Michael James Brown was 64 when he was found dead at his Hammond, Illinois, home on January 26, 2021. He was discovered in his garage with multiple gunshot wounds; the death was classified as a homicide. Authorities say Brown had been checking his home security footage after seeing three people peering into his garage windows the morning he died, and that led to identification of suspects.

Several arrests followed. Blayton Cota, 19 of Granite City, was arrested October 4, 2021, on a $1 million bond. Two Springfield teenagers, then 16 and 17, were also charged; the younger was taken into custody September 30, 2021, and the older on October 5, 2021. One 17-year-old suspect, Jerome Schmidt, was convicted of first-degree murder in a bench trial and later sentenced to 50 years in prison; the other juvenile later pleaded guilty to burglary.

Brown was a US Air Force and Illinois Army National Guard veteran, known locally for his mechanical skills and his dedication to family. Does anyone in the Hammond area have information about Brown, the people seen at his garage, or the events of that morning?