Mom asks judge to imprison 'monster' who killed her daughter in Stowe

Kelly Cody was described as kind, funny, genuine and caring.

She had a 6-year-old son who adored her.

But she also had a drug addiction, the prosecution said, and she welcomed Lauren Brown, another drug addict, into her life and gave him shelter.

That would be her undoing.

On Jan. 21, 2021, police said, Brown killed Cody in a Stowe alley.

On Monday, a judge ordered Brown to serve 33 to 66 years in prison after a jury in March convicted him of third-degree murder, aggravated assault and tampering with evidence. He was separately found guilty of two additional firearms counts, as well.

Assistant District Attorney Diana Page told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer that Brown’s actions that day showed nothing but reckless disregard for the law and for Cody.

“She not only lost her life, she lost the opportunity to turn her life around for the betterment of herself and her son,” Page said. “She was left there to die on her own. The amount of care the defendant showed Kelly — which is none — should be directly reflected in the number of years he is sentenced to.”

According to Allegheny County Police, Cody had just gotten into a friend’s car on Penn Alley in Stowe around 8 a.m. when Brown opened the vehicle’s front door and started fighting with the man inside.

Brown had a gun and started shooting. Cody was killed, though the man was uninjured.

Brown, who was on parole at the time, fled and was then spotted inside a nearby store a short time later.

When Brown tried to run from the store — tossing a gun he had under a dump truck — officers used a Taser to stop him, according to the criminal complaint.

On Monday, Cody’s mother told the judge that she had met Brown, who was living with her daughter, and that she even bought him pants when Kelly asked her to.

“I should have been more of a parent and told her that he wasn’t worth any kindness,” Debra Cody said. “My instincts were right.”

She said that Brown used her daughter.

“Kelly was so excited to finally get her own place, but she, being the kind, always-hopeful person, let him invade her life and give him shelter,” she said.

Debra Cody repeatedly reminded the judge that Brown left her daughter alone in an alley to die.

“I know my daughter never wanted to be alone, and that he left her there haunts me nightly,” she said.

She asked the judge to give Brown the longest possible sentence to reassure her grandson that he is safe.

“I can’t take trauma away from him, but you can help me keep my promise to him that the monster won’t ever get out of jail to take away any more of his trust and security,” she said.

Brown, who testified at trial that he was not the shooter, objected to the victim’s mother calling him a monster during the sentencing.

He said that after Kelly Cody was shot, he checked her pulse and called 911 before running away. Brown knew he was on parole and feared going back to prison.

“I feel sympathy something happened to her daughter,” he said. “I plead my innocence. I didn’t do anything wrong. I get it, someone died. I’m apologetic. But I didn’t do anything wrong. You don’t have to dehumanize me.”

In handing down the sentence, the judge said the jury discounted Brown’s statement at trial.

“The jury rejected the assertions you made at the time of trial and that you just made here,” Beemer said. “They found you were responsible for the death of Kelly Cody and your responsibility rose to the level of engaging in malicious conduct, not running from the scene because you were scared.”

Beemer told Brown he was responsible for the choices he made that day, including carrying guns when he wasn’t allowed.

“If you didn’t have firearms in your possession, she’d still be alive.”