Accused Limerick killer loses bid to suppress evidence at his upcoming trial

NORRISTOWN — Moments after a judge denied his bid to suppress alleged incriminating evidence from his trial, a Limerick Township man accused of killing a woman who was his business partner, professed his innocence, signaling he will continue to fight the homicide charges.

“Innocent and sticking to it,” Blair Anthony Watts responded to a reporter’s questions as he was escorted by sheriff’s deputies from a Montgomery County courtroom after a pretrial hearing on Tuesday.

Watts, 33, of the 600 block of Hunsberger Drive, who is accused of the Jan. 3, 2023, slaying of 43-year-old Jennifer Brown, was in court to claim searches of the contents of two cellphones and of his 2007 maroon Jeep Cherokee vehicle, in which detectives alleged a cadaver dog signaled human remains or biological material had previously been in the back seat area, were without lawful consent.

Philadelphia defense lawyer Michael Coard suggested Watts did not knowingly, intelligently or voluntarily give detectives consent to conduct the searches because detectives never asked Watts if he could read or write or if he suffered from Dyslexia or needed eyeglasses before he signed the consent forms.

But county Detective John Wittenberger testified Watts displayed no signs that he didn’t understand what was going on when detectives interviewed him on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 and when he signed forms consenting to the searches. Wittenberger testified Watts, who was not in custody at that time, showed no signs of being impaired by alcohol or drugs during questioning.

“It was a normal conversational tone,” Wittenberger testified.

Assistant District Attorney Kelly S. Lloyd who is prosecuting the case with First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. argued detectives acted properly and that Watts’ consent was voluntary. Lloyd argued Watts went to the police station voluntarily, sat down with detectives on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7, answered their questions, signed valid consent forms on each date and freely left the police station on his own accord.

“He was free to make his own choices. He was free to leave,” Lloyd argued during the hearing.

Judge William R. Carpenter denied Watts’ request to suppress the evidence, finding Wittenberger’s testimony “truthful” that Watts’ consent was freely given.

“There’s nothing to indicate he could not understand or could not read,” said Carpenter, finding Watts’ consent was given voluntarily without coercion or undue persuasion from detectives.

Carpenter, who previously scheduled Watts’ trial to begin Dec. 4, also denied Watts’ request to exclude trial testimony pertaining to Watts’ finances and business projects. Coad argued such evidence was “not relevant” but Lloyd argued “it is the heart of the case.”

“This evidence is relevant to provide the motive for the murder of Jennifer Brown and the identity of the perpetrator,” Lloyd wrote in court documents.

Detectives alleged that when they interviewed Watts on Jan. 6, he described Brown, who lived in the 1400 block of Stratford Court in Limerick Township, as a close personal friend and business partner. Watts allegedly claimed Brown had a business relationship with a restaurant he planned to open, “Birdies Kitchen,” and that Brown would send him money every six weeks or so and had invested about $36,000 in their business. Watts, according to court papers, claimed Brown owed about $10,000 to fulfill her obligation.

When detectives analyzed the contents of Brown’s electronic devices they found two cash transfers totaling $17,000 to Watts between 4:23 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. on Jan. 3, according to court documents.

Detectives alleged that the $17,000 was never part of a written agreement between Brown and Watts. Authorities alleged that Brown was already dead when those money transfers occurred and that Watts made them using Brown’s computer tablet.

During the investigation, detectives determined that on Aug. 28, 2022, Brown entered into a business partnership agreement with Watts to invest money in Watts’ restaurant which they were planning to open in Phoenixville by the end of January 2023.

However, when detectives spoke to the owners of the property they learned that the owners had never signed a lease with Watts and no renovation work had been completed on the building by Watts to ready it for a restaurant, according to court documents.

The investigation began on Jan. 4 when Limerick police responded to Brown’s Stratford Court home to conduct a welfare check at the request of Watts, who told police he had been unable to contact her, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Mark Minzola and Limerick Detective Sgt. Paul Marchese.

Police and relatives desperately searched for Brown for two weeks before her body was discovered.

Brown’s body was discovered by police shortly after 11 a.m. Jan. 18 in a freshly dug hole at the rear of a warehouse in the 200 block of North 5th Avenue in Royersford after being alerted to the site by employees of the warehouse.

Detectives alleged cellphone analysis showed that between 8:27 p.m. and 8:42 p.m. Jan. 5 Watts’ cellphone was in the vicinity of where Brown’s body was eventually discovered.

An autopsy determined Brown suffered three broken ribs. The cause of death was attributed to “homicide by unspecified means,” with compression and asphyxia, a mechanism that would account for the fractured ribs, authorities alleged.

Prosecutors alleged Watts’ inconsistent statements, cellphone analysis and a cadaver dog’s signaling human remains or human biological material inside two vehicles used by Watts linked him to the murder.

Watts faces charges of first- and third-degree murder, theft by unlawful taking or disposition and access device fraud in connection with the alleged crime and he remains in the county jail without bail while awaiting trial.