Family Dollar Murders: Former Employee Charged on 8 Counts (VIDEO)
A former employee at a Detroit Family Dollar where two 20-year-olds were killed earlier this month has been arrested and charged with murder.
Lavere Douglas-Lee Bryant, 34, was arraigned in a courtroom on Wednesday afternoon and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He also faces six additional charges after police arrested him last week of a robbery that took place at a Family Dollar in Dearborn, Michigan. During the robbery one of the employees, Joseph Orlando, was shot and killed. A second employee, Brenna Machus, was abducted from the store. Her body was found shot to death days later in a nearby dumpster.
"I did not murder anybody," Bryant said in court on Wednesday according to The News Herald.
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Bryant had a violent arrest history and had served in prison at least twice. In 1999, Bryant was convicted of breaking into a home and sexually assaulting a woman. He served a year in prison. Again in 2001, Bryant was convicted of assault to commit great bodily harm after he picked up a prostitute and stabbed her in the neck. The woman was able to escape.
Police arrested Bryant just days after Machus' body was discovered, following a tip from someone who saw surveillance of the robbery and recognized Bryant as the suspect. Bryant was allegedly caught destroying evidence when police arrived to arrest the man, according to Fox News.
Bryant was described by the Michigan Department of Corrections as a "problem inmate" who remained under maximum security for the entire duration of his sentence and was never granted parole, according to Fox News. Bryant is a former employee of the Family Dollar who was fired last year for unspecified reasons. He was held last week for failing to register his address as sex offender until police could complete a full investigation into the murders. He is expected back in court on July 31.
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