SNL Writer's Sister Allegedly Murdered in LA Amid Blackmail and Restraining Orders
Christina Downer, sister of SNL writer Jimmy Fowlie, was allegedly killed in September 2025. Her boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend have been charged in connection with her death.
Blackmail, threats and a missing cat: the tangled case behind Christina Downer's alleged murder
Court documents filed in Los Angeles have revealed a web of threats, blackmail accusations and broken relationships in the months leading up to the alleged murder of Christina Downer, whose disappearance drew public attention after her brother — Saturday Night Live writer Jimmy Fowlie — appealed for help finding her, latimes.com reports.
Downer is believed to have been killed on or around 19 September 2025. Her body has not been recovered. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced on Monday that her longtime boyfriend, actor and aspiring R&B artist Delorean Bijon Brandon, 41, has been charged with her murder. Kaylee Markowski, 34, described by prosecutors as Brandon's former on-again, off-again girlfriend, has been charged with accessory after the fact for allegedly helping dispose of the body.
"More than a year has passed since Christina Downer vanished and her family and friends have dealt with uncertainty amid the profound loss of someone they loved so much," Hochman said in a news release. "Although Ms. Downer has not been located, we are charging two individuals today who are accused of playing a role in her death and disappearance and we will hold them accountable for their actions."
A restraining order filed — then withdrawn
Weeks before Downer's alleged killing, Brandon filed a petition on 2 September 2025 seeking a restraining order against Markowski. In that filing, he alleged Markowski became violent when he attempted to end their relationship and move out of her home to be with Downer, including threatening to shoot him. Brandon cited alleged harassment dating back to early 2022, when he said Markowski keyed his car "because she was upset that I was with Christina."
Brandon also sought protection for Downer in the same petition, claiming Markowski had "tried to take jobs away from Christina" and sent emails and social media messages threatening her. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied the temporary restraining order on the day it was filed, pending a hearing scheduled for 23 September. On 18 September — one day before prosecutors allege Downer was murdered — Brandon filed a waiver and voluntarily withdrew the request, closing the case.
Downer's own petition: stolen keys, hidden cameras and a cat named Pumpkin
A year earlier, Downer herself had sought a restraining order against Markowski. In a petition filed 5 September 2024, Downer alleged that Markowski had been harassing her since Christmas Day 2023. She wrote that Markowski had directed racial slurs at her, threatened physical violence, stolen a spare key and had it copied, and threatened to break into her home.
Downer also alleged that Markowski had stolen a zip drive and used its contents to blackmail her, including sending a topless video of Downer to people she did not know. "Mentally, this has done irreparable damage," she wrote.
The petition also requested the return of her orange tabby cat, Pumpkin. Downer wrote that she had found the cat and that she and Brandon had agreed during a previous separation that the animal would stay with him while she was travelling. After Brandon moved back in with Markowski during that separation, Downer wrote, Markowski refused to return the cat. "I fear for his safety," she added.
Phone washes ashore, Airbnb searched
Downer was last seen in the Koreatown neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Just before Christmas last year, her ex-husband requested a welfare check after losing contact with her. Brandon told police she had moved out months earlier, leaving behind her car, her belongings and her dog.
By 22 December, her family feared the worst. Fowlie posted a missing person flier on his Instagram account, stating she had last been seen in Koreatown. In the months that followed, Downer's phone washed ashore on a Santa Monica beach, prompting the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division to take over the investigation.
Earlier this month, investigators searched an Airbnb property in Joshua Tree in connection with her disappearance. What, if anything, was found at the location has not been disclosed.
In an April social media post, Fowlie wrote that in the weeks before Downer went missing, her phone and social media accounts appeared to have been compromised. "The individual(s) in possession of her phone used it to hide the fact she was gone, to ask for money, and to create a false narrative that she was going 'off the grid,'" he wrote. "I believe that whoever is responsible is hoping to erase her in every way possible."
Additional charges against Brandon
Brandon faces additional charges unrelated to Downer's death. He is also charged with assaulting his wife — who is not named in the district attorney's news release — on two separate occasions in 2022. Court records show he also sought a restraining order against another woman that same year, alleging she had threatened to shoot him and his then-fiancée.
Both Brandon and Markowski were arrested last week and booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Bail was set at $2 million each. It is not clear whether either has legal representation. If convicted as charged, Brandon faces life in state prison; Markowski faces up to three years in county jail.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)