GUILTY NE - Michael Brinkman, 50, murdered in his Omaha home, 23 Dec 2016

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Babbakins said:
This is the same thing I thought...sounds like the family want their inheritance early [emoji35]

RIP Michael [emoji257]


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If I am LE right now, I'd be looking real hard at the son. Who were his friends? Any drug stuff/dealing? Internet activities?
I think I mentioned earlier that I live about six blocks from the crime scene. There has been NO increased police presence evident since then in the area. I don't think OPD is buying this was random.
 
Snick1946 said:
Is what a fact? That she is a 'person of interest'?

If we are looking at this to mean for the purposes of discussion, then yes I would think she would be. That does not mean nor did I mean to suggest there was any hard evidence being looked at to implicate her.

FWIW I am starting to lean away from this as a hit to get his money; it may well have been what it appeared at first to have been- a robbery. But.. why him specifically?
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Yes, I was asking whether the statement "she is a person of interest" was something that had been stated by police, since that's something that we typically wait for so we can openly sleuth people. I hadn't seen it elsewhere so I was wondering what I missed. Thanks.
 
Really wish there was more info about what went down inside the house. At first it was reported he was shot in the doorway now they're saying he was in his bedroom. The GF said they held a gun to her head. Neither the GF nor son witnessed the shooting. So....how did the perps get into the house? Were they let in or did they force their way in? Did one hold the GF while the other chased or forced michael into the bedroom? Where was the son during all this? Why did they kill Michael yet leave 2 witnesses alive?
I understand LE has to protect the integrity of the investigation and keep some details out of the public. We just have such limited info with so many gaps it is hard to even begin to make a determination of what happened.
I assume LE is looking closely at former employees of Michaels who may have known he just sold his business for that much money. That's where my mind is going right now.
 
gaia227 said:
Really wish there was more info about what went down inside the house. At first it was reported he was shot in the doorway now they're saying he was in his bedroom. The GF said they held a gun to her head. Neither the GF nor son witnessed the shooting. So....how did the perps get into the house? Were they let in or did they force their way in? Did one hold the GF while the other chased or forced michael into the bedroom? Where was the son during all this? Why did they kill Michael yet leave 2 witnesses alive?
I understand LE has to protect the integrity of the investigation and keep some details out of the public. We just have such limited info with so many gaps it is hard to even begin to make a determination of what happened.
I assume LE is looking closely at former employees of Michaels who may have known he just sold his business for that much money. That's where my mind is going right now.
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From what I have read, Michael was shot while sanding in the doorway, not sure what happened next, perhaps the perps entered the house as the wife/gf said they put a gun to her head, apparently they then left. Michael was helped into a bedroom and onto a bed while LE/ambulance was called.
 
This guy has gang connections and a prior rap sheet. Somehow it is not making sense to me that he and the other guy drove clear out to the edge of town- where they'd stand out- to do a random home invasion robbery. This is the sort of person you get when you pay an intermediary for a hit. If so we will find out soon once this guy and the other- when they find him- get questioned, turn on each other and then spill on how they were recruited, if that happened.

Many in our community will sleep better tonight. Some person or persons close to the victim might not.
 
Sorry to repeat myself. This whole thing just smells strange to me. Two black males with criminal records drive all the way out to far west Omaha, down a dead end street, knock on a stranger's door then pull out guns and demand money?

Mr Brinkman's family are making public statements thanking God that it is 'all over'. A family spokesman was calling the arrest an 'answer to prayer'. Pardon me for being cynical- I am not posting where my mind is going here but I think you can guess. Many people are assuming this is a neat end to this mystery. All I can say is, OPD homicide needs to follow the money, ask themselves who benefits here then check all their bank transactions and call records going back several months.
 
Well here we are over two weeks later and this story is still dead in local news media. The accused mn has been arraigned, then nothing. Usually I think a hearing would have been scheduled by now, unless I missed it nothing has happened. He is still being held.

I will be surprised if this was a simple robbery done in a random way. At the very least I wonder if the accused was a former employee of Mr Brinkman who somehow had the idea that he kept a lot of money in the house. Apparently LE is still looking for the second man involved. All very hush hush.
 
http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/bit...cle_1f59efc4-0f1c-11e7-aff8-47c2e64e0cef.html
Bite mark from piece of Texas toast leads police to suspect in southwest Omaha homicide
Mar 24, 2017
A bite mark on a piece of Raising Cane’s Texas toast led Omaha police to the man suspected of killing 50-year-old Michael Brinkman in southwest Omaha.
DNA taken from the toast matched 29-year-old LeAndre Jennings, Douglas County prosecutors said during a preliminary hearing Wednesday. An Omaha police detective testified that there is a 1 in 123 octillion chance that the DNA does not belong to Jennings. (An octillion is 1 followed by 27 zeros.)
Also found in the home were crinkle-cut fries, a small sauce container, a Santa Claus hat and three shell casings, Detective Larry Cahill testified.
[…]
According to Cahill’s testimony:
About 5:30 p.m. Dec. 23, Milius answered a knock on the door, thinking the vehicle outside belonged to a friend of Brinkman’s.
Milius was confronted by a person holding a gun and wearing a Halloween mask. She screamed; then, as she backed up, she asked what the person wanted.
The masked man pointed the gun at Milius and, in a deep voice, replied “Money” as he entered the house. He then waved another masked person into the home.
[…]
Before the two masked people hurried out of the house, Milius heard one of them say, “Let’s go. I got it.”
Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley asked Cahill if anything had been stolen from the house.
Cahill said nothing appeared to be missing. A wallet containing $1,700 in cash was found in the kitchen after the shooting.
[…]
It was the second time police had heard Jennings’ name, Cahill said. Surveillance video from the house of one of Brinkman’s neighbors showed a white, newer-model Dodge Durango in the area before and after the slaying. After checking with local car rental agencies, police found that a white Dodge Durango had been rented by Jennings’ girlfriend, Cahill said.
When police interviewed the girlfriend, Cahill said, she told them she couldn’t remember who had borrowed the SUV from her but said it was possible that it was “Lee Jennings.”
[…]
 
Still nothing. The alleged second man still seems to be out there, if he exists. The story has vanished from local news sites as might be expected for a six month old murder.

I have to assume LE knows what they are dong. I just do not believe this to have been an act of simple robbery. It makes no sense. Something else was going on. Hopefully we will know someday.
 
I have been wondering what was going on with this case as well. The arrest and then nothing....
 
West Omaha murder trial opens with evidence of what was left: DNA on a piece of Texas toast
SEP 19, 2018
[...]
Brinkman’s girlfriend, Milius, had mentioned to police that Brinkman had recently had a falling out with a longtime friend — an older white man who had become threatening.

And she told police that she heard the fat gunman tell the other one “I got it, let’s go,” and assumed he was talking about a bank bag that Brinkman sometimes carried.

But Riley noted what the robbers left behind in the house. An envelope with 13 $100 bills — which Beadle suggested Brinkman was using to shop for Christmas gifts. A safe, opened only after Brinkman’s death, that had $200,000 in cash in it.

“I’m sure everyone leaves $200,000 in a safe,” Riley scoffed, drawing an objection from prosecutors. “Where did that come from? And what was done by police to try to find out where it came from? Zippo.”
[...]
 
Killer convicted thanks to DNA on dropped Texas toast is sentenced to life in prison
  • Nov 29, 2018
[...]
Michael Brinkman was fatally shot at his home and in front of his teenage son nearly two years ago after two men in clown masks came to the house with the intention of robbing him.

LeAndre Jennings, who prosecutors believe was the shooter, was ordered Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Douglas County District Court Judge Kimberly Miller Pankonin sentenced 31-year-old Jennings to life in prison plus 70 to 85 years. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and two weapons counts in October.
[...]
Prosecutors have said they know the second man’s identity but haven’t charged him because there’s no physical evidence that places him at the scene.

Jennings, however, left a crucial item behind — a piece of Texas toast with a large bite mark out of it. Analysts tested the DNA on the toast, and the odds that it belonged to anyone but Jennings were 1 in 123 octillion. (An octillion has 27 zeroes.)

However, Jennings still said he was innocent and Public Defender Tom Riley said he plans to explore Jennings’ right to appeal. Ignoring Riley’s advice to not comment, Jennings offered condolences to the Brinkman family but maintained that he had nothing to do with it.

“I’m sorry they had to go through this unforeseen event that took place,” Jennings said. “But I’m claiming my innocence. I did not commit this crime. I do not have knowledge of who committed this crime.”
[...]
 
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