Zion Foster case: Jaylin Brazier in court Tuesday for preliminary hearing

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Jaylin Brazier, the cousin of Zion Foster who was long believed to have been connected to her disappearance and was ultimately charged with her murder, will appear in court for a preliminary hearing in Wayne County on Tuesday, Aug. 8.

Brazier will appear in court for the preliminary hearing which is set to start around 11:30 a.m. in Wayne County. The preliminary hearing is the first time we've seen evidence from the prosecutor's office that led to Brazier's arrest. 

During Tuesday morning's hearing, Detroit Police Officer John Criswell was the first to testify. He said that he spoke with Braizler on January 6, 2022, two days after Zion was last seen. Criswell testified while bodycam video was played, showing him and his now-former partner talking to Braizler inside of his home on Greenfield, where Zion's phone was last pinged.

During that exchange, Brazier told police that he had cameras that "show she was never here".

The next to testify was Ciera Milton, Zion's mom, who said she last heard from her daughter just before 1 a.m. on January 4, 2022. She testified that there had been times the previous year where her and Zion had a falling out and her daughter would stay at other people's homes. But she came back both of those times.

When she couldn't find her on January 4, she went to Eastpointe Police and then Detroit Police, who eventually went to Braizler's home in Detroit and talked to him. 

She called Detroit Police because her daughter's phone last pinged in that city. 

She said when Brazier showed her his footage there were gaps in his recordings. She filled in those gaps from a Ring doorbell camera that showed someone believed to be Brazier picking up Zion at her house in Eastpointe the night of her disappearance and bringing her back to his house.

Then, she said she and others searched the area around Brazier's home.

"That prompted to me to go to Jaylen's house we searched the neighborhood we looked through abandoned houses we looked through dumpsters,"  she said.

She also texted with Brazier throughout the day, with him reassuring Milton that Zion was probably okay.

Brazier's attorney then questioned Milton about her teenage daughter's mental health, medications, drug use, and mental health visits before she was ultimately dismissed from the witness stand.

Zion's body was never been recovered despite a thorough search of a Macomb County landfill for months last summer.

Brazier was charged in June with second-degree murder for the death of his cousin, who was 19 when she was last seen alive.

He has been connected to her disappearance since she was last seen on Jan. 4, 2022. He was convicted of lying to police and sentenced to spend between 23 months and four years in prison. He was released in January of this year after being admitted into a special boot camp program which allowed for an early release to those who successfully complete it.

Foster was 17 when she was last seen after leaving home in Eastpointe to visit Brazier 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 last year. "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.

"He made a plea and served his time in prison for those charges," said Timothy Doty II, Brazier's attorney.

Doty said in June that he had just been assigned to the case at the time and found it hard to believe enough had changed to warrant holding his client without bond.

"This is the 3rd time the prosecutor’s office has tried to bring charges against my client for the disappearance and alleged murder of Zion Foster and they have been told multiple times they don’t have enough evidence," said Doty. "This is a 2022 case, you know what stopped this case? The Detroit police not doing their job period. Not my client."

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.

Despite keeping the evidence in this case a secret for now, the magistrate says he saw enough to hold the defendant without a bond.

"I’ve had the opportunity to review the investigators' report and it’s concerning," said Magistrate Jeffrey Kleparek, 36th District Court.

Brazier was arraigned on Tuesday and is being held without bond. He's next due in court on July 3 with a preliminary exam scheduled for July 10.