged, Markowski up to three years in county jail; District Attorney Nathan Hochman: the charges are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent. - USA TODAY, 3 November 2026 — "Boyfriend of 'SNL' writer's missing sister charged with murder": read in extract. Corroborates the charges, the alleged 19 September 2025 date, the separate-victim spouse counts, the arraignment, and the bail. - MyNewsLA, 2 November 2026 — "DA Charges Boyfriend in Murder of `SNL' Writer's Sister": read in extract. Corroborates the charges, the complaint's alleged date, the 2022 spouse counts, Markowski as Brandon's girlfriend, and the arraignment. - Entertainment Weekly, 3 November 2026 — "'SNL' writer Jimmy Fowlie pays emotional tribute to missing sister after man is charged with her murder": read in extract. Corroborates the charges and the bail; Fowlie's tribute is not relied on for facts. - No competitor article text or image is reproduced in this file. Facts are stated in Dark History Files' own words, with officials' statements attributed to their source. No source beyond those listed above was relied on for facts in the draft and in the 6 November 2026 update. No search-volume numbers are stated, because no tool returned any.

*Caption: Illustration of an empty desert road at dusk — atmospheric artwork, not a photograph of Joshua Tree and not evidence.* > **Tip box — information about this case:** The LAPD asks anyone with information about Downer's murder to contact the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division West Bureau Section at 213-382-9470, or 877-527-3247 during non-business hours. Anonymous tips can go to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org. Do not send money to anyone claiming to hold information about this case. **Reader question:** When an arrest announcement and a family's earlier announcement have said different things about the same case, what should readers trust most — the latest police statement, or the full record of both accounts side by side? ## RELATED FILES - DHF-024 — Oberlin Professor and Wife Killed; Son Charged — https://thedarkhistoryfiles.blogspot.com/2026/10/oberlin-professor-wife-killed-son-charged.html - DHF-023 — Driver Guilty of Murdering Headteacher Michael Mullins — https://thedarkhistoryfiles.blogspot.com/2026/10/michael-mullins-headteacher-murder-case.html - DHF-022 — Arden Double Homicide: Two Dead, One Man Charged — https://thedarkhistoryfiles.blogspot.com/2026/10/arden-double-homicide-case.html **Previous file:** DHF-024 — Oberlin Professor and Wife Killed; Son Charged — https://thedarkhistoryfiles.blogspot.com/2026/10/oberlin-professor-wife-killed-son-charged.html **Next file:**Pensioner Killed Over E-Bike Warning; Man Convicted This file is based on public reporting and official statements available as of 6 November 2026 (original file 31 October 2026; updated 6 November 2026 — see the update log). > **Update log — 6 November 2026:** (1) Title changed to "Christina Downer: Boyfriend Charged With Murder". (2) Search description replaced (140 chars). (3) Labels changed to Charged, Homicide, 2020s. (4) Stamp changed ARRESTED → CHARGED (file strip, stamp line, File Card, share card). (5) Update box added at the top of the file. (6) "Updated: 6 November 2026" added after the Posted line. (7) In-post heading changed to match the new title. (8) File Card: dates extended, status changed, Court row rewritten, Arrests row renamed to Charges and rewritten, one-line summary rewritten. (9) "Why this file is stamped" box rewritten for CHARGED. (10) THE CASE: new subsection "2 November 2026: formal charges" added; three stale sentences marked as superseded. (11) Timeline: 2 November 2026 entry added. (12) Evidence & Leads: Charges item added; "The next step" item amended; "What is NOT evidence" item extended. (13) STILL UNKNOWN: charges question marked ANSWERED; body-recovery item updated; closing box rewritten. (14) Sources: District Attorney's announcement, USA TODAY, MyNewsLA, and Entertainment Weekly appended. (15) Closing line updated to 6 November 2026. (16) One further stale sentence in 'Two arrests' marked as superseded. Not touched: Previous/Next file lines, Related files, WATCH THE FULL STORY, images 2–3, the tip box, the reader question, the permalink. Read how every file is built on the About page (https://thedarkhistoryfiles.blogspot.com/p/about.html), or request a file via the Contact page (https://thedarkhistoryfiles.blogspot.com/p/contact.html).