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EASTPOINTE — The cousin of an Eastpointe teenager who went missing in 2022 has been found guilty of second-degree murder.
Following a jury trial May 16, Jaylin Omar Brazier, of Detroit, was found guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence related to the disappearance of his cousin, Zion Foster, 17, of Eastpointe.
Foster, 17, of Eastpointe, was last seen Jan. 4, 2022, when she left home to spend time with her cousin, Brazier. When she didn’t return home, her mother filed a missing persons report with the Eastpointe Police Department.
Brazier was named a person of interest in her disappearance. On Jan. 19, 2022, he turned himself in, and on Jan. 22, Eastpointe police said he would be charged with lying to investigators.
During his March 31, 2022, sentencing after he had pleaded no contest, Brazier said Foster died while they were together. He acted out of panic after that, he said, and others present in the court alleged that he put Foster’s body in a dumpster.
“I just didn’t know what to do. I literally did not know what to do. … Like what do I do, who do I call, my kids are upstairs, we had just gotten to this place after struggling for like two years,” Brazier said, choking back tears at his March 31, 2022, sentencing for lying.
He was sentenced to 23 months to four years in prison on the charge of lying to a peace officer in a violent crime investigation; however, the sentencing judge stated that he felt the charges should have been more.
On May 12, 2022, Detroit Police Chief James White announced Operation Justice for Zion at a press conference. The operation involved using heavy machinery to clear debris from a 100-by-100-foot space in the Pine Tree Acres landfill in Lenox Township and was aimed at finding evidence while also bringing closure to Foster’s family.
The search began shortly after and continued through the summer. The Detroit Public Safety Foundation joined forces with the Detroit police and fire departments, the Detroit Department of Public Works and Richmond-Lenox EMS, along with other local businesses and organizations, to support the search efforts.
At a press conference held June 3, 2022, Detroit Police Major Crimes Cmdr. Michael McGinnis said searchers had located a piece of mail with a Detroit address that indicated to them that they were searching the correct area.
However, in October 2022, the search was halted without finding Foster’s body.
“It’s sad to think that they may know that their daughter’s still in a landfill and that’s her burial site,” said Patti Kukula, executive director of the Detroit Public Safety Foundation. “That is heart-wrenching, but you’re grateful that they did everything that they thought humanly, professionally, scientifically they could do to find her. So as a mom, I’m grateful that this was undertaken.”
Kukula, who spent time at the landfill, said that she hoped every day she’d get a call saying they’d found Foster’s body.
“That didn’t happen, and that’s kind of how life is,” she said.
According to the Michigan Offender Tracking Information System, Brazier was paroled on Jan. 17, 2023. On June 13, he was arraigned on new charges in the 36th District Court in Detroit.
“This case remains the quintessential example of investigators and prosecutors who refused to give up on her homicide,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a prepared statement. “For 18 months, investigators put together the evidence. Each piece of evidence in this case was examined and linked together Zion’s cousin, Jaylin Brazier, with Murder in the Second-Degree for killing Zion.”
Brazier’s attorney, Brian Brown, declined to comment.
At press time, a date for sentencing had not been set.
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