How a fluent French-speaking fugitive managed to vanish from the FBI's most wanted list
In short: Jason Derek Brown, a master's degree holder and former Mormon missionary, allegedly murdered an armored car guard in 2004 before disappearing. Despite being named to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list in 2007, he remains at large, having successfully evaded capture for two decades by blending into crowds.
Born in 1969, Jason Derek Brown cultivated an image of extreme wealth, despite accumulating significant debt and defaulting on loans by 2004. He operated businesses in Salt Lake City and maintained a lifestyle focused on expensive motorbikes, boats, and cars. Investigators believe he funded this persona through bank fraud and check scams, potentially engaging in petty thefts and home invasions to maintain his facade.
The turning point occurred on November 29, 2004, in Phoenix, Arizona. Brown allegedly ambushed 24-year-old armored car guard Robert Keith Palomares outside a movie theater, firing six shots from a .45-caliber Glock and fleeing on a bicycle with $56,000. Although fingerprints on the bicycle linked him to the crime, a premature press conference by Phoenix police alerted Brown to the investigation, allowing him to escape just an hour before federal agents arrived to execute an arrest warrant.
Brown became a ghost, abandoning his vehicle at Portland International Airport in 2005. His ability to blend in—aided by a 'surfer dude' appearance and fluency in French—led to more leads than any other fugitive on the FBI's list, though most were false. Even a 2008 sighting in Salt Lake City, where an old acquaintance recognized him at a traffic light, resulted only in a high-speed escape. While he was removed from the Ten Most Wanted list in 2022, he remains a wanted fugitive, with investigators speculating he may be living under an assumed identity in the United States or abroad in countries like Thailand or France.
The case has permeated pop culture, inspiring the 2022 film American Murderer and a 2026 documentary titled The Coward. Despite a reward that reached $200,000, Brown’s whereabouts remain unknown. His brother, David John Brown II, was convicted of obstruction of justice for cleaning evidence and lying to the FBI, highlighting the lengths taken to protect the fugitive.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Jason Derek Brown
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