Overview
- A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Larry Dean Brown on a murder charge in the 1981 killing of Braniff flight attendant Beverly Bruneau, and he was released from jail on a reduced $100,000 bond under 24-hour house arrest with a GPS monitor.
- Investigators say a covert DNA sample taken from soda bottles in the suspect’s Colorado trash produced a result that officials say could not exclude Brown as the source of male DNA found on Bruneau’s blood-stained nightgown.
- Earlier forensic work around 2010 did not yield a match, and law enforcement reopened the cold case in 2025 before obtaining the covert sample and pursuing extradition and an indictment.
- Court documents allege a motive tied to financial tension and an attempted insurance-fraud scheme involving fires at a Dallas home co-owned by Bruneau and the suspect’s wife, and the affidavit cites witness statements and a fresh wound noted in 1981.
- Brown’s defense has filed motions challenging the DNA timing and chain of custody, calling the case largely circumstantial and citing his recent health issues, so confirmatory testing and pretrial rulings will determine whether the case moves to trial.