A 22-year-old Marine on the run and wanted for murder in Virginia stayed at Elliott’s Landing in Clarendon County before and after the alleged killing.
Michael Alexander Brown also faces a charge of desertion when he is finally found. The suspect is wanted in Franklin County, Virginia, for the murder of his mother’s boyfriend. Rodney Brown, 54, was killed Nov. 9 in that jurisdiction.
Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley said Brown’s abandoned vehicle was found Tuesday about a half-mile from Elliott’s Landing, which is near Rimini and Pinewood.
Baxley said that the marine allegedly came to Clarendon County before Brown’s death, stayed for several weeks, then allegedly committed the murder in Virginia and then returned to Clarendon County.
Baxley said that Brown was never considered a threat.
“There was no threat; we were just on the lookout for him,” he said. “We had information that he was possibly here, and he was, but he left ahead of us having information that he was here. Nobody knew he was here until it happened.”
Public schools in Roanoke, Virginia, were closed Thursday after officials discovered an RV believed to be Brown’s. U.S. Marshals and the FBI came to the scene, assisted by state police who conducted aerial searches.
Anyone with information as to Brown’s whereabouts are asked to call 911.
