More than a year after Saturday Night Live writer Jimmy Fowlie’s sister, Christina Downer, vanished, her former boyfriend has been charged with her murder.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced on November 2, 2026, that Delorean Bijon Brandon has been charged with one count of murder and two felony counts of injuring a spouse. A codefendant, Kaylee Markowski, was hit with one felony charge of accessory after the fact.
“More than a year has passed since Christina Downer vanished and her family and friends have dealt with uncertainty amid the profound loss of someone they loved so much,” District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “Although Ms. Downer has not been located, we are charging two individuals today who are accused of playing a role in her death and disappearance and we will hold them accountable for their actions.”
Delorean Bijon Brandon Charged in Christina Downer’s Death
Authorities believe that Brandon killed Downer on or around September 19, 2025, and that Markowski, 34, allegedly helped dispose of her body. The DA’s office confirmed that Downer and Brandon were in a relationship at the time of her disappearance.
Brandon has also been charged with assaulting his wife on two separate occasions in 2022, prosecutors said.
The LAPD offered additional insight in a press release on Friday, October 30, explaining that Downer’s ex-husband requested a welfare check in December 2025 after he was unable to reach her for “an extended period of time.” Brandon allegedly told police that Downer had moved out months earlier and claimed she left behind all her belongings, including her vehicle and her dog.
Downer’s cell phone was later discovered “washed ashore at Santa Monica Beach,” and detectives from the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division took over the investigation.
It’s not currently clear whether Brandon or Markowski have entered pleas. The investigation remains ongoing.
Christina Downer Requested a Restraining Order Against Boyfriend’s Ex
In the months before her disappearance, Downer and her boyfriend were both tangled in court filings involving his ex-girlfriend. Court documents obtained by Us confirmed that Downer asked Los Angeles Superior Court for a temporary civil harassment restraining order in September 2024. (There is no suggestion that the 2024 or 2025 restraining order requests have any connection to Downer’s disappearance.)
In the filing, Downer accused the ex of harassing the couple from Christmas Day 2023 to March 2024 and again from July 2024 through September 2024.
“[She] threatened to beat me up, stole my spare key and copied it. Threatens to break into my home. Stole his zip drive and has been blackmailing me with the videos on the zip drive. Actually sent a topless video of me in my home to people I don’t know while attacking my reputation. Put AirTags on [my] boyfriend’s car. Calls from blocked numbers. Threatens to keep releasing personal videos from this stolen zip drive,” Downer wrote.
Downer argued that the alleged harassment “has done irreparable damage” from a mental health standpoint because it was “nonstop on a daily basis.”
“[There are] endless messages to me, my boyfriend or others attacking my character,” she wrote in her TRO petition.
Downer also asked for protection for her orange tabby cat, Pumpkin, who she said was in the ex’s possession at the time. “This is my cat with my boyfriend,” she clarified. “I found this cat and we decided during our first split that the cat would stay with him because I was traveling. He moved in with her and moved out a month ago, and she won’t give the cat back. I fear for his safety.”
The case was dismissed in October 2024 after Downer failed to attend a court hearing, and court documents had not been served to the ex.
Delorean Bijon Brandon Filed His Own Restraining Order Requests
Brandon filed domestic violence restraining orders against the same ex-girlfriend in July and September 2025 — just three months before Fowlie first went public about his missing sister. He claimed his ex threatened to shoot him, slashed his tire and sent harassing emails. Downer was named in the documents as someone who witnessed what happened.
He claimed in June 2025 that his ex “mentioned that if I returned to her property uninvited that she would shoot me in the head” and said she owned a BB gun.
“We were on and off in [a] relationship and every time I wanted to move on then she would get aggressive,” he wrote. “She was upset that I wanted to finally take [the] last of my belongings from her place because I was no longer living there and moved on with my life with Christina.”
In the 2025 filings, he referred to Downer as his significant other and someone he wanted protected under the TRO. “She writes us harassing emails all the time. And harassing job sites to get Christina not hired,” he wrote.
Both TRO requests were dismissed in August and September 2025 because Brandon did not appear in court and his ex had not been served.
When reached for comment, Brandon told Us: “I didn’t want to file those restraining orders at all against my [ex]. She (Christina) made me do it because she said that if I ever left her again then this (restraining order) would keep me away from my [ex].”
He added of Downer’s disappearance, “I’m just as worried about her disappearance, just as much as everyone else. I don’t have anything else to say about her, just that I miss her wherever she may be.”
Jimmy Fowlie Pleaded for Help Finding His Sister
Fowlie, who famously wrote SNL’s viral “Domingo” sketch, initially asked for the public’s help in December 2025.
“My sister has been missing and we are worried that she isn’t safe,” he wrote via Instagram. “Her married name is Downer but she may go by Christina Fowlie. Please share this so that if anyone has seen her, they can give any information to the police.”
SNL cast members Sarah Sherman and Chloe Fineman, Amy Schumer, Ariana Madix, Scheana Shay and Casey Wilson all offered Fowlie support in the wake of his sister’s disappearance.
On Christmas Eve 2025, Fowlie amplified the case again, revealing he had last spoken to Downer nearly a month earlier. “Christina is very attached to her dog Rex. He’s a min pin and if you see her chances are he’d be with her. Last seen in Koreatown. I heard from her on Nov 26th. She was active on social media up to Dec 15th.”
In April 2026, Fowlie shared a devastating update. “The LAPD has informed our family that Christina is no longer alive, and the case has officially transitioned from a missing person to a homicide investigation,” he wrote. “Our prayers for her to be found safely have transformed into prayers for the truth to be revealed and for those responsible to be held accountable.”
Fowlie added that he believed Downer’s phone and social media were “compromised” in the weeks before she disappeared. “The individual(s) in possession of her phone used it to hide the fact she was gone, to ask for money and to create a false narrative that she was going ‘off the grid,’” he wrote. “I am sharing this because I believe that whoever is responsible is hoping to erase her in every way possible.”
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
