Bond raised to $2M for man accused of shooting and killing girlfriend’s 16-year-old daughter

Van Brisbon, 60, is charged with the homicide of Texas highschool scholar Lauren Juma.

Brisbon didn’t seem in possible trigger court docket over the weekend. A decide set his bond at $1 million. Nonetheless, after new particulars had been revealed in court docket on Monday, a decide raised his bond to $2 million.

Brisbon’s cost may very well be upgraded to capital homicide due to the main points investigators discovered on the scene.

Along with an post-mortem, investigators have requested a sexual assault check be carried out on the sufferer as a result of proof discovered on the scene signifies that she might have been raped earlier than she was shot and killed.

The decide requested for the check outcomes to be expedited to allow them to work out if the costs have to be upgraded.

The suspect’s niece spoke to our sister station KTRK after the listening to and mentioned she was devastated over what occurred to Juma, and likewise shocked by what her uncle is accused of doing.

“I like my uncle to dying, I swear I do, however I’ll by no means be capable of perceive how he did one thing like this to Lauren,” his niece mentioned by way of tears.

Brisbon has decades-old earlier prison prices from the Phoenix and Chicago areas.

READ MORE: Bond set at $1 million for man accused of murdering girlfriend’s 16-year-old daughter

Deputies mentioned the capturing occurred simply after 1 a.m. on Friday.

In accordance with the teenager’s mom, who was at work when the capturing occurred, Juma FaceTimed her and her older sister, saying Brisbon was performing “bizarre.”

The teenager was house alone with Brisbon on the time, Harris County sheriff’s deputies mentioned.

Her older sister went to the house to choose her up, however mentioned Brisbon was holding her sister in opposition to her will inside the home.

In accordance with court docket information, Juma advised her mother, Laurie Younger, in her FaceTime name that Brisbon was standing inside her room at the hours of darkness and needed her mom to inform him to get out, which she did. Juma then screamed, “Mother, he has a gun,” court docket information say. Then, the decision was ended.

Deputies additionally arrived on the scene, and that is when gunshots had been heard from inside the house.

After Juma was killed, Brisbon got here exterior and was arrested.

Juma was a scholar at Nimitz Excessive College and had simply joined the cheerleading workforce, her household mentioned.

She needed to comply with in her sister’s footsteps and be part of the navy.

Her sister remembered Juma as somebody who introduced pleasure to the household.

“She was actually stunning and had a ravishing soul and simply needed to exit and luxuriate in life on a regular basis,” mentioned Keryca Harmon, Juma’s 19-year-old sister. “That is all she ever needed.”

Juma’s household arrange a GoFundMe to assist with the funeral bills.

Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff’s Workplace Murder Unit haven’t launched a potential motive for the capturing.