Brown
One week after a fatal house fire in Wright Township, investigators still have questions about the death of an MSU sophomore and three others.
Katherine A. Brown was found dead with her boyfriend Jeremy Zimmer, his mother Sharmaine and his brother Tyler in the Zimmers’ house Sept. 29, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
But what was originally viewed as a tragic house fire became a homicide case once autopsy reports came back. Investigators began searching for more clues Wednesday once they discovered the four victims were dead before the fire began.
Officers had received hundreds of tips through silent observer programs by Friday morning, said Russ Barkow, a father figure to Katherine since her dad’s death about two years ago.
Stories circulated during the weekend that some of the victims had been shot, but police cannot confirm any information.
“I don’t know if it’s really healthy to spin a bunch of tales,” said Ben Barkow, an agribusiness management senior who was a friend of Brown. “Nobody can confirm it right now.”
Brown, an 18-year old agribusiness management sophomore, had traveled to her home in Conklin and attended Coopersville High School’s homecoming Sept. 26. She graduated from Coopersville in 2007.
On Sept. 27, she attended a wedding in Ohio with her mom, brother and Russ Barkow. She was planning on eating dinner at the Zimmer house Sept. 28,before getting a ride back to MSU, Russ Barkow said.
The fire happened just before 1 a.m. Sept. 29, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
Brown’s roommate, hospitality business sophomore Claire Stevenson, said she first heard about the fire when Brown’s mom called around 4 a.m. Sept. 29, looking for her daughter.
Stevenson had gotten a text message from Brown saying she was staying at Zimmer’s house.
“I guess I was the only one who knew she was staying at her boyfriend’s house that night,” she said.
Investigators originally did not find Brown’s body, Stevenson said. It was about six hours later that it was discovered.
“She had decided to stay over and leave the next morning, and the rest is history. She was there,” Russ Barkow said.
Brown’s friends remember her as a funny, laid-back girl who was fulfilling her dream of attending MSU.
“(She) was somebody who was just effervescent,” Ben Barkow said.
“She just shone from within a lot of times, and she had a personality that would make you smile.”
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