Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, with first-degree murder in the disappearance and presumed killing of Christina Downer, 38. Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, Brandon’s former girlfriend, faces two felony counts of being an accessory after the fact. Downer’s remains have not been located, and both defendants are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center with bail set at $2 million each, according to the supplied report.
Investigators believe Downer was killed on or around Sept. 19, 2025. The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division took over the case after Downer’s cellphone was found at Santa Monica Beach. According to court documents cited in the report, investigators believe Brandon and Markowski used the phone to send messages suggesting Downer had left voluntarily and was going “off the grid.”
Downer’s ex-husband reported her missing in December 2025, saying he had not heard from her for months. Brandon, who had shared a Koreatown apartment with Downer, told police she moved out months earlier. He said she left behind her belongings, including her car and her dog, Rex. Downer’s brother, “Saturday Night Live” writer Jimmy Fowlie, also made public appeals for information about her whereabouts that December.
In an April Instagram post quoted in the report, Fowlie said he believed whoever had Downer’s phone had used it to conceal her absence, seek money and create a misleading account of her departure. He described his posts as an effort to keep his sister’s story in public view. Fowlie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Court records describe allegations and protective-order requests involving Downer, Brandon and Markowski before Downer disappeared. In a September 2024 petition, Downer accused Markowski of harassment, threats and blackmail. The allegations included threats to enter Downer’s home and assault her, racial slurs, taking a spare key and copying it, and stealing a cat and a storage device containing intimate videos. These are claims in the petition, not findings established by the account.
Brandon also sought a domestic-violence restraining order against Markowski in July 2025. According to a review of court records cited by ABC7, he accused her of harassment, targeting his vehicle and trying to disrupt Downer’s employment. The court dismissed the requests Downer and Brandon had filed after they failed to appear.
In September 2025, Brandon filed another request for protection, alleging Markowski hit and kicked him as he tried to leave and threatened to shoot him because of his relationship with Downer. A judge rejected the request and scheduled a hearing for Sept. 23. Brandon withdrew it on Sept. 18. Investigators believe Downer died within a day of that withdrawal, according to the report; the timing is an investigative belief, not a separately established finding.
The report also says a recent criminal complaint includes allegations that Brandon assaulted another woman in 2022, including an incident involving scissors. He faces two felony counts of injuring a cohabitant related to the alleged assaults. Separately, a woman filed a civil harassment restraining-order petition against Markowski in April 2022; a judge dismissed that case in June for lack of prosecution.
A domestic-violence specialist who was not involved in the case told Fox News Digital that courts consider the details of allegations, rather than simply counting complaints, when determining whether a case proceeds. She also cited court backlogs and uneven domestic-violence training as factors that can complicate assessments. The report says a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office representative declined to comment on the open case. Markowski’s attorney also declined comment, and the Alternate Public Defender’s Office was not immediately available.
The LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division is asking anyone with information about Downer’s case to call 213-486-6850.
