Deadly Custody Case: Murder of Yolanda Brown Remains Unsolved Over 20 Years Later
Yolanda Brown went missing after ending her shift at the Las Vegas Hilton. (LVMPD)
Yolanda Brown walked into the Clark County Family Court and Services building on the morning of July 18, 1996. The young 24-year-old mother entered the courtroom of Judge Robert Gaston accompanied by her attorney and took a seat at one of the two tables arrayed before the bench. Yolanda took a breath to relieve some of the nervous tension that had been building in anticipation of today’s hearing on her request for primary custody of her infant daughter, Asia.
A little over three months after this hearing, Yolanda would be found murdered on the outskirts of Las Vegas, her slaying one of hundreds of lingering cold cases in southern Nevada.
Yolanda was born in Louisiana, but she had lived most of her life in Las Vegas. Like many that grow up in Las Vegas, Yolanda found work in the casino industry as a pit bookkeeper at the Las Vegas Hilton.
In 1991, Yolanda gave birth to her first child, Johnathan. She soon found herself involved in court actions that would last over the next few years trying to enforce a child support obligation against Johnathan’s father.
Hearing minutes after Alexander Green failed to follow a court order for the return of a child.
The day of the custody hearing in July of 1996, the man sitting at the opposite table from her was Alexander D. Green, the father of their daughter. While working at the Hilton she entered into a relationship with Alexander, and, before long, Yolanda was pregnant. Alexander had allowed his mother in California to retain custody of their infant daughter, prompting Yolanda to retain an attorney to bring a custody case.
Alexander’s attorney argued that the couple had agreed to grant the paternal grandmother custody of Asia, while Yolanda’s counsel informed the court that no such agreement ever existed. Judge Gaston found that the parents of a child have a superior custody right than grandparents and ordered the return of the child to Yolanda. The judge also ordered Alexander to pay $406.00 per month in child support and granted him visitation with Asia every other weekend once she was returned to Nevada.
Another hearing was held in the case in August of that year. Judge Gaston called the attorneys for Yolanda and Alexander to the bench. The judge was unable to conceal his frustration when he learned that Asia had not been returned to her mother. After ordering the attorneys back to their respective tables, the judge began grilling Alexander as to why he had not followed the court’s orders. Alexander offered a flip response, telling the judge, “I have no control over my mother.”
The judge was ready to enter another order. This time he informed Alexander that he had until the following Saturday to bring Asia back from California and turn over custody to Yolanda at a downtown police station. To provide added incentive to follow court orders, the judge informed Alexander that he would be incarcerated at the Clark County Detention Center if he did not follow through with the custody exchange.
At this point in the hearing, Alexander adopted a different tone and informed the judge that he had actually been planning to travel to California later in the week to pick up Asia. Judge Gaston responded by telling Alexander this was great news and that if his mother refused to turn over Asia, then the court would issue a bench warrant for her arrest to “assist” Alexander in following the judge’s orders.
A status check hearing scheduled for a few days later was cancelled upon the attorneys for the parties informing the court that Asia had been returned to Yolanda as ordered on August 3, 1996.
Local press had only minimal coverage of Yolanda Brown’s disappearance and murder. This article was one of only three located in the Las Vegas-Review Journal archives. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District)
Yolanda went to work at the Las Vegas Hilton the night of October 8, 1996. She worked her shift without incident and left the Hilton property shortly after she got off work at 3:00 a.m. She never returned to her home at 3990 Lake Forrest Lane. Yolanda’s family contacted the police to report her as missing at about 9:30 a.m. on October 9, 1996.
Later that afternoon, a UPS driver was traveling along Route 159 near the Red Rock Conservation Area. As he approached mile marker 15, he spotted what appeared to be someone lying in the dirt not far from the road. The driver pulled his truck to the shoulder of Route 159 to check on the person lying in the desert. Upon approaching the motionless form, the driver realized that he had discovered the body of a young woman. He returned to Las Vegas and contacted Metro.
It was not long before police identified the body as Yolanda Brown. Homicide detectives scouring the scene of the murder noted the killer made no efforts to conceal Yolanda’s body. Investigators also located Yolanda’s purse about ½ mile from where she was found. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death had been strangulation, and police ruled out sexual assault or robbery as a motive.
Hearing minutes noting Alexander Green was a prime suspect in Yolanda Brown’s murder.
Another hearing was held in Yolanda’s custody case against Alexander Green on December 3, 1996. The hearing began on a somber note with the Court acknowledging Yolanda’s death. Present at the hearing was Yolanda’s sister, Cynthia Brown, and a representative from the Family Mediation Center, LaDeana Gamble. Ms. Gamble relayed to the Court that the homicide detective working Yolanda’s case had informed her that Alexander Green was the primary suspect in the murder.
Judge Gaston informed Alexander that Asia would remain in the care of Yolanda’s mother and sister until the police concluded their investigation. A hearing to determine the status of the investigation was set for the end of the month.
A final hearing was held in the custody case over Asia on December 31, 1996. The hearing grew tense as the judge reviewed a report prepared by the family mediation specialist. Alexander had previously informed Ms. Gamble that mediation was no longer necessary because he and Yolanda had reconciled. The mediation specialist’s report also indicated Detective Morgan of the Metro homicide division still viewed Alexander as the prime suspect in Yolanda’s death. The Court then recounted Alexander’s prior arrests for various crimes, including aiming a firearm in public and obstructing a public officer.
The judge ruled that it was in Asia’s best interests to remain in the care of her aunt, with Alexander to have visitation. The Court warned Cynthia to be cautious when performing custody exchanges with Alexander and to have a third party present.
No arrests were ever made in Yolanda Brown’s murder. But over a decade after her body was found in the desert near Red Rock, Alexander Green drove out to State Route 157 and Frontage Road on the night of January 2009. Shortly before midnight, Alexander fired a single round from a handgun into his chest. His body was located by police and his death ruled a suicide.
Photo of Yolanda Brown on Metro’s cold case site. (LVMPD)
We came across Yolanda’s case while researching Metro’s cold case files. When you type her name into Google, the sparse results include her photo from Metro’s cold case files and her obituary. Even a search of newspaper archives revealed only a handful of articles sparing but a few paragraphs to detail the lack of leads in the investigation into Yolanda’s death.
It was only when we typed her name into the court records database that we discovered the minutes from her custody case. From there, a search of Alexander Green’s name in court records came up with his 2009 probate case.
One aspect of this case that we could never dig up further information on was the status of Yolanda’s vehicle the night she went missing. Press accounts noted her white 1995 Toyota Tercel that she had driven to work the night she disappeared was still missing two days after Yolanda’s body was found. The license plate frame on the vehicle read: “Happiness is Jonathan and Asia.”