Picture Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Each day Beast/Courtesy Tiffany Lucas
The widow of a Northern California man shot lifeless final 12 months by an accused serial killer says she had a gut-wrenching—however non-specific—premonition about it shortly earlier than his surprising demise.
Prosecutors on Tuesday filed an amended grievance in San Joaquin County Superior Courtroom itemizing further costs towards 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee, a someday trucker accused of finishing up a string of seemingly random killings across the Bay Space.
The amended grievance recognized Mervin Lacy Harmon, 39, as an extra sufferer of Brownlee’s on prime of the preliminary six. He was gunned down on April 16, 2021, it says.
“Three days earlier than he handed away, I couldn't cease crying,” Tiffany Lucas, who had two daughters with Harmon, advised The Each day Beast on Wednesday. “I knew one thing horrible was about to occur. Everyone mentioned, ‘What do you imply?’ I might simply inform one thing was not proper. And I couldn't cease crying.”
Mervin Harmon
Courtesy Tiffany Lucas
Following Brownlee’s arrest in October, prosecutors filed costs towards him for 3 murders—21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 52-year-old Juan Carlos Carranza-Cruz, and 54-year-old Lawrence Lopez Sr., who have been killed on Aug. 30, Sept. 21 and Sept. 27, respectively. On the time they suspected him of six murders. Tuesday’s court docket submitting formally charged Brownlee with the killings of 35-year-old Paul Yaw, 43-year-old Salvador Debudey Jr., and 40-year-old Juan Alexander Vasquez, who has additionally been recognized within the media as Juan Miguel Vasquez Serrano.
The lone survivor of Brownlee’s alleged spree, Natasha LaTour, was shot the identical day Harmon died. Most, if not all, of the victims have been experiencing homelessness once they have been killed, police mentioned.
Mervin Harmon
Courtesy Tiffany Lucas
Lucas mentioned she and Harmon, who glided by Merv, had separated not lengthy earlier than his demise, and that he alternated between couchsurfing with household and staying in an area shelter. Along with sharing two daughters with Lucas, Harmon was a stepdad to Lucas’ two sons, she mentioned.
Lucas wakened on Apr. 16, 2021—her late mom’s birthday—to a flood of missed calls, she mentioned.
“I come to seek out out that he had handed away at 1 within the morning,” Lucas advised The Each day Beast. “On the time, he was standing in entrance of his cousin’s home,” she added, noting that Harmon wasn’t sleeping tough on the time, like a number of the different victims.
Lucas mentioned she was devastated however that her first concern was for the children, one among whom had been named after Harmon, and methods to inform them what had occurred.
“They didn't take it properly,” mentioned Lucas, who additionally was in such a state of disbelief that she didn’t settle for Harmon’s demise till she heard the information instantly from the coroner’s workplace.
Lucas remembers her late husband as having “a golden smile.”
“He had the very best smile I’ve ever seen in my life,” she mentioned, including, “He didn’t deserve that. He didn't deserve that in any respect.”
Wesley Brownlee
Stockton Police Division
Her expertise mirrored considerably that of Greta Bogrow, a Texas nurse whose son, Paul Yaw, was one other of Brownlee’s alleged victims.
Bogrow and Yaw had been estranged for 5 years, with Bogrow telling The Each day Beast in a earlier interview that her son “selected a special life.” Nonetheless, she all the time thought issues would end up alright for Yaw till she received a name from her nephew that he had been shot lifeless in Stockton.
“I assumed, ‘No method,’” Bogrow mentioned. “However it was true… Even till the day that we had his service, I saved pondering, ‘Possibly they've the unsuitable individual.’ As a result of I’m in a special state, I by no means received to see the physique till that day. And I noticed him, and I knew.”
No motive for the killings has but been revealed, and police mentioned not one of the victims appeared to have been robbed. Johnny Brownlee, a cousin of the suspect, advised The Each day Beast within the days after Brownlee was apprehended that he “thought he was driving vans, like I do.”
Brownlee grew up in Oakland, and was first arrested in 1994 on the age of 14. In that case, he and two others have been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old lady, based on court docket data obtained by The Mercury Information. In 1995, Brownlee’s older brother was shot lifeless in a “drug-related” incident, KTVU reported. Brownlee went on to drop out of highschool in eleventh grade, amassing a rap sheet that included jail time on drug costs and diverse low-level infractions.
Brownlee’s personal cellphone knowledge positioned him at or close to the scene of at the least three of the murders, based on prosecutors, who mentioned Brownlee had an untraceable “ghost gun” on him when he was arrested.
The latest costs towards Brownlee have been a welcome improvement for Lucas, who advised The Each day Beast she hadn’t identified till now that Harmon’s demise was in any method linked to the “Stockton Serial Killer.”
“I used to be actually shocked that he was linked to that,” Lucas mentioned, “however I used to be additionally relieved that somebody had been caught for it.”
Brownlee, who's charged with seven counts of homicide and one depend of tried homicide along with numerous weapons costs, is being held with out bail. His subsequent court docket look is scheduled for Jan. 3.