Motive Still Sought in Teen’s Slaying

Nearly four months after Melinda Brown disappeared, police say they are still searching for a motive in the killing of the 18-year-old whose body was found by hunters in the Los Padres National Forest.

Brown’s body was found Nov. 27 with a gunshot wound in the torso, 10 days after her family filed a missing-persons report and placed fliers around town with her photo.

Darryl Brown, Melinda’s father, said sheriff’s deputies have not provided him with any details on their investigation.

“They probably don’t want me going over there and blowing the [suspect’s] head off. . . . They told me there’s only a couple of people who knew what happened that night, and they want to get it all under wraps before they say anything.”

Melinda Brown, who had attended Simi Valley’s adult education school, was last seen about 10 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Stearns Mobil station on Cochran Street, where she called her father from a pay telephone to tell him she would be home around 10:30 p.m.