PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 33-year-old Chester County man was arrested Thursday and charged with the murder of Jennifer Brown, the Montgomery County mother whose body was found in Royersford last month, two weeks after she was reported missing.
Anthony Blair Watts, 33, of Spring City, was taken into custody Thursday morning. He appeared in Chester County court for a formal arraignment on harassment charges for an unrelated matter.
At a preliminary arraignment Thursday afternoon, he was charged with first-degree murder, theft and other charges. He was accused of killing Brown, 43, then burying her body behind an industrial building in Royersford two days later.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele credits detectives for piecing everything together.
“As well as all the good folks in the Limerick and Royersford communities, who called in tips and who searched for Jennifer and who cared so much about the loss of this mother,” Steele said.
Watts was Brown's business partner. They were planning on opening a restaurant in late January.
In an earlier interview with NBC10, he said he saw Brown on the afternoon of Jan. 3 and picked up her son that day, but then he didn’t hear from her. She was reported missing the next day.
Brown was the subject of a region-wide search after she did not pick her son up at the bus stop.
After she disappeared, Watts told investigators he offered to take her son overnight to "give her a break" the day before she was reported missing but never heard from her again.
On Jan. 4, Brown’s car was still in her driveway, and her keys, purse and work phone were all in her house. Her body was found partially buried behind an industrial building near Fifth Avenue and Chestnut Street in Royersford on Jan. 18.
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Steele says a cadaver dog sniffed out two cars belonging to Watts.
He said surveillance video and cell phone data show a car belonging to Watts’ wife and his phone were near where Brown’s body was found at the time they believe she was buried.
Steele said it’s been a long, in-depth investigation and added that, in terms of the restaurant Brown and Watts planned to open, the lease was never signed and a down payment was never made.
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Steele says there were $17,000 in cash transfers from Brown’s accounts to Watts’ restaurant after they believe she was dead.
“We've outlined a scam restaurant where he was getting money from somebody and you get to a point where you know the jig is going to be up," Steele said.
Steele says in an autopsy, they didn’t find a knife or bullet wound but did find three broken ribs consistent with compression asphyxia, which happens when someone can’t breathe because they’re crushed or squeezed.
Watt’s lawyer, Christopher Mandracchia, said in a statement his client is not a killer and did not murder Brown or steal money from her. He added that the evidence is circumstantial, collected by police and “fixated” on building a case against Watts, rather than finding the actual killer.
"We intend on continuing to release information on our social media accounts and will be presenting a rebuttal to the statement of the District Attorney’s Office that mischaracterizes this incident and the facts," Mandracchia said. "Blair Watts is not a killer and did not commit the crimes alleged."
NBC10, a broadcast partner of KYW Newsradio, was the first to report the arrest.