If Debra Brown didn't kill Lael Brown, then who did?

Jennifer Nielsen, Lael Brown's granddaughter, said her family definitely wants to know but understands closure may never come at this point.

"There is a lot that leads us to believe that she did do it," Nielsen said.

Nielsen said she saw Debra Brown's truck parked in her grandfather's driveway the morning before he was found dead. Nielsen returned about an hour later to find it was still there.

She said that is not consistent with Debra Brown's story of not going inside and only dropping off soup at the entrance of the house.

"We don't know if it's just the way the case was handled. We're very disappointed in our police department," Nielsen said. "It just leaves a lot of questions."

The hardest part of it all, said Nielsen, is knowing the Logan Police Department did not do its job and destroyed any chance there ever was of knowing exactly who did it.

Debra Brown (no relation to Lael Brown) found her friend and employer dead, shot three times in the head, Nov. 7, 1993. She was convicted two years later of the murder. On May 2, 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda exonerated the 53-year-old Logan woman after she served nearly 17 years behind bars. Monday, Brown walked out of prison.

On the same day, the attorney general's office announced it would not appeal the judge's decision. "In the interest of justice and mercy, the time has come to bring closure to Debra Brown and everyone involved in this case."

But closure didn't come for Lael Brown's family, Nielsen said.

"My grandpa's life was taken. He really is the true victim here," Nielson said.

Debra Brown will receive $570,000 in reparations from the state for her incarceration, which pains Nielsen. "In a lot of our minds, she is guilty and now she is getting paid for murdering my grandpa."

She described the then-75-year-old as a giving person, and many owed what they had to him. Nielsen said the death of her grandfather was an awful loss for the family and her children, who never had the chance to meet him.

"The only reason they are able to say she is innocent is because of the job our police department did," Nielsen said.

Assistant Chief Jeff Curtis said the Logan Police Department will be reviewing the 17-year-old case. Part of deciding what to do next will involve bringing investigators up to date and going through the case with prosecutors.

Curtis said it's difficult to respond to criticism because the majority of those who worked on the case are gone or have changed careers. Curtis was in his first year with the department when the murder occurred. He said it's going to be an extensive process to go through all the evidence, new and old, after 17 years.

During the January hearing in which Debra Brown's conviction was challenged, her defense attorneys brought up evidence suggesting Bobby Sheen as a likely suspect in the murder. Lael Brown had evicted Sheen from one of his rental units.

Brown's defense attorney Alan Sullivan said the police department knew of Sheen at the time of the murder but did not question him and did not tell Debra Brown's defense attorneys about him.

Sullivan said the department's shoddy work included not preserving or collecting evidence. The defense also presented testimony from two witnesses who said they saw Lael Brown alive during one of the times for which Debra Brown didn't have an alibi.

For the family, Nielsen said, it's difficult to believe Lael Brown was alive the day before his body was found.

"Everyone was calling him, and no one was able to get an answer," Nielsen said. "That just wasn't like him. He would always answer the phone. That day, he didn't."

rorellana@sltrib.com