Dozens gather in Magna, site of 2 homicides in past week, to remember Shelli Brown’s sweetness, generosity

Magna • Shelli Marie Brown and Stevan Chambers — killed within days of each other — knew each other, but police cannot yet say if their deaths are related.

Brown, 26, was killed and her body left in Magna's Copper Park, located at 8950 W. 2400 South, according to the Unified Police Department. A woman out walking her dog discovered Brown's body Wednesday morning.

Chambers, also 26, was found shot to death early Monday morning. His body was discovered in a roadway near 2880 South and 9100 West — just half a mile from the park where Brown's body was found.

Police confirmed Thursday morning that the two were acquaintances, but Unified Police Lt. Lex Bell declined to elaborate. He added that Magna is a small place.

"Most people out there for an extended period of time know who each other are," Bell said. "They were hanging out in the same area. … You're bound to run into each other."

Police have interviewed "literally dozens" of people in the Chambers case, Bell said, "and they've just got mountains of information that they're trying to sort through."

Brown's case remains in the "very beginning phases," Bell added.

Police have not yet released how she died.

Bell added that police cannot yet say whether their deaths — both being investigated as homicides — are related.

Brown's father, Kevin Brown, said he didn't know of Chambers until this week, or what Chambers' connection to his daughter might have been.

"I saw a post Tuesday about this man being killed, and then suddenly the police are calling me," Kevin Brown said.

News of his daughter's death has devastated "a lot of people," he said.

"My daughter was very sweet. She had a big family and a lot of friends," he said. "I'm hearing from all of them."

A vigil Thursday night for Shelli Brown at Copper Park in Magna drew dozens of people, who lit candles and placed flowers underneath photos of the young woman. Friends described Brown as outgoing and generous.

Brown's grandmother, Shirley LeCheminant, said her granddaughter was "always smiling." Friend Rae Ritchie said Brown was giving and compassionate.

"I still don't believe this happened," she said.

A certified nurse's aide, Shelli Brown had loved working with patients and once even appeared with one on a billboard advertising the care center where she worked with adults with disabilities, Kevin Brown said.

"She was a caretaker, and that was her passion," he said. "She was always bright and waiting to make everyone else's life bright, even in the darkest of moments."

But Shelli Brown began struggling about a year ago, her father said. She didn't have a car, which made it hard for her to get to work, he said. Although she was able to stay with friends, she didn't have stable housing and last year took her daughter, now 6, to live with grandparents.

"She loved her daughter beyond anything; that's why she did what she did. She didn't want to take her where she didn't have a place," Kevin Brown said.

After that, Shelli Brown "fell on the bad side of town," he said.

"We were trying to get her out of Magna," said Kevin Brown, who lives in Holladay. "She'd had a career, she had a degree, she had a lot of things going for her. I told her she needed to come home."

According to court documents, Shelli Brown was found in possession of marijuana in May and June, and at the time of her death, arrest warrants had been issued because she had missed two court dates.

But Kevin Brown says he doesn't have any indication those minor drug cases were connected to her death. He also said he has no indication she was in a dangerous relationship; she had broken up with a boyfriend weeks ago.

"She wasn't just a street person or a drug addict — she was a lot more than that," he said. "She had trouble for the past year, but she still stayed sweet. This wasn't a bad person. She loved other people and was way overtrusting."

At Thursday's vigil, friend April Tollett said Brown was "amazing."

"She would go out of her way to help anyone," Tollett said.

Unified Police have increased patrols in Magna in light of the two deaths.

"That's continuing into the foreseeable future, until we bring any type of closure," Bell said.

ealberty@sltrib.com, pmanson@sltrib.com, mmcfall@sltrib.com