Quest for justice drove Palm Bay police investigation into teen killings at The Compound

PALM BAY — Chrisel Brown watched quietly from the courtroom gallery as one of the suspects charged in the double slaying of her 14-year-old son and another teen in "The Compound" appeared before the judge. The suspect, a teen himself, locked eyes with her — and smiled.

“He just looked at us and smiled,” Brown said. “Literally it was just mind-blowing. I just don’t think they understood what they’ve done ... of lives being lost.”

That moment was devastating for the Palm Bay mom. But that February pre-trial hearing before Brevard Circuit Court Judge Steve Henderson also represented something else to Brown: a long-awaited step toward justice, 14 months after she lost her son in a slaying that shocked the community.

The 2022 Christmas Day killings of Jeremiah Brown, 14, and Travon Anthony Jr., 16, happened in one of this city’s most desolate spots, a failed development known as "The Compound." People, police and nearby residents will tell you: That's where some go to drive fast, shoot guns into tall grass, enjoy bonfires and find other sources of trouble. It’s not lawless but for many, can feel like it.

But even in the Compound, the discovery of the bodies of two teenage boys over that Christmas of 2022 came as a shock. Brown had received a text earlier that day from her son, who said he was ready to be picked up after spending time with his father. But she was in the midst of making banana pudding for the holiday meal.

More: How we got from the Compound killings of Christmas 2022 to trial for Palm Bay teens' deaths

“He just told me to come pick him up whenever I was ready. I didn’t because I was still making that banana pudding. I wish I had,” Brown said.

The timing and brutal nature of the crime, the youth of the victims, the evidence that suggested perhaps Jeremiah, a Bayside High football player who dreamed of playing in the NFL, was shot as he tried to run away and concerns over where it happened, unsettled Palm Bay. Adding to the tension were rampant rumors permeating the streets, months before the arrests, that other teens had allegedly fired the fatal shots.

In the wake of the killings of Jeremiah and Travon came drive-by-shootings of other teens and open discussion of violence and retribution on social media that provided a disturbing snapshot into teen violence in Brevard.

It didn’t help that arrests did not come easily, leaving the victims' relatives waiting and worrying and police hunting for clues and working to decipher street talk in what Palm Bay Police Chief Mariano Augello called "a real grind" of an investigation.

The two suspects, Juan Shuren Jr., 17, and Jamarcus Simpson, now 18, were indicted by a grand jury in January — 13 months after the killings — and formally charged with two counts of premeditated murder each. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show.

Both were underage at the time, but the state attorney's office is pursuing adult charges. Simpson asked for a speedy trial, which means the a jury could be seated by the end of this month and the trial underway by April 1. If convicted, Simpson could get up to life in prison with parole hearings after 25 years.

More: How we got here: Story of Compound killings was reported over many twists, turns

"I'll be there," Travon Anthony Sr., the father of Travon, said of the trial.

For this report, FLORIDA TODAY reviewed court files, including police reports in multiple homicides, and talked with law enforcement officers, family members of victims and one of the suspects, attorneys, and community leaders to piece together a narrative of what happened from Christmas Day 2022 in the Compound to the arrests more than a year later.

Thousands of investigative hours put into Compound case

Palm Bay detectives, prosecutors and state investigators spent thousands of hours over 13 months combing through evidence and carrying out search warrants. As the investigation proceeded, there were other shootings, including two other teens killed. Both of those cases remain unsolved.

“This case was a real grind for our folks. The biggest part was not to get discouraged. We knew from the beginning that we had a circumstantial case," said Palm Bay Police Chief Augello, whose agency covers Brevard's largest municipality.

More: Who were the victims of Palm Bay Compound killings? Who are those arrested in connection?

Augello credited his detectives with a dogged determination to make arrests.

He and others in the criminal justice system said the intricate case sheds light on a small nexus of aimless, gang-like offenders, cliques across Brevard with access to firearms and drugs and little care about the impact their decisions have on others.  One name has come up repeatedly: the purple baby gang.

The state reported that 1,719 youth and teens across Florida were arrested on weapons or firearms charges in 2022, the most recent year of available data, according to Florida Department of Juvenile Justice statistics. The same statistics show that Brevard County had 36 juvenile arrests on the same charges for the same period. But, law enforcement officials note, those figures represent only youth and teens taken into custody.

A final Christmas Day trip for two teens

It was Christmas Day and Jeremiah Brown had just told his father that he was going to run to the store for a snack and be right back, his mother recalled.

Jeremiah, a small-framed defensive player for the school's football team, had hopes of being drafted by the NFL and the ninth-grader kept that as a focus, his mother said.

"He wasn't someone in the streets. He had dreams, goals," Brown said. "He would be happy to just go to the gym and bench-press weights after school. He would call and say, 'Hey, guess what, I lifted 120 pounds today.'"

At some point on that fateful day, the 14-year-old texted his mother to come by to get him when she was ready. But she was in the middle of cooking Christmas dinner.

It would be the last time Brown would hear from her son.

Mourning and joy on Christmas: Palm Bay mother praises police for arrest in son's death

Across the city, Travon Anthony was home celebrating his birthday. The teen — who, like Jeremiah, had an affable smile — had played football with Jeremiah when they were kids. The two would cross paths for the final time later that day.

Travon had gotten a FaceTime message from one of the teens later charged in his killing, Jamarcus Simpson, that suggested hanging out for the day, and the two agreed to get together.

Travon was last seen taking out the trash at Manatee Cove Apartments before being picked up by a black, four-door Ford Fusion driven by Simpson, according to a warrant filed by Palm Bay Police detectives.

A surveillance video showed that another person — later identified as the second suspect, Juan Shuren — was sitting in the Fusion when it pulled out of the complex. The three rode through south Melbourne to have a midday Christmas meal at a home, arrest warrants show.

At some point, according to events outlined by detectives in an arrest warrant, Jeremiah joined up with the group and the four of them headed to the Compound. Jeremiah and Shuren, who is charged in his death, were cousins.

It's not clear what time they arrived at the Compound and accounts differ on how things proceeded once inside the area.

But a surveillance camera near one of the entrances to the Compound recorded the Fusion leaving the area about 4 p.m. Christmas Day — without Jeremiah or Travon.

Nightfall and a grim discovery

The first body was discovered by a hog trapper driving through the Compound on Christmas night to check on several traps set for the wild pigs that roam in the area.

After sundown, and with cold weather settling in, the trapper wound along the craggy roads of the 2,784-acre swath of vacant land when he spotted something unusual —  a trail of blood along a paved road near Camilo Circle.

There, he saw the body of a teen — later identified as Travon. He had been shot once in the head and his pants partly pulled down, records show.

The trapper called Palm Bay police to report the grisly find.

Crime, deaths and desolation: Palm Bay City Council set to discuss troubled 'Compound'

Officers arrived within minutes and roped off the darkened roadway as part of a crime scene, with evidence technicians working in the shadows to note the spent shell casings scattered along the cold pavement. Travon's cellphone — which police records later showed pinged as being near the Compound at 3:30 p.m. Christmas Day — was also found.

By the time the sun rose the next morning, detectives combing through the overgrown lots came across another body, dressed in a black and white sweater bought at the mall days before and lying face down about 70 feet away in the billowing grass.

It was Jeremiah.

He'd been shot multiple times and his pants pockets turned inside out, with the new Louis Vuitton wallet from his mother and $600 in cash, given to him as a holiday gift from his father, missing, arrest records show.

Also missing was a compact, semiautomatic SCCY 9mm handgun that Jeremiah had gotten from a friend, a fact police would confirm with a traffic stop days later. Why Jeremiah — who detectives would later say posted a picture of the handgun — had the firearm, neither his mother nor police could say.

Detectives had two bodies. Both young. Both shot to death in the notorious Compound.

Investigators peeled back the hours; talked to family members and friends while searching out cellphone records and surveillance videos.

Days before his burial, Jeremiah's mother remained haunted by the loss.

"I don't know how to go through life without you here .. But I will find the strength one day. And just know, I will get justice .. I love you more than words can describe," Chrisel Brown posted to social media as detectives began forming a more solid narrative about what happened that Christmas.

Building on a mystery

One of the initial best clues was the Ford Fusion.

Detectives checked tag readers to track the car to Simpson's grandmother. Police were already familiar with the small, economy car, having pulled it over in an unrelated traffic stop earlier in the month. Simpson, who lived with his grandmother and siblings, was named as the driver.

On New Year’s Eve, just days after the discovery of the bodies made headlines, officers pulled the Fusion over on another unspecified traffic violation, arrest records show. Simpson was driving.

Officers spotted a black SCCY 9mm handgun the teen had been sitting on, according to the arrest record filed by detectives. Simpson, then 17, was arrested on a weapons charge. It was the same gun that Jeremiah had brought with him to the Compound.

The gun, detectives determined through several interviews, was initially purchased by another teen on the streets, and given to another person before it landed in Jeremiah's possession.

More: Second teen suspect indicted in connection with Christmas Day 2022 shooting deaths in Compound

Witnesses told detectives that Jeremiah indicated that he — for an unspecified reason — wanted a handgun for protection during a trip to Orlando.

"I don't know why Jeremiah had that gun. He knew I wouldn't allow that in my home. He was not that kind of boy," Brown said.

Also in Simpson's car was a pair of blood-spattered Air Jordans. The shoes belonged to Simpson but had to be forwarded to the state's crime lab to determine whose blood was on them.

One thing that police didn't find and still haven't found: the actual gun used to carry out the fatal shootings of the two teens.

The police focus sharpens

Simpson's arrest on the gun charge began to funnel the investigation toward Simpson.

Simpson, still a juvenile at the time, in an interview that took place in the days that followed his arrest, first told detectives Travon got into the car and went with him to a hangout spot along Monroe Street in Melbourne. He then said he left Travon in that neighborhood to go enjoy Christmas dinner.

The story morphed again after detectives showed surveillance video with his then-15-year-old cousin Shuren in the vehicle. Sherun was also a cousin of Jeremiah's, Jeremiah's mother noted.

Simpson told detectives that Travon Facetimed him, asking to be picked up. He picked up Travon and later, rode to Monroe Street when they saw Jeremiah walking near the store, records show. Shuren asked to go along, Palm Bay detectives reported.

The four teens decided to head to the Compound to shoot their guns, court documents show.

Simpson's attorney, Christopher Beres, says his client did not kill the teens. He pointed out that Simpson said from the beginning that Shuren was the shooter.

"Jamarcus is disabled, mentally. He's in special programs. This whole case really is not about Jamarcus but Juan (Shuren). The only person who said Jamarcus shot and killed those boys was Juan," said Beres.

As they headed to the Compound, Jeremiah, carrying a gun and a pocket full of money, was in the back seat with Travon. In the front passenger seat was Shuren, court records detail.

For some reason, the conversation inside the car soured, then drifted into an argument, Simpson told police. Curses were hurled between Shuren, Travon and Jeremiah, police said. Simpson continued to drive to the Compound.

Simpson would later tell detectives that Shuren allegedly shot Travon and then chased Jeremiah as the teen scrambled to run through the tall grass, firing rounds before fatally wounding the teen.

Detectives talked to Shuren — whose Melbourne home was fired on by unknown shooters several times in 2023 — and heard another version of the story, this one implicating Simpson as the shooter. He agreed that the four ended up at the Compound to shoot guns.

But Shuren told police he stayed in the car and that it was Simpson — for an unknown reason — who allegedly pointed his handgun at Travon, firing once, records show. Once Simpson slipped back behind the wheel of the Ford, Shuren said, he began demanding to know what just happened, arrest records show.

"What's going on bro? Take me home, I don't want to be here," the teen told detectives, recalling the tense conversation in the car between him and Simpson.

"Bro, chill, Just chill," Simpson told Shuren, police said. The teen told detectives that he never reported the shooting to police out of fear for his life. But police would later question Shuren's account, even as speculation spread on the streets among those who knew him.

Still, there were no arrests for the homicides.

The long wait for arrests

Time passed. On social media, those with connections to both Simpson and Shuren took to Snapchat and other social media to talk about the shootings even as police, working on the ongoing investigation involving juveniles, shared few details publicly.

In mid-January 2023, relatives of Jeremiah and Travon carried out a "justice walk" to raise concerns with the Palm Bay City Council about public access to the Compound, a place where three more bodies in unrelated cases would turn up during the new year.

Later in the year, as detectives picked apart the interviews and waited for crucial forensic evidence to return from the state, police in Melbourne dealt with at least two other deadly shootings that appeared to have connections, according family members and a review of court records.

One was on May 13, 2023, involving a 16-year-old making repairs to a golf car in his south Melbourne yard when someone fired a gun. The teen, Kobe Kirkland, a ninth-grade Palm Bay High School student, died over Mother's Day weekend.

The following night, at 9 p.m., Melbourne police were called to the home where Shuren lived with his mother at 601 Xavier Ave. following a drive by shooting. No arrests were made. Shuren himself would be arrested on a weapons charge in West Melbourne.

On Dec. 6, 2023, Melbourne police were again called to Xavier Avenue — where Shuren lived — near Marshall Drive for a reported drive-by shooting.

It was the second time in less than a week that someone had targeted the single-story, older home, leaving residents rattled. The neighborhood is a blend of students from the Florida Institute of Technology and retirees in homes with American flags and backyard chicken farms.

This time, a 16-year-old identified by family members as N’varee Williams was killed as bullets flew.

The badly wounded teen, who police said was in the car believed to have been used in a botched drive-by that night at Shuren's home, was driven several miles to Holmes Regional Medical Center. N'varee was later pronounced dead. Multiple patrol cars were in the neighborhood into the night. Over a dozen shell casings were scattered along the pavement as neighbors looked on.

No arrests were made in that case. Shuren, who was standing on the streets minutes after officers arrived, told police that the shooters had targeted him.

"Juan's family was getting shot at by somebody. It's just the Wild West out there," said Tino Gonzalez, a lawyer who initially represented Shuren in the double-slaying.

The day after the Dec. 6 drive-by, Palm Bay police searched for Shuren to take him into custody on a violation of probation charge. Officers found him near a Neighborhood Market store on Babcock Street and handcuffed him. One of the police officers asked Shuren if he had any weapons. “You know I do, you can grab it,” the teen said, police reports show.

Officers slowly pulled a loaded 9mm handgun from the teen’s waistband. The car he had been driving, a silver Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, was pocked with bullet holes along the side. He was booked into the Juvenile Detention Center, just days before his 17th birthday.

Shuren's mother defended him.

“They don’t like my son. They’ve been threatening me and threatening my son,” Lawanna Reynolds told FLORIDA TODAY following the Dec. 6 shooting. “They all used to be friends but my son didn’t want to join their group. They want him to join and they’ve been coming at him," she said, adding that she was moving out of the home. Police would not comment on the group, known as the purple baby gang, a group of youth operating out of south Brevard.

By now, Palm Bay detectives were closing in on making at least one arrest in the case. Simpson was held at Deep Creek Academy on an unrelated charge in St. Augustine. Shuren was being held at the Brevard Juvenile Detention Center in Sharpes on the weapons charge.

On Dec. 22, just days before the anniversary of the deadly shootings, came a breakthrough thanks to the long awaited DNA evidence from Simpson's shoes.

The blood on the shoes belonged to Travon. Simpson was brought back to Brevard from a juvenile center in St. Johns County to face murder charges.

Now police turned the focus on Shuren, too.

Simpson's defense attorney, Christopher Beres, however, had questions. He hoped to get more information from Shuren and went to the Juvenile Detention Center a week after his client's arrest to talk more with him about the shooting. Shuren told Beres he was "faded" by alcohol and drugs and didn't remember what happened that Christmas afternoon in the Compound. He also couldn't say that anything he'd spoken earlier to Palm Bay detectives about was true.

"I was out of my mind on alcohol, weed and mushrooms most of the time in December and January," Shuren said in a handwritten note dated Dec. 14 — his birthday — and handed to Beres. "Jack (Daniels), mushrooms and weed make me hallucinate and lose my mind," the neatly written letter read.

He also talked about the state sending him to a program for drug addiction and his enrollment in Narcotics Anonymous, a recovery group typically attended by those struggling with substance abuse.

Beres said Shuren did not appear nervous but seemed coherent, clear and very frank about being addicted.

Court records show that Shuren this past January invoked the Fifth Amendment in the case and now has a new attorney. He will have a separate trial on the charges but could potentially be called as a witness in Simpson's case in the next few days.

"He's not dumb," Shuren's former lawyer, Gonzalez, said of him. "He's a smart young man but impressionable, like any other 15-year-old. He really had the capabilities to be maybe even be a collegiate athlete but I don't think he had a lot of guidance."

Augello said shortly after the grand jury indictment in the case, among Brevard County's 43 reported homicides for 2022, that his detectives and the state attorney's office worked hard to get to this point.

"We wanted a solid case. We worked with Assistant State Attorney Will Scheiner every step of the way," Augello said. "And it took several months to get what we needed."

Augello, whose agency has worked to reach area youth with basketball games and food programs, said he also talked with the parents of the slain teens repeatedly during the course of the year. It remains personal to him, he said.

“The relationship we had between our department and the families was very heartfelt,” the chief said.

"I just melted"

Sitting in the courtroom last month for the separate hearings was a surreal experience for Brown. The process, unlike what might be seen on a TV crime show, was slow, yet gripping.

Over the course of the year she had talked with area youth; read the disturbing chat messages that surfaced on social media and even heard a home demo of a rap song that stunned investigators. "I made him do the dash ... left him in those bushes ... gonna shoot him," said a voice on a recording that was investigated in the case but is not attributed to the suspects.

"I still have so many questions," Brown said. "After I left the courtroom, I just melted."

For Gonzalez, the case points to something deeper, something more troubling for the community and the nation in general as police deal with more cases — not just in Palm Bay — involving youth and gun violence.

"I just hope society can turn itself around. These are young men without guidance. It's just going to get worse. It's like everything is on repeat," he said.

For Brown, the reminders of the life once lived by her son reside in the pictures, clothing and the No. 19 jersey he wore to football games. She now plans to advocate for the community to address gun violence and the need for more values, including respect for life.

"My son won't get a chance to get older. He won't be going to the prom, getting married or having children.," Brown said.

"The whole thing is even sadder when you look at the fact that these are all children we are talking about."

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. On X: @JDGallop.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: The Compound killings: Behind Palm Bay investigation into teen deaths