By Los Altos Hills

Town Crier Staff Report

Police caught up with a teen in Los Altos Hills last week who had been on the run since last October for allegedly murdering a woman in Indianapolis.

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Deputy Terrance Helm said police discovered Charles Vincent Brower, 18, living with his mother and a friend in a white van parked on Princess Elleena Court near Magdalena Avenue March 13 while investigating a complaint about the suspicious vehicle.

Helm said Brower was hiding under trash, clothing, sleeping bags and other debris in the van. Police asked the three to step out of the van and identify themselves.

A records check revealed that Brower was wanted in Indianapolis for his alleged involvement in the murder of Icie Roberts, an 89-year-old woman who died in her Indianapolis home last October after someone hit her in the head with a blunt object as she slept.

Marion County prosecutor Scott Newman said three men allegedly pried open a door in Roberts’ kitchen, cut the phone lines and beat her to death.

He said the blows were so severe that one of them penetrated her skull and damaged her brain directly.

Newman said Roberts managed to get to an intercom and called a neighbor. She died an hour later at the hospital.

Indianapolis police had already arrested two men in the case, Michael Johnfauno, 22, and Christopher Lee, 20. Newman filed murder, felony murder and conspiracy to commit burglary charges against them. They face 105 years in prison.

Helm said police booked Brower into San Jose’s Main Jail. Indianapolis police were expected to extradite him back to Indiana.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Brower’s mother, Virginia Kay Brower, 49, for being under the influence of heroin.

The third man found living in the van, Carl Ledford, had no warrants and was released at the scene.