In the summer of 2023, a sense of unease settled over a Bronx apartment building after a foul odor began to emanate from one of the units. This concern led to a wellness check on August 26, 2023, at an apartment on Arnow Avenue, which would uncover a grim scene. Inside, police discovered the body of 45-year-old Cindy Maxwell, a female home attendant and mother of two.
She had been shot multiple times and her body had been left wrapped in a blanket for three days.
The investigation quickly focused on her estranged husband and the father of her children, Lacon Brown, who was 48 years old at the time. The couple's two young daughters, aged 6 and 11, were not in the apartment when their mother's body was discovered. They were later found safe with Brown. The subsequent investigation revealed a horrifying sequence of events. Brown had shot Maxwell multiple times in front of their two daughters.
Following the murder, Brown forced his young daughters to get dressed and step over their mother's lifeless body as they left the apartment. He did not call for any medical help or alert the authorities. After being located, Brown was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.
In the end, Lacon Brown, then 50, pleaded guilty to the murder of his estranged wife. For the brutal act of killing Cindy Maxwell in the presence of their children, he was sentenced to serve 20 years to life in prison. The tragic end to Cindy Maxwell's life left a community in shock and her two young daughters traumatized by the loss of their mother at the hands of their own father.
