'Calling Cards' Helped Track Down College Student's Alleged Killer

The Seattle man accused of killing a Livingston teen during an alleged brutal crime spree that may now include four homicides left behind a number of clues that helped authorities trace him to a makeshift campsite in West Orange last month, according to a Star-Ledger report.

Ali Muhammad Brown, 29, has been accused of first-degree murder and other charges in the killing of Brendan Tevlin, a 19-year-old Seton Hall Prep grad, during an apparent robbery attempt on June 25 at a traffic light in West Orange,

Brown was arrested on July 18 in the woods off Mount Pleasant Avenue in West Orange with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun that authorities said was used to kill Tevlin.

The gun also matched the one used to kill two gay men on June 1 in Seattle and has now been linked to another Seattle killing in April, just two weeks after Brown’s wife legally purchased and registered the weapon, The Star-Ledger reported. Brown is expected to be charged this week for the April slaying, according to the report.

Four days after Tevlin was killed, authorities realized Brown was in New Jersey when he left behind a handprint during an alleged carjacking attempt on June 25 in Point Pleasant Beach, the Star-Ledger reported.

Brown also left behind items at a nearby convenience store where security video also captured a clear image of him, according to The Star-Ledger.

“He wasn’t too tidy,” an Ocean County authority told The Star-Ledger. “He left a few calling cards.”

Brown then returned to one of his two West Orange campsites between Mount Pleasant and Northfield avenues where he allegedly robbed a man at gunpoint and stuffed the victim in the trunk of his vehicle on July 10.

It remains unclear how Brown made the cross-country trip from Seattle to West Orange or how he knew the two teens also charged in Tevlin’s killing. All three pleaded not guilty last week to the charges. Additional arrests are also possible, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said last week.

Brown, a registered sex offender who is accused of firing 10 shots into Tevlin’s SUV, has been charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

Jeremy Villagran, 19, and Eric Williams, 18, both of West Orange, have each been charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

Brown has been remanded to the Essex County Jail in lieu of $5 million bail and may be extradited to Washington where he could face the death penalty. Villagran and Williams have each been held on $1 million bail.