Woman arrested in case of burning man’s body

A 31-year-old woman accused in the January slaying of a Las Vegas man, whose burning body was dumped in northwest Arizona, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center last week, jail records show.

Majunique Brown faces several charges including murder with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a deadly weapon. She was booked Saturday at the county jail on $950,000 bail.

Brown and Marshan Bowden, 22, were arrested in New Orleans by FBI agents in January in connection with the stabbing death of Jason Byes, whom authorities think was kidnapped and possibly killed at an apartment complex near downtown Las Vegas.

Bowden was not at the county jail Thursday night, records indicate.

Las Vegas police said the pair used Byes’ car to transport his body to Kingman, Ariz., before driving to New Orleans.

At 1:30 a.m. Jan. 7, a security guard at the Hidden Village apartments, 1825 E. Lewis Ave., saw two people near a man on the ground who was bleeding, according to an arrest warrant issued for Bowden by Las Vegas police. The people told the security guard the man had tripped and split his head, the report said.

Shortly after 7 a.m., the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to a body on the side of a road by a motorist. About 90 minutes later, an Arizona trooper stopped a black Nissan Maxima — owned by Byes — speeding east on Interstate 40. The trooper said the man and woman in the car were nervous. The woman was bleeding from a laceration on her hand, and she gave the trooper a bag of what appeared to be marijuana.

The report said the trooper believed blood found in the car came from the woman’s wound. The trooper released them both and cited Bowden for speeding.

When questioned by detectives in New Orleans, Brown told them she was partying in Las Vegas but had been picked up by Bowden in Tucson, Ariz.

Bowden then told the detectives that on Jan. 6 he arranged a $1,700, 5-pound marijuana sale with Byes.

The two planned to meet at the Hidden Village apartments.

The arrest warrant report said when Bowden went to the complex, he saw Brown trying to put Byes into a car trunk. Byes was screaming, “I’m dying, call the police.”

Bowden told detectives he helped Brown, then stopped at a gas station, bought a gas can and filled it at a pump. He and Brown later pulled over on an Interstate 40 offramp and dumped Byes’ body.

Bowden told detectives he looked in the rear-view mirror “as Brown stood by the victim’s body as the body was ‘blazing.’ ”

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@review journal.com or 702-383-4638.