http://www.purcellregister.com/article-display.asp?
idnum=2734
News Article
April 27, 2006
Karanja Brown, Underwood were high school classmates
Brown committed murder in 1999 then committed suicide
The Purcell Register (405) 527-2126
Purcell, OK -- A second murder has been linked to the
Purcell High School
class of 1998.
Purcell police said the first was a 1999 murder suicide
involving Karanja
Irungu Brown and Sandy Lagarda-Chavira.
Two classmates, the late Brown, and Kevin Ray Underwood,
have been accused
of committing murder.
High school officials said Brown did not graduate with the
class in 1998, a
class of 70 students.
Ironically, both of the accused had placed the bodies of
their victims
inside their bedroom closet.
Brown was accused of killing 20-year-old Lagarda-Chavira, a
1997 PHS
graduate. Her body was discovered at the Stonewall
Apartments in January
1999.
The next day 20-year-old Brown was found in a vehicle in the
Lexington
Cemetery. He was dead from an apparent self-inflicted
gunshot wound to the
head.
At the time of the deaths, officials reported Brown and
Chavira were living
together. They had one child.
Chavira’s body was found wrapped in a blanket inside the
closet. She had
been stabbed with different knives and a screwdriver.
The second murder involving the PHS class occurred April 12.
Underwood, a stocker at an Oklahoma City grocery store, is
being held in the
McClain County jail without bond. He is accused of brutally
killing Jamie
Rose Bolin, 10, of Purcell.
Rose’s body was found inside a sealed tub in the bedroom
closet of Underwood
’s apartment.
Officials discovered where Underwood chronicled his feelings
and thoughts on
several different Internet Web sites, including when murder
affected his
family.
On one occasion, he mentioned only having cried at one
funeral in his life,
the funeral of his murdered uncle, Randal Underwood.
The murder occurred in Moore in September 1997. Randal
Underwood’s wife,
Janice, was convicted of the murder.
Underwood was charged with first-degree murder April 17. A
police affidavit
said Underwood confessed to the crime.
On April 18, a gag order for attorneys and law enforcement
was issued in the
case.
The Purcell resident’s attorneys are now preparing to make a
request to the
court for a mental competency examination for their client.
In the course of the investigation, officials learned
Underwood was taking
Lexapro. He had also been prescribed Zoloft at some point
prior to the other
medication.
Both drugs are used to treat depression, anxiety, panic
disorder,
posttraumatic stress syndrome, social phobia and excessive
compulsive
disorder.
State prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.
The prosecutor
said the crime was heinous and cruel and that Underwood
would present a
continued threat to society.
Underwood’s preliminary hearing conference is set for May 3
at 9 a.m.
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