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Mother of Zion Foster livid that cousin who lied to police about her, is released from prison
The past year has been agony for the family of Zion Foster. It was this time last year -- authorities were searching for the missing 17-year-old. Now the person who was spending time behind bars in connection to her disappearance -- is once again a free man.
FOX 2 (WJBK) - The past year has been agony for the family of Zion Foster. It was this time last year - authorities were searching for the missing 17-year-old. Now the person who was spending time behind bars in connection to her disappearance is once again a free man.
Jaylin Brazier was admitted into a special boot camp program which allowed for an early release to those who successfully complete it.
"This is absurd, it's unfair," said Ciera Milton, Zion's mother. "And it's not just."
Milton is still reeling over the release of Jaylin Brazier likely the last person to see her daughter alive. Brazier was released from prison Tuesday – nine months after he was sentenced for lying to investigators about Zion Foster’s disappearance.
"Why is this man free?" said Milton. "What? (Like) 'I can admit to this and still be let free.'"
Zion Foster went missing after leaving home in Eastpointe to visit Brazier, who was her cousin, in Detroit last January.
As friends, family, and police searched for her, Brazier told Eastpointe investigators he did not know where she was or what happened to her.
He later admitted to putting her body in a dumpster — and claimed she stopped breathing while they were smoking marijuana.
"I was on panic mode ever since that happened," Brazier said in court. "Her mother at one point talked to me, and I couldn't bring myself to (tell her) 'Your daughter just died.' What do I do?"
Brazier was sentenced to 23 months to four years in prison for lying to police, but ended up spending nine months behind bars.
Jaylin Brazier
His early release the result of a 90-day special alternative incarceration program which Macomb County Judge Edward Servitto approved.
"It boggles my mind for the judge to give a more aggressive term because of hearing the case and finding out what Jaylin said he did, it could be signed off and I not be notified?" Milton said.
A group of Detroit police officers dedicated their entire summer searching for Zion Foster's body in a Macomb County landfill, but never found her. The search was ultimately called off in October 2022.
Chief James White says their investigation is not over yet.
"That case is still wide open," White said. "We think we've got a strong suspect in that case. Our detectives are doing constitutionally everything they can to talk to him, investigate him, visit with him, to make sure we get what we need to charge that case the way it needs to be charged."
In the meantime, no body means no determination as to how Foster died, and no closure for a mother still mourning and still desperate for answers.
"What I want is, I want justice," Milton said. "I want him to pay and I want the truth to come out."
Ciera Milton, mother of Zion Foster.