Jaylin Brazier: Michigan man faces life sentence for killing cousin, 17, as search for remains continues
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: A 25-year-old Michigan man is now confronting the possibility of a life sentence for the murder of his 17-year-old cousin as her body has yet to be recovered.
Jaylin Omar Brazier was convicted on Thursday by a jury in Wayne County on one count of second-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence in the death of Zion Foster.
In early 2022, the defendant Brazier admitted to disposing of her remains in a dumpster, as per Law&Crime.
Jaylin Brazier testifies during trial
Kym Worthy, a prosecutor, claimed in a statement following the legal proceedings, "This case remains the quintessential example of investigators and prosecutors who refused to give up on a woman’s homicide. For 18 months, investigators put together the evidence."
He added, "Each piece of evidence in this case was examined and linked together Zion’s cousin, Jaylin Brazier, with murder in the second-degree for killing Zion.”
During the trial, Brazier claimed that Foster suddenly stopped breathing while they were smoking marijuana together. In a panicked state due to the effects of the drug, he confessed to disposing of her body in a nearby dumpster.
Brazier testified, “My first thought was how bad it looked to start with. How do I explain what happened? I don’t know why she died or what caused her to die, and just a lot of possibilities popped in my head. I was reacting off of just innate fear. I don’t know. Literally, I don’t do anything. I just didn’t know what to do, literally. Literally, did not know what to do. I sat for at least 10 minutes sitting there, like, ‘What do I do? Who do I call?’ My kids are upstairs. We just got into this place after struggling for like two years to get here, and everything is falling down.”
Brazier is set to appear in court for his sentencing hearing on June 3, 2024, before Judge Donald Knapp.
Jaylin Brazier was taken in custody after Zion Foster's disappearance
Jaylin Brazier was already in custody regarding his cousin's death. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to deceiving authorities about Zion’s demise, initially claiming he hadn’t seen her for weeks.
He later changed his story, admitting he panicked and disposed of her body in a dumpster after she died suddenly while they were smoking marijuana together.
In 2022, he was sentenced to up to four years in prison and was paroled in January 2023.
Despite Brazier's conviction for murder, authorities are still uncertain about the events of January 4, 2022, the last day Zion was seen alive leaving her Eastpointe, Michigan home.
She was reported missing five days later. Brazier raised suspicion after Zion’s disappearance when he informed Zion’s mother, his aunt, and his own mother that he hadn't seen Zion for some time.
Zion Foster's mother recalls Brazier helped out in search
Zion’s mother revealed how Brazier got involved after his cousin went missing and disputed Brazier’s claims of seeing her in the weeks leading up to her death.
Zion's mother Milton claimed, “I didn’t call him. He called me on, when my baby didn’t come home. He called me to say, ‘I don’t know why Zion would lie and put me into this. I haven’t seen her in years. I haven’t seen her in months.’ And I’m, like, ‘What? It wasn’t too long ago that I saw you’.”
Milton added that Brazier even helped her put up missing person flyers “of my baby in his neighborhood, on the corner of his house, the street that he lives.”
In the subsequent weeks, Brazier's role shifted from being seemingly supportive and concerned about his cousin’s disappearance to becoming a person of interest. Months later, Brazier attributed his lie to “innate fear” and “panic.”
