ST. GABRIEL — The family of a man murdered inside his car is questioning why the 2016 Audi, which they still owe money on, was sold despite alleged promises from law enforcement that it would be held as evidence until after the trial.
Jaylon Brown was convicted in October 2022 of killing 28-year-old Dararius Evans and 26-year-old Aleysia Maynor in Evans’ car on December 28, 2019.
Pam White, Evans’ mother, said she repeatedly checked in on the car in the days after the murder. She was initially told the family could access it after it came back from the state’s crime lab. But that changed.
“They said you can’t get the car,” White said. “No one can see it, because it’s being held for evidence, and that we would not be able to get access to the vehicle until after the trial.”
‘They lied to us’
UWK obtained documents that showed Gonzales Towing & Repair, Inc. had stored the vehicle since January 2020 and racked up storage fees of $2,533.99. A representative for the tow yard sent two notices that cautioned the family had to pay or the car would be sold. The notice had a warning in small print.
“Once the permit to sell or dismantle is obtained, the vehicle will be sold or dismantled and the proceeds will be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Louisiana R.S. 32:1730,” the form stated.
Ruby Ball, vice president of Gonzales Towing and Repair, attested in an affidavit that they sold the car in question on July 20, 2020 – about two years before the trial ended.
Rev. Charles E. Brumfield Jr., an attorney representing White, said they never got any of the certified letters alerting the family of the possible sale.
“Given all the chaos was going on, my clients didn’t receive it because they were still dealing with the aftermath of losing a loved one,” he said.
White said they were assured law enforcement would hold onto the car until after the trial.
“They lied to us and told us we were getting it after a trial and it was sold,” White said.
Ericka DiVincent, a claims manager at Progressive, wrote in an email obtained by UWK that she was assured the car would be held by law enforcement.
“I spoke with the Iberville Parish DA’s office and was given verbal confirmation that the vehicle would be held through the trial,” DiVincent wrote.
DiVincent did not immediately return a request for comment.
Read through the storage notices, stored car report, permit to sell and timeline from a Progressive insurance agent about the car sold during a pending murder investigation.
Police Chief blamed for unnecessarily holding onto the car
Tony Clayton, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, said he was unsure of exactly what happened to the car, but it could have been forgotten at the yard and eventually sold because no one claimed it. He said he already had what he needed for trial but that St. Gabriel Police Chief Kevin Ambeau wanted to hold onto the vehicle.
“I didn’t need the car because we had good pictures to show the shooting took place in the car so I didn’t need the car,” Clayton said. “For whatever reason, he (Chief Ambeau) kept the car to look at it or have the crime lab swab it and look through it.”
He said Ambeau’s decision to hold onto the car likely made it more difficult for the family to get it.
“The problem is if the state puts it there, Ambeau puts it there, then he’s probably under an obligation to go get it because it’s deemed to be evidence so it’s got to have some kind of release from the courts or from him to release it,” Clayton said.
Clayton said it is not the district attorney’s responsibility to keep evidence – that is on the police department.
Representatives for the St. Gabriel Police Department did not return repeated requests for comment. They did not answer questions about why the St. Gabriel Police Department did not house the car on their property or pay Gonzales Towing to store it.
Ambeau was indicted in 2023, alongside his wife, for allegedly stealing evidence from the crime scene and for a kickback scheme that involved fake invoices.
Gordon Dallon Bush II, an attorney representing the City of St. Gabriel, wrote in a legal filing that they could not be held responsible for the sale. He wrote that the city did not direct the sale, the time to file a lawsuit had passed, and the lien company should be blamed for not doing their part.
“Any and all actions taken by Defendants, City of St. Gabriel, St. Gabriel Police Department, were in efforts to properly and appropriately preserve evidence and the integrity of the investigation associated with a tragic homicide,” Bush wrote in a response to the lawsuit.
Bush did not return repeated requests for comment.
‘Gonzales Towing followed the law’
Brumfield Jr. filed a lawsuit in October 2023 on behalf of the family to recover funds lost when the car was sold. The lawsuit was dismissed in August 2024.
Judge Alvin Batiste Jr. ruled against White’s family and dismissed “…the plaintiff’s claims against the acceptor, with prejudice, at the plaintiff’s sole cost.”
Louisiana towing law lists the steps required before a tow yard can sell a car. They have to alert the owner that they have the car. They have to send at least two notices via certified mail that the owner needs to pay storage fees for them to continue to hold onto the car 45 days after initially storing the car. If the tow yard follows the notification requirements, they are allowed to sell the car to recoup their costs.
Yigal Bander, their attorney, said they followed the law and the company utilized the tools they had access to. He was unsure if Gonzales Towing tried to reach out to the St. Gabriel Police Department to pay for the storage of the car or if law enforcement tried to pay at any point.
“The answer of what happened here is [that] Gonzales Towing followed the law, abided by all the provisions of law, and did what it is entitled to do under the law, and the court agreed and dismissed the suit,” Bander said.
White wrote Progressive, the car’s insurer, paid half of the loan but would only pay out the rest when they could examine the car – but it was already sold. The family owes $17,000 for a car they do not possess.
“Now that the trial is over, we have to deal with the vehicle that we’re still responsible for paying,” White said.
White said she would keep fighting for her son.
“My son is not here to defend himself, and so I’m the only voice that he has at this point,” White said. “I mean, even though getting the belongings back is not going to get him back, but it’s the principle that we’ve been wronged, we’ve been lied to, and they’ve been unjust to us.”
A car bought out of state leads to a titling problem
White wrote in a text that her son financed the car for $34,000 and did not own it outright. But there was no record of that lien in the official report of the stored vehicle. Louisiana law requires stored cars to go back to their lien holder. With no lien holder on record, Gonzales Towing was free to sell the car.
A spokesperson for CarMax, the company who financed the car, wrote in an email that it was not their responsibility to properly register the car with the state. Jennifer Bartusiak, a spokesperson for CarMax, said the company was “really, really sorry” to hear what happened but it was up to the car owner to make sure the car was registered properly in Louisiana.
“It’s really state and city specific how titling occurs,” Bartusiak said. “And so in this situation, we gave the owner, the information to title it and from there, we can’t really speculate, you know, what happened from there.”
Read the form, provided by CarMax, signed by the family that outlines their duty to register their car with the state.
White’s children signed the CarMax form – Dararius Contrell Evans and Adariuna Ciante Evans. The car was purchased in Texas and CarMax gives titling paperwork directly to customers to help “avoid any potential delays,” according to Bartusiak.
Brown murdered Dararius Evans about a month after Evans bought the car in November 2019.
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