Los Angeles police have arrested two people on suspicion of murdering Christina Downer, 38, whose disappearance nearly a year ago became a homicide investigation after her cellphone washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach. Downer's boyfriend, Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, and Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34, were taken into custody on Thursday, October 29, and booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center, each held on $2 million bail, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement released on Friday, October 30. Detectives allege the two were responsible for Downer's murder, the disposal of her body and the concealment of their involvement — allegations that have not been tested in court, and on which neither suspect has been convicted of any crime.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026
Downer is the sister of Jimmy Fowlie, a writer on Saturday Night Live. Parade, reporting the same LAPD statement independently, confirmed the arrests, the Thursday date, and the core account: Downer was reported missing on December 18, 2025, Brandon told police she had moved out months earlier, and Robbery-Homicide Division detectives took over the case after her phone was found on Santa Monica Beach. The LAPD says its Robbery-Homicide Division will now present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration, while the investigation remains ongoing.
Source: Parade, reporting the LAPD statement released Oct 30, 2026
How the case began: a welfare check and a story that did not add up
Christina Downer was reported missing on December 18, 2025, after her ex-husband requested a welfare check because he had not heard from her for an extended period of time, according to the LAPD account reported by MyNewsLA. When police spoke to her boyfriend, Brandon claimed she had moved out of their home several months earlier — leaving behind all of her belongings, including her vehicle and her dog. That detail, a person walking out on her car, her dog and everything she owned, is the one the family's account and the police investigation kept returning to.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026
The phone on Santa Monica Beach
The turning point came when Downer's cellphone was discovered washed ashore on Santa Monica Beach. At that point, detectives assigned to the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division assumed the investigation, police said. Through what the department describes only as various investigative techniques, detectives ultimately identified Brandon and Markowski as the individuals they allege were responsible for her murder, the disposal of her body, and concealing their involvement in her death. Police have not publicly disclosed the specific evidence or investigative methods that led to the arrests, and reporting on the case has not confirmed whether Downer's remains have been recovered — a gap readers should hold clearly in mind: the allegation of disposal is the department's, stated in its release, not a finding by a court.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026
April: the family is told she is no longer alive
On April 29, Fowlie wrote on Instagram that LAPD officials had informed the family that Downer was “no longer alive” and that the case had officially transitioned from a missing-person case to a homicide investigation. “I am sharing this because I believe that whoever is responsible is hoping to erase her in every way possible. I want to amplify her story in the only way I know how. And to express that she was a beautiful person who matters in this world, especially to me,” Fowlie said, in the post quoted by MyNewsLA. That public plea, from a television writer with a national platform, kept the case visible for months while detectives worked it without public developments.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026
The Joshua Tree search
Earlier in October, investigators searched a property in Joshua Tree in connection with Downer's disappearance, NBC4 reported, in a detail carried by MyNewsLA: citing the LAPD, the station said detectives were led to an Airbnb property during their search. Police have not said what, if anything, that search produced, and no reporting has established a direct link between the Joshua Tree search and this week's arrests beyond the sequence itself — the search came earlier in October, and the arrests followed on October 29.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026
Where the arrests were made
Detectives located both suspects in Los Angeles County on Thursday. Brandon was arrested in the 6000 block of Garvanza Avenue in Highland Park, in northeast Los Angeles. Markowski was apprehended in the 6000 block of Tampa Avenue in Tarzana, in the San Fernando Valley. Both were booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of murder, each with bail set at $2 million, police said. MyNewsLA's initial report described the pair as “two men” in its opening line; the LAPD account it and other outlets report identifies the second suspect as Kaylee Nicole Markowski, 34 — a woman — and this report follows the fuller identification.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026
Brandon and Markowski have been arrested on suspicion of murder. They have not, on the reporting available, been formally charged yet: the LAPD says the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration. An arrest is an allegation. Both suspects are presumed innocent unless and until a court proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and the circumstances of Downer's death — including how she died and where her body is — have not been established in any public finding.
What happens next
The next step belongs to prosecutors: Robbery-Homicide Division detectives will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which will decide what charges, if any, to file against Brandon and Markowski. Both remain held on $2 million bail each in the meantime. The investigation remains ongoing, and police are asking anyone with information about the murder to contact the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division, West Bureau Section, at 213-382-9470; during non-business hours, calls go to 877-527-3247, and anonymous tips can be given to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or at lacrimestoppers.org.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service), reporting LAPD statements, Oct 30, 2026