In July of 2013, the life of 20-year-old Brenna Kathleen Machus was tragically cut short in Dearborn, Michigan. A dedicated assistant manager at a local Family Dollar store, she was working alongside her 20-year-old co-worker, Joseph Orlando, on the evening of July 15th. What began as a regular workday ended in a horrifying sequence of events that would leave a community in shock and two families devastated.
When employees arrived to open the store the following morning, they discovered a crime scene. Joseph Orlando was found inside the store, having been fatally shot. Brenna Machus was missing, though her personal belongings were left behind, sparking immediate and grave concern for her safety. A manhunt was launched, and the search for Brenna began. Two days later, her body was discovered in a wooded area not far from the store. An autopsy would later confirm that she, too, had been shot in the head. The investigation quickly focused on a suspect seen on the store's surveillance video, a man with his head obscured by a hood.
The investigation led police to Lavere Bryant, a 34-year-old former employee of the Family Dollar who had been terminated from the company that spring. Evidence gathered by police, including DNA, linked Bryant to the crime scene. He was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, as well as armed robbery and unlawful imprisonment. Prosecutors argued that the motive was revenge against his former co-workers.
In November 2014, a jury found Lavere Bryant guilty on all charges, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, the legal battle did not end there. In August 2016, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned Bryant's murder convictions and ordered a new trial. The appellate court ruled that his trial had been unfairly prejudiced by the inclusion of testimony regarding his past convictions and status as a sex offender, which they deemed irrelevant to the murder charges and 'highly distracting' for the jury. Despite this decision, prosecutors announced their intention to appeal to the state Supreme Court to have the original conviction reinstated.
