Carrie Ann Bommarito says she knows her son, Michael Lee Stratford. Every time he is away while she is watching his daughter, he sends her text messages non-stop, asking how the 3-year-old is doing.
So, when the River Rouge man didn’t text her for a few hours, then didn’t answer his phone, she knew to tell police on May 9, they needed to look for a body.
Her fears were realized on May 15. Police found his body in Ypsilanti after 41-year-old Adam Brown came to the police department with information.
Taylor Police say he told them his brother, Wesley Brown, shot and killed the 38-year-old, then they both burned his body at their home on Brian Street in Taylor before dumping it near a Tim Hortons in Ypsilanti.
Carrie Bommarito says her son thought that Adam and Wesley Brown were his friends. She never imagined they would hurt him. She says he visited them the morning he went missing, told her Wesley’s dog bit his 3-year-old, and then said he would be back shortly.
He never came home.
“His little girl is at home wondering why daddy is not there anymore,” said Bommarito.
Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy has charged Wesley Brown with Open Murder and Disinterment and Mutilation of a Dead Body. Adam Brown has been charged with Disinterment and Mutilation of a Dead Body and with Accessory After the Fact.
Bond was set at $1 million for Adam, and no bond was given to Wesley. The facts and evidence in the case will be presented at the preliminary examination on June 6.
“I hope they are put away and, if they are watching this, God have their mercy on their soul, because I won’t,” said Bommarito.
A fund has been set up to collect money for Stratford’s funeral and the care of his daughter. You can find it at https://www.gofundme.com/24nmt4k.
