'Jealous' 11-year-old boy charged as adult in killing of father's pregnant girlfriend

WAMPUM, Pa. - Fifth-grader Jordan Brown boarded the bus and headed to school like he did most other mornings in this rural western Pennsylvania community.

But before he left home on Friday, authorities say, the 11-year-old boy had shot his father's pregnant fiancee in the back of the head as she lay in bed. He then put his youth model 20-gauge shotgun back in his room before going out to catch his bus, police say.

Brown was charged Saturday as an adult in the death of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk, who was eight months pregnant, Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said. Houk's fetus died within minutes due to a lack of oxygen, Lawrence County Coroner Russell Noga said.

Houk's family and friends, who gathered at her parents' house Saturday night, told The Associated Press that there had been past problems with the boy.

Police say the weapon used by an 11-year-old boy accused of killing his father's pregnant girlfriend was a youth model 20-gauge shotgun that apparently belonged to the fifth-grader.

"He actually told my son that he wanted to do that to her," said Houk's brother-in-law, Jason Kraner. "There was an issue with jealousy."

Pennsylvania State Police found Houk's body in the rented farmhouse after her 4-year-old daughter told tree cutters on the property she thought her mother was dead, Bongivengo said.

The boy told police there was a black truck on the property that morning — possibly the man who feeds the cows — sending investigators to follow a false lead for about five hours, Bongivengo said. Inconsistencies in Brown's description of the truck led police to re-interview Houk's 7-year-old daughter, who implicated the boy in the killing, Bongivengo said. State troopers went to get the boy at school.

"She didn't actually eyewitness the shooting. She saw him with what she believed to be a shotgun and heard a loud bang," Bongivengo said. The gun was found in a "location we believe to be in the defendant's bedroom."

Brown was arraigned and was being held in the Lawrence County Jail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday.

"An 11-year-old kid — what would give him the motive to shoot someone?" said Houk's father, Jack Houk. "Maybe he was just jealous of my daughter and the baby and thought he would be overpowered."

Defense attorney Dennis Elisco said he plans to ask Monday for the boy to be released on bail and for the case to moved to juvenile court. Elisco and police said they had no clear motive for the shooting.

Elisco said he is waiting to see physical evidence that ties his young client to the killing.

"I don't think he knows what's going on," he said. "I walked out of there thinking he was innocent. I believe Jordan did not do this."

The boy's father, Christopher Brown, is "a mess" and had no indication his son had a problem with Houk, Elisco said.

"He's in a state of actual shock and disbelief," he said.

The shotgun used is designed for children and has a shorter arm and such weapons do not have to be registered, Bongivengo said. Jack Houk, 57, said the boy and his father used to practice shooting behind their farmhouse, and the two enjoyed going hunting together.

Wampum is about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Wow!!! Another senseless killing, premeditated, calculating yet he is 11 yrs old.

Does anyone else find it disturbing that they design shotguns for CHILDREN ?!

i saw this a few days ago

The gun should have ben locked up and an adult shuld have the key only.

I agree, I don't blame the manufacturers. But the lack of supervision and security of the weapon.

But this boy had this in his mind for some time and acted on it. Wow!

Nope I don't find it disturbing that there is a youth model shotgun.

How many of those guns have been sold and how many used in crimes?

I do find it disturbing that the gun was not secure and I find it even more disturbing that a kid was so mucked up and no one noticed till this happened.

true and if he didn't have access to a gun...he could have acted out with something else.

i wonder if the parents didn't see something wrong?

oops..let me finish the thought.... why didn't they get therapy or something...reassure the boy ...something

I didn't know that they made them child sized.

I had a 4-10 when I was a kid ,but I was not into killing things so my stepdad got rid of it and got me a dirt bike.

4-10 is the first gun lots of us use when we are small.

When I was in my teens I was 95lbs and under 5' tall. It was a good gun for me.

Let's quit trying to blame inanimate objects and others and man up here.

People who own guns are not all into "killing things"

Even when it is necessary.

Let's be honest here. This kid and his family had issues that weren't dealt with and that were it seems quite ugly. The family had guns that were not properly secured.

Please...quit falling back on simple easy answers that impose blanket judgments on guns (again inanimate objects), on people by accusing gun owners of being idiotic blood thirsty killers and give up on childproofing society and look honestly at this issue.

Wow!

Lets see if he's guilty before we condemn the boy!

If he hadnt had access to a firearm...murder can be completed in other ways.

the WHY that he did it is disturbing to me.
not the how.

What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Didn't we go through this over Texas taking those children from their parents last year?

Maybe the kid didn't do it. Maybe he did.
But, lets not condemn him before a trial!

maybe he didnt do it.
but i also doubt this will see a jury trial either way.

i wonder what his fathers stance is on it.
I didnt catch an interview from him or anything.

Its in there.

The boy's father, Christopher Brown, is "a mess" and had no indication his son had a problem with Houk, Elisco said.

"He's in a state of actual shock and disbelief," he said.

Monday's news about it:

PITTSBURGH – An 11-year-old boy apparently covered his shotgun with a blanket to keep it hidden when he left his bedroom, went downstairs and fatally shot his father's pregnant girlfriend in the head as she slept, a prosecutor said Monday.

The blue blanket, which has a quarter-sized hole that appeared to be singed from a shotgun blast, supports a claim that the crime was premeditated, Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said.

Police found the blanket in the farmhouse where the boy, Jordan Brown, lived with his father; the father's girlfriend, Kenzie Marie Houk; and her two daughters, ages 7 and 4. Houk was killed Friday morning while Brown's father was at work and the two girls were in the home, authorities believe.

"The operating theory is that he covered the gun with the blanket to hide it when he came downstairs" from his bedroom to shoot Houk, who was in a first-floor bedroom, Bongivengo said. "It wasn't used to muffle (the shot) or anything, the blanket wasn't thick enough for that."

Brown got the youth-sized shotgun as a Christmas present, and used it to win a turkey shoot on Valentine's Day.

After shooting Houk, the boy ran to get on a school bus with the 7-year-old, who saw him toss something from his pocket on the ground, Bongivengo said. Police later found a spent 20-gauge shotgun shell at that spot.

The girl later implicated the boy in the killing, saying she saw him with what she believed to be a shotgun and heard a loud bang, Bongivengo has said.

Brown is charged as an adult with criminal homicide. In Pennsylvania, there is no criminal homicide charge in juvenile court.

"Because the juvenile system only has jurisdiction until he's 21, the last thing I want is a 21-year-old who's going to be out on the streets and willing to kill you," Bongivengo said.

Houk's family told police the boy had threatened her and her 7-year-old daughter in the weeks before the shooting, Bongivengo said. Houk's family has told The Associated Press the boy may have been jealous of Houk and her children.

"If this person were 18, we'd be looking at pursuing the death penalty," Bongivengo said.

Defense attorney Dennis Elisco has said he plans to ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court and to have the boy released on bail to his father. Brown is being held at the Lawrence County Jail, where jail officials said they don't have adequate accommodations for someone that young. He is being kept separate from the jail's approximately 300 adult inmates.

Elisco didn't return calls for comment Monday. He has said the boy hasn't confessed to the shooting and he doubts the physical evidence will support police's claim that the boy killed Houk with one shot to the back of her head.

The Associated Press could not immediately locate relatives of the boy and his father for comment Monday.

This is so disturbing on so many levels.

If tried and convicted as an adult, where will this child be housed? with other adults? separate area? personal correctional officers?