Man Who Threw His 4-Yr Old Daughter Off A Cliff To Avoid Child Support Jailed For Life

Even before little Lauren was born, her father, Cameron Brown, didn’t want her. 

He hadn’t been dating Sarah Key long when she discovered she was pregnant.

Right from the start, Cameron demanded Sarah have an abortion, but she flatly

refused. The baby might not have been planned, but Sarah wanted her little girl whether Cameron stood by her or not.

Cameron left before Lauren was born, but now they shared a child, Sarah would never be free of the man who was growing increasingly aggressive towards her.

When a court ordered Cameron to pay Sarah $1,000 (£655) a month in child support, it angered him so greatly that he did the unthinkable. Cameron took four-year-old Lauren for a walk – then hurled the little girl off a cliff.

Sarah, originally from Essex in the UK, met Cameron in 1995 at a hotel bar in California. She was an attractive flight attendant and he was an athletic airport baggage handler.

Just months into their relationship, Sarah fell pregnant. Cameron grew hostile when Sarah decided to keep the baby. They split before Lauren Sarene Key was born in August 1996.

When Lauren was six months old, single mum Sarah filed for child support. Cameron demanded a paternity test and when it was confirmed he was Lauren’s dad, a court ordered him to pay up.

Bitter custody battle

Sarah went on to marry Greg Marer, who she met at church, and they raised Lauren together. Then in 1999, out of the blue, Cameron asked for visitation rights. If these were granted, he would no longer have to pay child support.

At first the visits were supervised and progressed to unsupervised, with overnight stays. But Sarah was suspicious of his motives and his parenting skills were questionable. Lauren didn’t like spending time with her biological dad and grew anxious about his visits. So in 2000, Sarah tried to stop them, but Cameron applied for full custody.

On 8 November, Lauren was due to visit Cameron after school and was distraught about going. When Sarah dropped her off at school in the morning, Lauren had to be pulled away from her.

Sarah was so worried that she went to the school early, to pick Lauren up before Cameron did – but she was too late.

Hours later, the police told Sarah that Lauren had fallen to her death from a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Cameron said he’d taken his daughter for a hike and she’d been throwing stones when she tripped and fell over the edge at a beauty spot called Inspiration Point.

The police and Sarah didn’t believe him. Why had he taken Lauren to such a remote, rugged and dangerous spot? Lauren hated hiking and her injuries were consistent with being thrown from the 120ft cliff. There were no injuries from tumbling down the side. She’d been ‘forcibly launched’ into the air.

Police knew Cameron resented the child support payments and his hatred of Sarah was apparent – he’d once tried to get her deported and he didn’t even call her when Lauren died. Officers said he acted cold and distant at the scene.

It would take a three-year investigation before Cameron was arrested and charged with Lauren’s murder. It was a tough case because there were no witnesses.

Was Cameron a callous murderer or simply a careless parent? Would a father really throw his child off a cliff to avoid a monthly payment?

There were two trials, one in 2006 and the other in 2009, where the jury were deadlocked between a manslaughter or murder conviction – they agreed it was a crime but couldn’t agree on the charge.

The third trial this year at the Los Angeles Superior Court would be the last. The prosecution said Cameron had thrown Lauren off the cliff because of the bitter custody dispute and the child support payments.

His defence said Lauren had tripped and fallen, so the conviction should be manslaughter, but the prosecution maintained her injuries weren’t consistent with an accidental fall. She couldn’t have run fast enough to clear the cliff without hitting outcrops on the way down.

Then came the most damning evidence so far. A new witness, a co-worker, revealed Cameron had said to them it would be "nice to get rid of Lauren" to get out of the monthly payments.

Sarah described the night that she and her husband had waited for Lauren to return. When her daughter was late home, she worried that Cameron had kidnapped her.

In May this year, Cameron Brown, 53, was finally found guilty of his daughter’s first degree murder. He showed no emotion while Sarah broke down.

Cameron was sentenced to life without parole and the 15-year fight for the truth was over.

culled from-Mirror.co.uk

Good closing....wicked wicked wicked man.He can spend his child support money in jail!