New Orleans murder suspect previously jailed in beating of woman he's accused of killing

BJ Brown, arrested Wednesday on a charge of executing his partner in a downtown New Orleans parking lot then shooting a rural Tennessee police officer while on the lam, had been jailed in 2017 for allegedly beating the same woman he's now accused of killing, according to court records.

The 32-year-old LaPlace resident was taken into custody after an overnight manhunt in Erin, Tennessee, about 65 miles west of Nashville. A man told WTVF television he recognized Brown walking on the side of a road and called police.

The night before, Brown shot an Erin police officer who had stopped him in a vehicle, authorities said. He's being held at the Houston County jail and is expected to face charges of second-degree murder in New Orleans and attempted first-degree murder in Tennessee.

Beaten with a broom

New Orleans police accuse Brown of fatally shooting Cassandra Jones, 48, with an assault-style rifle Monday morning in the 1400 block of Iberville Street, a killing partially recorded on video and circulated on social media. The couple had a yearslong relationship with multiple reports of abuse, according to court records.

Among the reports is a 2017 domestic violence incident in Reserve. St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff's deputies said they were summoned to Brown's house, where Jones told them they were arguing over another woman Brown was seeing. Brown grew irate, hit her with a broken broom handle, broke her phone, stole her wallet and ran out to hid in the woods, according to her account. She said she wanted to press charges.

But it wasn't until November 2018 that deputies arrested Brown, booking him with criminal damage to property and second-offense domestic abuse battery, according to 40th Judicial District Court records in Edgard. And on March 3, 2019, just before Brown was to stand trial, Jones told authorities she no longer wanted to pursue the case, so he was released.

Family seeks a moment

Jones, a Mississippi native, was a mother of three and a deputy clerk First City Court in New Orleans, Clerk Austin Badon said. 

"Please understand this is a personal matter for our family," a sister, Karmen Richards, posted on Facebook after Jones was killed. "We’re still soaking this in ourselves! We’ve lost someone [who] is and forever will be missed and loved by us. We’re asking everyone to please let us have our moment."

Brown and Jones also were arrested together on Aug. 28, 2020, after a traffic stop in Reserve. Authorities said they found marijuana and ecstasy pills in the couple's vehicle, but Brown told them Jones didn't know about the drugs. They booked him on drug charges and her on a warrant for improper phone communications, which was later dropped.

Almost two years later, Brown was placed on three years' probation for the drug charges.

Carlie Kollath Wells contributed to this report.