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Press Release

Red Lake Woman Charged With Murder

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota


MINNEAPOLIS—Last week in federal court in Bemidji, a 25-year-old Red Lake woman made her initial appearance in connection with the murder of Byron James Lussier. On July 11, 2013, Alison Ann Brown was charged via a criminal complaint with one count of murder, following her arrest. She remains in custody.

According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, at approximately 4:22 a.m. July 4, 2013, officers were called to Lussier’s residence on a report that he was stabbed. When they arrived, officers found the 51-year-old victim lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds. He was taken to the Red Lake Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses told officers that Brown and Lussier got into an argument, and that Brown stabbed Lussier with a kitchen knife. After being separated from Lussier, Brown then fled the scene on foot.

If convicted, Brown faces a potential maximum penalty of life in prison. Any sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge. This case is the result of an investigation by the Red Lake Tribal Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Clifford B. Wardlaw.

Because the Red Lake Indian Reservation is a federal-jurisdiction reservation, some of the crimes that occur there are investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. Those cases are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.

 

 

Updated April 30, 2015