A father who had problems with paying child support for his daughter concocted a rather weird and criminal way to solve his problems -killing his innocent daughter
4-year-old Lauren and dad, Cameron Brown
When a court ordered Cameron Brown to pay his ex-girlfriend Sarah Key Long $1,000 (£655) a month in child support, it angered him so greatly that he did the unthinkable, taking his four-year-old daughter, Lauren for a walk, then hurled the little girl off a cliff.
After being granted visitation rights, Cameron had come to Lauren's school to pick her up on November 8, 2000 - and that was the last day her mom Sarah saw her alive.
Cameron said he’d taken his daughter for a hike and she’d been throwing stones when she tripped and fell over the edge at a beauty spot called Inspiration Point.
The police and Sarah didn’t believe him, doubting why he had taken Lauren to such a remote, rugged and dangerous spot. Lauren hated hiking and her injuries were consistent with being thrown from the 120ft cliff. There were no injuries from tumbling down the side. She’d been ‘forcibly launched’ into the air.
120ft cliff where Lauren was allegedly thrown off from
Police knew Cameron resented the child support payments and his hatred of Sarah was apparent – he’d once tried to get her deported and he didn’t even call her when Lauren died. Officers said he acted cold and distant at the scene.
It would take a three-year investigation before Cameron was arrested and charged with Lauren’s murder. It was a tough case because there were no witnesses.
There were two trials, one in 2006 and the other in 2009, where the jury were deadlocked between a manslaughter or murder conviction – they agreed it was a crime but couldn’t agree on the charge.
The third trial this year at the Los Angeles Superior Court would be the last. The prosecution said Cameron had thrown Lauren off the cliff because of the bitter custody dispute and the child support payments.
Cameron Brown, 53, was finally found guilty of his daughter’s first degree murder.