On a cold winter day in Flint, Michigan, the body of 34-year-old Deena L. Brown was discovered outside the Northridge Academy. It was January 20, 2001, and the mother of three children had been brutally murdered. An autopsy would later confirm that she had been strangled to death. Near her body, investigators recovered a sweatshirt believed to be the weapon used to end her life.
For Deena's family, this day marked the beginning of a long and agonizing wait for justice, a period of uncertainty that would stretch for more than half a decade.
The initial investigation into Deena’s homicide yielded few leads, and her case eventually went cold. Her death was the third in a string of similar killings in Flint that had begun three years earlier. On May 13, 1998, the body of Patricia "Tresa" Peeler, 34, was found near Avenue A. Initially thought to be the result of a drug overdose, an autopsy revealed she had likely been smothered. Then, on October 8, 1999, the body of 31-year-old Lisa Marie Price was discovered in a yard on Susan Street; she had been strangled. Police suspected a serial killer was responsible, as DNA from an unknown male was recovered from each crime scene, but the identity of the predator remained a mystery.
The breakthrough came years later from an unrelated case. In 2006, a man named Ivan Lee Page was convicted on cocaine and weapons charges. While serving his sentence, he was required to submit a DNA sample to be entered into the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). In August 2007, the system registered a match: Ivan Page’s DNA was a direct match to the samples found on Deena Brown, Patricia Peeler, and Lisa Marie Price. After years of silence, investigators finally had a name.
With Page identified as the prime suspect, the case against him quickly solidified. He was charged with all three murders. A former cellmate of Page’s came forward, telling police that Page would often brag about "choking hos" and "killing those hos." Another crucial witness, a man named Lee Plum, told investigators that on the night before Deena’s body was found, he and Page were with her. Plum stated that Page became upset with Deena, took her into another room for a brief period, and then emerged alone, making a comment about the police.
In 2008, Ivan Lee Page went on trial, but only for the first-degree premeditated murder of Deena Brown. His defense attorney argued that the presence of his DNA did not prove he was the killer, only that he had engaged in sexual activity with her. The jury was not convinced. In December 2008, they found Page guilty of murder. The following month, in January 2009, he was sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
For the families of the victims, the arrest and conviction brought a sense of resolution. After the DNA match was made, a family member of one of the victims expressed their relief, stating, "We can have some peace." The long wait for Deena Brown's family had culminated in seeing her killer held accountable for his actions.
Due to the life sentence already secured against him and potential issues with witness statements over the passage of time, prosecutors decided not to try Ivan Page for the murders of Patricia Peeler and Lisa Marie Price. He remains incarcerated in Michigan, where he will spend the rest of his life. While the legal proceedings have concluded, the families of the three women continue to live with the devastating impact of his violent crimes.
