Arrest in 2015 Riviera Beach homicide has man, 57, facing second-degree murder charge

RIVIERA BEACH — A nearly decade-old death investigation has resulted in the arrest of a 57-year-old man on a murder charge.

Police took Anthony Lewis Brownlee of Riviera Beach into custody this month in connection to the January 2015 shooting death of Derrick Lenard Foster, then 45. West Palm Beach police found his body along 54th Street, just north of St. Mary's Medical Center.

Brownlee faces charges of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. He refused to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 20, the day after his arrest, at the Palm Beach County Jail. He remained in custody as of Tuesday, Dec. 26

Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ordered that Brownlee be held without bail, assigned him a public defender and ordered that he have no contact with Foster's family. As a policy, the Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office does not comment on open cases.

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Investigators say DNA samples from blood swabs collected from Brownlee's vehicle matched Foster's. According to his arrest report, Brownlee's DNA also was found on Foster's clothing. Two witnesses told investigators Brownlee and Foster knew each other, with one person saying the men were known to "do marijuana runs" together.

Brownlee initially spoke to investigators in February 2016 while incarcerated at the county's Belle Glade jail on unrelated robbery charges. He denied having either knowledge of or involvement in Foster's death, but agreed to talk after being confronted with the DNA evidence, the report said.

He reportedly told investigators Foster contacted him the night of Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015, and requested a ride to George Street Park on West Fifth Street and Avenue H in Riviera Beach to conduct a drug transaction.

Brownlee said the person they were supposed to meet at the park was not there and that Foster suggested they go to West First Street to look. He described seeing a Nissan Altima backed into a parking space and noted that the vehicle's driver flashed the lights to get his attention.

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Man said he dumped wounded friend on street in state of panic

Brownlee said he pulled his Ford SUV alongside the other vehicle and briefly stepped out after the other driver approached the passenger side of the SUV to speak to Foster. Brownlee said he was standing on the side of a nearby home when he suddenly heard gunfire.

He described returning to the SUV to find Foster wounded and see the Nissan speed away. Brownlee said he began driving to St. Mary's Medical Center but became concerned that Foster may have been carrying something illegal.

Brownlee said he began feeling Foster's pants pockets and discovered what appeared to be a firearm. He told investigators he "panicked," dumping Foster on 54th Street and driving back to Riviera Beach, stopping near the Blue Heron Boulevard bridge to throw away a .38-caliber snub-nose pistol that he recovered from Foster.

Investigators said surveillance-camera footage near the shooting scene did not support Brownlee's version of the events.

According to the arrest report, a detective reviewed footage from cameras and license plate readers near West First Street and Old Dixie Highway. The detective found no evidence of a Nissan fleeing the scene, or Brownlee's vehicle traveling south on Old Dixie from West First at or near the time of the shooting, the report said.

The report does not specify what delayed police from making an arrest in Foster's death. He spent April 2017 to June 2020 in state prison on the robbery charge.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County man faces murder charge in friend's homicide