A Pennsylvania woman’s lifelong dream of opening a restaurant turned deadly when she was betrayed by her business partner

Jennifer Brown

Jennifer Brown.Credit : Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office

 

Known as an attentive mother to her 8-year-old son Noah, Jennifer Brown was nowhere to be seen on the afternoon of Jan. 4, 2023, when Noah got off the school bus at their townhouse in suburban Limerick Township, Pa.

“When I heard that, I knew something was really wrong,” recalls Brown’s best friend, Tiffany Barron.

Although Barron held out hope that the mother of two would be found alive, two weeks later Brown’s body was discovered buried in dirt under a pile of pallets at a warehouse in nearby Royersford.

Flyer about missing person Jennifer Brown

Jennifer Brown’s missing poster from 2023.

An autopsy showed Brown, 43, had broken ribs and likely died of asphyxiation. Barron, 47, who worked with detectives searching for her missing friend, says she is still in a state of shock: “Nobody deserves to be murdered and discarded like a piece of trash.”

As in most women’s homicide cases, police began their probe by contacting men close to the victim, including Brown’s business partner Blair Watts, then 32, who had called 911 when she went missing, and the married neighbor with whom Brown was having an affair, Brian Bathey, 49.

Royersford, PA Police found the body of Jennifer Brown in an industrial park. January 18, 2023

Area where Jennifer Brown’s body was found. WTXF/FOX 29 Philadelphia

Speaking with police, Bathey admitted that he was jealous of Jennifer’s close relationship with Watts—and that he and Jennifer argued over it days before she vanished.

Now, the unraveling of Brown’s murder mystery, leading to the arrest of Watts, the co-owner of a new restaurant Brown had invested in, is featured in “The Truth About Blair,” the April 6 episode of People Magazine Investigates on Investigation Discovery.

Jennifer Brown and Brian Bathey

Brian Bathey and Jennifer Brown.Courtesy Brian Barron

“Blair was a con man,” says Bathey. “He played her.”

Born in Philadelphia and raised on the Jersey Shore, Jennifer, who also had an older son, Jordan, worked in sales at an electrical distribution and services company but always dreamed of starting her own restaurant.

Jennifer Brown murder: Broken hair clips

Fragments of a hair clip found in Jennifer Brown’s house and at the burial site.Montgomery County District Attorney

That chance came in 2022 when she reconnected with Watts, a former neighbor who had previously operated a food truck specializing in soul food. The friends teamed up to open an eatery of their own, Birdie’s Kitchen, in Phoenixville.

“They went from strangers to acquaintances to business partners really quickly,” recalls Bathey.

Jennifer Brown murder: Brian Watts red Jeep car.

Dirt stains in Blair Watts’ SUV matched soil at site where Jennifer Brown was buried.Montgomery County District Attorney

As an investor Jennifer upheld her part of the contract she and Watts signed on Aug. 28, 2022, sending payments totaling $14,000 over the next few months as Watts reportedly leased a space and began refurbishing it.

Seemingly out of funds, Watts threatened to sue the property owners. “You get to a point where the jig is going to be up,” Montgomery County district attorney Kevin Steele said.

Unbeknownst to Jennifer, however, Birdie’s Kitchen was just a pipe dream. While she thought the grand opening was slated for late January 2023, a lease had not been signed, and the property owners were looking elsewhere for a tenant.

Suspect Blair Watts outside the courtroom in Montgomery County. Preliminary hearing March 2023, Limerick Township.

Blair Watts in court in March 2023.Carl Chester Jr./Media News Group/Getty

Yet on Jan. 4, 2023—the day he reported Jennifer missing—Watts showed up at the property and said he had funds to pay for the lease.

Where did Watts get the money? Investigators tracked cash transfers totaling $17,000 from Jennifer’s accounts to Watts’s on the afternoon of Jan. 3, 2023 — hours after they believe Watts killed Brown at her home in Limerick Township.

Jennifer Brown and Noah

Jennifer Brown and her son, Noah.Courtesy Diane Brehm

Coupled with other evidence uncovered by authorities, that was enough for police to arrest Watts on suspicion of first-degree murder on Feb. 9, 2023. He was convicted later that year and sentenced to life in prison.

Jennifer’s son Noah is now being raised by a relative.

Barron still hasn’t come to terms with the loss: “I can’t understand how someone could do something so cruel to someone so good.”