A U.S. Navy veteran accused of a kidnapping that led to the death of a woman who grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, has been found not competent to stand trial.
Eric Brown is charged with the kidnapping of Ashanti Billie three years ago. Billie, 19, was last seen on Sept. 18, 2017 in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area on her way to work at a sandwich shop on Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek.
Surveillance video shows her car driving onto the base, but she never made it to work, investigators have said.
She was found dead in North Carolina.
The indictment against Eric Brown remains in effect. We can’t proceed w/ trial as he’s not competent due to mental illness. We will seek to have him committed to GOV facility. If he becomes competent in future, we intend to proceed with his prosecution. https://t.co/K4tyfLEIh7
— U.S. Attorney EDVA (@EDVAnews) September 29, 2020
A federal grand jury indicted Brown with kidnapping resulting in death in December 2018.
He faces a maximum penalty of death and a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison if convicted. In addition, he also faces charges of serious bodily injury and theft.
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill that is aimed at finding missing adults called The Ashanti Alert Act of 2018. Under the law, alerts are issued for missing adults between the ages of 18-64, similar to that of Amber Alerts issued for missing children.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
