Brake’s arraignment is set for 2:30 p.m. Dec 29.

Brake was arrested Oct. 16 for allegedly beating a prostitute in Grand Rapids. He became a suspect in the quadruple homicide after a gun was discovered during the arrest, matching the 40-caliber Glock handgun that was used in the quadruple homicide.

“He was found in possession of the 40-caliber Glock Model 27 that was used in the crimes,” said Ron Frantz, the lead prosecutor in the case. “It was owned … by the defendant, seized from his home and he insists no one used it but him.”

Brown, 18; her boyfriend Jeremy Zimmer, 20; Zimmer’s brother Tyler, 17; and his mother Sharmaine Zimmer, 52; were found dead in the Zimmers’ Wright Township home Sept. 29.

A medical examiner’s report stated Brown died of blunt force trauma while the Zimmers had been shot with .40-caliber bullets. The Zimmers’ home has been set on fire in order to cover up the murders, the report said.

Ottawa County Sheriff’s Det. Lt. Tom Knapp, the lead investigator on the case, testified he personally had interviewed Brake twice after his initial arrest and asked Brake about his guns.

“He said he owns the guns and does not let people borrow them,” Knapp said. “I asked if he loaned them to anyone or if anyone else had shot the guns, and he said, ‘No.’”

Brake’s defense attorney, Paul McDonagh, said he didn’t want to comment on the case at this stage.

Michigan State Police Det. Lt. Jeffery Crump, the supervisor of the Michigan State Police’s forensic laboratory in Grand Rapids, said he analyzed the cartridge casings from the Wright Township homicides and the two casings found when Brake was arrested by Grand Rapids police. He said after analyzing the three cartridge casings found at the Zimmer home and two other cartridge casings, it was clear all five were fired by the same gun.

“The marks you see are left by the breach face of the firearm,” Crump said. “Since they are individual to each gun, it allows me to say these were all fired by the same firearm.”

Crump testified that the gun’s firing pin had been tampered with after those five casings had been discharged, since the test bullets that were used to compare in the crime lab were exact matches except for the pin.

Knapp said he also had discussed Brake’s relations with the Zimmer family. Brake had lived next door to the Zimmers during his childhood and had moved in with them at one point to finish his eighth-grade year, after his parents divorced.

Knapp said Brake had told him that he had not had any contact with the Zimmers since moving out of their home. Although he knew much about the Zimmers’ lives since he left, he said it was because his brother – who still lived in the area – would tell him.

“He indicated he got on well with Sharmaine and Rob Zimmer,” Knapp said. “He even went so far as to say they were better parents than his parents.”