A 19-year-old Washington state man is behind bars this week after police responding to a domestic violence call found his 18-year-old wife unresponsive.
Anna Brown was eventually airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she died, the Daily Record reports.
Anthony Nathanial Brown was initially charged with domestic violence assault when he was arrested Wednesday afternoon, but by Thursday’s court hearing, prosecutors said his victim had died from her injuries.
Deputy Prosecutor Jodi Hammond said in court that the couple had a history of violence, noting a prior incident in which Brown held a gun to his wife’s head. She said prosecutors will be adding a second-degree murder charge.
Judge Chris Herion ordered Brown held on a $1 million bond and scheduled his arraignment for April 2.
As of Friday morning, jail records show him still behind bars, and the charges have not yet been upgraded.
According to court documents, the Browns married in December 2025, but the near constant violence had resulted in a no-contact protection order for Anna Brown, who had left the couple’s apartment to live with her parents.
Police were called to the apartment by one of Anthony Brown’s brothers, who said that the killer had called him and said he was sorry. That brother called another brother, and the two siblings went to the apartment, where they found their third brother sitting in front of his vehicle smoking a cigarette.
One of the brothers told police that Brown said his wife had come at him with a knife, so he had to choke her in self defense, the court documents say.
A friend of Anna Brown’s told police that she was in contact with the victim via Snapchat just after 11 a.m. Anna Brown said she’d gone to the apartment because her husband had threatened to kill himself. She told the friend she was packing up her things and “taking photos at the apartment of Anthony’s cocaine usage,” a probable cause statement said.
The friend said Anna Brown sounded nervous and she heard Anthony in the background telling her she “wasn’t f****** leaving.” Anna replies that “she was and to have a good life.”
The friend tried to contact her an hour later and got no answer.
Police said the unresponsive Anna Brown had a steak knife in her hand when they arrived — somehow managing to hold onto it while her husband choked her unconscious, according to the story he told his brother — but there was no blood on the scene anywhere and she had bruising on her neck. They also found a hypodermic needle and other drug paraphernalia in the living room.
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