2 Arlington men accused of killing roommate

52-year-old's body found in shallow grave behind home

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two men have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, murder and tampering with evidence in the killing of a 52-year-old man.

The remains of Kenneth Brown were found in a shallow grave behind an Arlington home, where Brown lived with the suspects, 18-year-old Demetrius Carter and 21-year-old John Taylor Jr.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detectives were called to the home in the 300 block of Lamson Street about 7 p.m. Tuesday to investigate a missing persons case when they found Brown's body buried in the backyard.

Police said Brown was strangled in a planned robbery.

Police said Taylor admitted to luring Brown out of his room on July 6, then they said Carter admitted to ambushing the victim from behind and strangling him.

Investigators said Carter told them he choked Brown for more than an hour and a half with his hands and the towel.

Once they were done, police said, they split the money Brown had on him -- about $100 -- and buried him in the backyard. Police said when they finished, Carter told them they burned Brown's clothes and then cleaned up the blood and evidence inside the home.

Brown had been reported missing a week ago after he didn't show up for his dialysis treatment. When the landlord asked Carter where Brown (pictured below) was, he told her he was on a vacation, police said.  That's when his family reported him missing.

Kenneth Brown

"He still would have called me, I don't care where he went at, 'cause he can call me collect any time he wants to," Brown's sister, Juanita Harvin, said. "He didn't call me. There's something wrong."

It wasn't until the landlord's son noticed an area of disturbed ground in the backyard.

"I stuck my foot in the hole. It was kind of like quicksand," said the landlord's son, who did the landscaping for the house. "I was like, 'Why is this quicksand?' So I just finished cutting. I didn't think anything of it."

Brown's family then told detectives, who found his body and questioned the suspects.

"They buried him. They killed him and they buried him," said Floretta Brown, the victim's sister. "I just can't hardly take it like that."

She teared up thinking about how police found her younger brother.

Brown's sisters say they are looking forward to the day justice will be served.

"They going to pay for this. They going to pay for this," Floretta Brown said. "They will not walk out of that jailhouse. They're going to pay for this here."