Texas father fights to keep man who killed his daughter in prison

AUSTIN, Texas - A father is fighting to keep the man who killed his daughter in prison. Fifteen years ago, Amanda Brown’s boyfriend fatally shot her in Southwest Austin.

Brown was adopted out of San Marcos. She was born with a heart murmur and had three open-heart surgeries by the time she turned 3 and a half years old.

"The Lord didn't choose to take her then, and he allowed her to thrive, and so she was a survivor from birth," Amanda Brown’s father Len Brown said.

At just 18 years old, Amanda Brown’s life was taken.

"It's like, no, no, no, this can't be true. You can't be telling me the truth. This can't be true," Len Brown said.

In April 2008, Len Brown said his daughter was in an abusive relationship. She had plans to get away, saved money, and packed her things, but, "She discovered that the money that she had saved to pay for the bus and leave Austin, he had found it, and he had taken it," Len Brown said.

Len Brown said when she confronted him about it, "he put the barrel of the gun up to the right side of her head and pulled the trigger."

Nineteen-year-old Bryan Morris pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.

"This was just cold-blooded murder," Len Brown said.

In 2018, Morris was eligible for parole, so Brown went before the parole board.

"It perpetuates the victimization of the families that are at their most vulnerable," Len Brown said.

Brown said he had to do it and he pleaded to keep Morris behind bars.

"You want them to like your loved one. You want them to know that they're not a statistic, that they were a real living, breathing human being, that they deserve justice. You come away from there feeling like you just had to beg, you had to beg them to just do the right thing," Len Brown said.

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His efforts were successful, and parole was denied.

Just last year, Brown went back to Huntsville to do it all over again. Parole was denied once again, and Brown will go back later this year.

"I'll go back a third time and a fourth time and a fifth time if I have to, but I will continue to fight for my daughter's honor and integrity," Len Brown said.

He said he also wants to send a message to those who may be a victim of domestic violence.

"You have that choice. A lot of people say, well, I am stuck in this relationship. I'm stuck in this situation, and you are not. There are agencies out there that can help you. There are ways. There are people that are there that can help you escape that abuse. You can break that cycle. Don't keep saying if I can only fix him. It's not your job to fix him. It's your job. To protect yourself," Len Brown said.

The year Amanda Brown was killed, statistics showed 136 women were killed by an intimate partner. The number is rising. In 2022, 179 women were killed.

"If I lived in a perfect world and said that this would never, ever happen again, it's almost a pipe dream because I know that it will and that's the sad fact about it," Len Brown said. 

Brown said his daughter has missed out on so many things because of it.

"Her possibly getting married or not getting married, her having children of her own or choosing to adopt like she was, but she wasn't given that opportunity," Len Brown said.

If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, visit SAFEAustin.org or text 737-888-7233. Help is available 24/7.

Anyone can write letters on behalf of families or the public. To make your voice heard, email victim.svc@tdcj.texas.gov.

If you’d like to write a letter on behalf of the Brown family, Len Brown said to include this information in your letter:

NAME: MORRIS, BRYAN

SID: 07332973 

TDC: 01589274 

UNIT: ELLIS      

PAROLE ELIG DATE: 10-17-2018