Jury Deciding The Fate Of Man Accused Of Killing Limerick Mom

LIMERICK, PA —A Montgomery County jury began deliberations Tuesday afternoon in the first-degree murder trial of 33-year-old Blair Watts.

Watts is accused of killing Jennifer Brown, 43, a Limerick mother of two, who was reported missing on Jan. 3. Her body was discovered two weeks later by a passerby in a shallow grave at an industrial site in Royersford.

The jury did not reach a verdict Tuesday after deliberating for 90 minutes and will continue deliberations Wednesday in the trial before Judge William R. Carpenter.

Watts did not take the stand in his trial, which began on Dec. 6.

Brown suffered three broken ribs and died as a result of compression and asphyxia, according to Dr. Ian Hood, a Montgomery County forensic pathologist.

Prosecutors said Watts killed Brown in her home on Jan. 3. They presented evidence of a plastic hair clip that was embedded in a carpet where traces of human remains were found in Brown’s home. Pieces of the hair clip were also found in the shallow grave where Brown's body was found.

First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann told the panel in his closing statement that there is overwhelming evidence proving Watts killed Brown.

The prosecution presented evidence that Watts had Brown’s phone when $17,000 was transferred from her account to Watts' account.

Police said Watts and Brown were planning to open a restaurant, “Birdies Kitchen,” in Spring City.

Watt’s lawyer, Michael Coard, asked the panel to base their decision on the law, not sympathy for Brown, whom he described as a wonderful person, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Coard said the prosecution’s case was based solely on circumstantial evidence.

The last time Watts said he saw Brown was at 2 p.m. on Jan. 3, when they two shared stresses in their lives, Watts said in a police statement.

“She was depressed all the time; something wasn’t good there,” Watts said in the statement.

Watts said he offered to take Brown’s son, Noah, to sleep at his house. However, prosecutors said, Noah did not have a change of clothes or the medication he typically has with him during a sleepover.