Overview
- Larry Dean Brown was arrested in Colorado on June 8 and was extradited to North Texas, where a Tarrant County grand jury indicted him on June 29 and a judge set bond at $2 million with bail denied.
- Investigators say a University of North Texas lab reported on May 28 that DNA from a swab of a soda bottle taken from Brown’s trash could not be excluded as the contributor of the male DNA found on Beverly Bruneau’s blood-stained nightgown.
- Bruneau, a 35-year-old Braniff flight attendant, was found strangled in her Grapevine apartment on Feb. 13, 1981, with an electrical cord around her neck and signs of a struggle, according to the original autopsy and police records.
- Police allege a disputed insurance claim and earlier fires at a Dallas house co-owned by Bruneau and Brown’s wife created financial and personal conflicts that investigators say provide possible motive-related context.
- Brown’s lawyer says the case is largely circumstantial, questions the timing and interpretation of the DNA comparison, and has asked the court to reduce bond while confirmatory testing, chain-of-custody issues, and pretrial motions proceed.