Jason Derek Brown (born July 1, 1969) is an American fugitive wanted for first degree murder and armed robbery in Phoenix, Arizona.

On November 29, 2004, Brown allegedly shot and killed Robert Keith Palomares, a 24-year-old armored car guard outside a movie theater and then fled with stolen money.

Between 1990 and 2004, Brown resided at several places in Orange County, California, including Dana Point and the Corona del Mar neighborhood of Newport Beach.

[citation needed] Brown owned two businesses, Toys Unlimited and On the Doorstep Advertising, both of which he ran out of his home in Salt Lake City, Utah.

[7] He had been employed as a toy salesman and golf equipment importer[8] to support his luxurious lifestyle and expensive tastes in such things as cars, motorbikes, and boats.

[6][9] Brown portrayed himself as a wealthy man despite the fact that by 2004 he had defaulted on at least one large loan and racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

[9] In November 2004, days after buying a .45-caliber Glock pistol, Brown took a firearms instruction course at Totally Awesome Guns and Range in Salt Lake City.

During a practice shooting days before the murder, Brown accidentally fired a round into a truck, for which he later paid its owner approximately $1,300 in damages.

[6] On November 29, 2004, Robert Keith Palomares, a 24-year-old armored car guard, was carrying weekend deposits outside an AMC theater at 4915 E. Ray Road in Phoenix.

[2] Accordingly, he was soon considered the prime suspect in the case,[12] and an arrest warrant was issued on December 4 by Maricopa County Superior Court, charging Brown with first degree murder and armed robbery.

[9] Brown apparently used his credit card at a gas station in southern Orange County and traveled to San Diego near the Mexican border and then to Portland, Oregon.

The indictment claimed that he tampered with evidence when he deep-cleaned his brother's BMW in early December, after having driven the vehicle to California from a Las Vegas storage facility.

[5][9][10] The FBI had asked him whether he knew of any storage lockers that his younger brother had in Las Vegas; David attested that he did not, but prosecutors showed that he did.

This story also inspired writer and director Matthew Gentile with his feature film debut, American Murderer, which was released theatrically in 2022 by Lionsgate and Universal and starred Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, and Jacki Weaver.