Jenessa Houk was just 7 years old when she sat down with the Pennsylvania State Police and implicated her 11-year-old stepbrother, Jordan Brown, in the shotgun killing of her mom.
On Wednesday, 16 years later, testifying from a witness stand in the federal courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh, she told a jury the same thing — almost.
Houk told the state police on Feb. 20, 2009, and into the next day, that she and Brown were home that morning getting ready for school when she saw him go up and down the stairs of the house carrying two long guns.
Then, she told investigators, she heard “a big boom,” and after a little while, Brown joined her in the laundry room, and the two left for school.
The body of Houk’s mother, Kenzie Houk, was found a short time later after a tree-cutting crew saw her 4-year-old daughter standing at the front door crying.
Kenzie Houk, 26, had been killed by a shotgun blast to the back of the head as she lay in bed. She was nine months pregnant.
As the investigation unfolded that day, state police eliminated Brown’s dad, Chris Brown, as a suspect when they confirmed he had been at work at the time of the shooting. Then, after the Houk family suggested it could have been Kenzie’s ex-boyfriend, troopers said they eliminated him as a suspect, as well.
They narrowed in on Jordan Brown, based in large part, on Jenessa Houk’s statements and a 20-gauge shotgun they found in the corner of his room that smelled as if it had been recently fired.
Brown was arrested for criminal homicide around 3:30 a.m. Feb. 21, 2009. He was adjudicated delinquent for first-degree murder and incarcerated for seven years.
Released at age 18, Brown, who has maintained his innocence, continued to pursue his appeals, and in July 2018, the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction, finding that there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Two years later, Brown sued Troopers Janice Wilson, Jeffrey Martin, Troy Steinheiser and Robert McGraw, who has since died. He alleged malicious prosecution and fabrication of evidence.
The civil trial began on Dec. 4.
Jenessa Houk was the final witness called in the liability phase of the trial.
Her brief testimony on Wednesday included all the same details she told investigators in her fourth formal interview around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 21, 2009, but it also added a few more.
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“Jordan was running up and down the stairs bringing guns and putting them on the couch,” she testified. “When I was in the laundry room, I heard a boom… Jordan came running into the laundry room, pushing me out because we were going to be late.”
According to testimony throughout the trial, Houk had never mentioned to the state police during her four interviews immediately after the shooting anything about the couch or Brown pushing her, though she did give the same information while being deposed for Brown’s lawsuit.
Houk also told the jury that as the two children were running down the driveway to catch the bus, she saw something else.
“I saw him throw something out of his pocket,” Houk said.
During Brown’s juvenile court hearing, state police said that a shotgun shell had been found the morning after the shooting a few feet from the middle of the driveway under leaves that were frozen and covered by ice and snow. The trooper characterized the shell as “pristine.”
During the civil trial, both Chris and Jordan Brown testified that they often shot at targets in their yard. They also told the jury that there were rules in the household that the children were not allowed to touch the guns in the house.
Jenessa Houk testified Wednesday that she remembered no such rules.
Houk’s direct examination lasted only 12 minutes, and was marked by a series of questions in quick succession by state police attorney Nicole Boland.
“Did the police coerce you to give that statement about Jordan Brown?” Boland asked.
“No.”
“Did you hear the boom that morning?”
“Yes,” Houk replied.
“Do you have any reason to lie about what happened that morning?” Boland concluded.
“No.”
During cross-examination, Brown’s attorney, Alec Wright, whose questioning style during earlier parts of the trial could be aggressive, spoke softly to Houk.
She said she did not remember the substance of any of the interviews with the state police the day her mom was killed, but she did recall speaking to troopers.
Wright gently revisited Houk’s testimony about the couch, the push and seeing Brown throw something that morning, asking her if that was what she told investigators then.
Houk, now 23 and a registered nurse, said it was.
“That was my memory.”