Police have arrested two people on suspicion of murder nearly a year after Christina Downer, the sister of a Saturday Night Live writer, disappeared.

Delorean Bijon Brandon and Kaylee Nicole Markowski were taken into custody Thursday in connection with Downer’s alleged killing, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Friday.

Downer, whose brother is SNL writer Jimmy Fowlie, vanished late last year. She was reported missing on December 15, 2025, after her ex-husband requested a welfare check when he could no longer reach her, authorities said.

At the time, Downer’s boyfriend, Brandon, told authorities she had moved out months earlier. However, her belongings remained at the property, including her car and dog.

Her cellphone was later discovered washed ashore at Santa Monica Beach. Police said Brandon and Markowski were identified as the people allegedly responsible for Downer’s death.

The LAPD also alleges that Brandon, 41, and Markowski, 34, disposed of Downer’s body and took steps to conceal their involvement.

Earlier this month, investigators searched an Airbnb in Joshua Tree as part of the ongoing effort to locate Downer, NBC Los Angeles previously reported.

According to the LAPD, investigators deployed K-9 units and carried out an extensive search across the California desert. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the operation.

Police have not said whether anything connected to the case was found during the search. The investigation remains ongoing.

Brandon and Markowski are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. Each is being held on $2 million bail.

Downer’s disappearance followed an unusual social media post in which she appeared in a tight red top inside her Los Angeles apartment, pouting at the camera.

“Living at peace. If you wanna send me a Christmas treat, I’ll be waiting. Happy holidays, everyone,” she wrote on December 14, 2025.

She also listed her Cash App and Venmo usernames in her Instagram bio, allowing her roughly 700 followers to send her money.

Friends and relatives later told the Daily Mail in May that the playful post seemed unusual because they had not heard from Christina for weeks beforehand.

Her brother Jimmy said he believed she was dead. In a heartbreaking post shared in April, he wrote: “Our prayers for her to be found safely have transformed into prayer for the truth to be revealed and for those responsible to be held accountable.”

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Despite the murder arrests, police continue to classify Downer’s case as a disappearance. The LAPD also declined to confirm to NBC whether investigators were searching for human remains in Joshua Tree.

The Daily Mail learned in May that Downer led a double life as an adult actress and exotic dancer and, according to people who knew her, had been struggling with her mental health in recent years.

Downer also had a tumultuous relationship with Brandon, a face-tattooed R&B singer,  and filed a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, whom she accused of stalking and harassing her.

Her ex-husband, Ryan Downer, told the Daily Mail in May that he phoned in a wellness check in December after not hearing from her for weeks.

Ryan and Christina married in 2015 in their hometown of Woburn, Massachusetts, not too far from where Christina danced at a local gentlemen’s club after giving up a career in adult entertainment. She went by the name ‘Chavon Taylor.’

The pair separated in November 2023, citing ‘irreconcilable differences,’ according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail. But it was amicable.

Ryan called authorities when she didn’t respond to him for weeks.

‘It just doesn’t make any sense why she would leave without telling anyone. That’s not like her. We just want to know what happened because none of it makes any sense.’

When cops did a welfare check at her apartment in Koreatown, the place was clean and tidy with nothing out of the ordinary, Ryan told the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail also learned in May that Christina had an on-and-off relationship with Brandon. 

Ryan said that Christina and Brandon had a toxic relationship and she often left him voice messages complaining about their dynamic.

In September 2024, Christina filed a temporary restraining order against Brandon’s ex-girlfriend, claiming she had been harassing them for years.

The Daily Mail contacted the LAPD for comment. 

A devastating Bronx apartment fire blamed on an e-bike battery has claimed the lives of four family members, with three victims dying days after the blaze, officials said.

The fire broke out at about 12:50 a.m. Wednesday in the kitchen of an 11th-floor apartment at NYCHA’s Patterson Houses. Residents became trapped after the burning e-bike blocked their only exit, according to the FDNY.

A 10-year-old boy, identified in reports as Zion Maine, was the first victim to die.

Four family members were taken to the hospital in critical condition. On Friday, three of them — two boys, ages 15 and 16, and a 33-year-old woman — died from their injuries, officials said.

Family members told the Daily News that Zion and the two older boys were half-brothers.

The older teen was identified as Jamaree Adam, while the woman who died was his mother, Syida Adam, the newspaper reported.

Syida was the girlfriend of Zion’s 37-year-old father, Courtney, who remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Fire officials said the e-bike turned the family’s apartment into a deadly trap.

“An e-bike was placed in the pathway of the exit door,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore told reporters early Wednesday.

“It was placed at a spot in the kitchen that made it impossible for the residents to leave safely.”

FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said firefighters were forced to break open the apartment’s front door because the burning e-bike and battery were blocking it.

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“When that door opened, it opened into a heavy fire,” Esposito recalled.

“The e-bike and the kitchen were right inside that door.”

“There was a victim behind the door that they quickly removed and was transported to the hospital.”

Zion was also rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, but doctors were unable to save him, authorities said.

“He loved basketball,” a neighbor close to the family said of the boy.

“He was young, vibrant, funny, very energetic. He would shock you sometimes with the things he says,” the neighbor told The Post.

The boy was especially fond of flavored ice popsicles, which his mother gave him “all week, every week,” the neighbor said.

Zion was quiet and never went “around looking for no trouble,” said neighbor Cynthia Ayala, 32.

“He stay out people’s way,” she added. “He don’t be in trouble, it’s not like he was a bad [kid].”

Courtney reportedly worked at a car wash and made a modest living for the family.

Another neighbor who identified himself as Tony told The Post the boy’s father “worked at the car wash, making a little bit of money for his family.”

“We all have cookouts out here, we all hang out,” he added. “The 11th floor is a tight knit floor, we like family.”

What was expected to be a carefree summer day at Utah’s most prestigious gated community instead became the starting point of a bitter legal dispute. Wasatch Peaks Ranch is marketed as an enclave so exclusive that it has been described as a community “for the one percent of the one percent.”

According to a lawsuit, tensions flared there in July as Jane Fields, 65, and a female friend prepared to begin a golf tournament for which each had paid $900 to participate.

Fields, whose husband Mark is the former chief executive of Ford Motor Company, claims a caddie approached the pair and instructed them to speed up, finish early and concede shots if necessary.

She has since sued, arguing that the women were pressured to leave the course because of what she describes as blatant sexism.

The complaint alleges that Fields and her friend were removed so male members could use the course that afternoon without women playing alongside them.

Wasatch Peaks management has strongly denied the allegations, but the claims have ignited a high-profile scandal within the secluded, luxury community.

The Fields say they have since been barred from using the extensive amenities surrounding their home. Those facilities were a major factor in the couple’s decision to become founding members in 2021 and build one of the community’s earliest residences, completed in 2024.

Access to WPR is tightly controlled. Prospective residents must be recommended by two existing members and undergo extensive vetting before they are even permitted to view the community’s property listings online.

With their wealth and professional accomplishments, the Fields appeared to be a natural fit for the elite development—until their dispute with the club turned into a legal battle.

The couple first met while working at IBM. They are now attempting to sell their lavish home and are seeking $30 million in damages, according to the lawsuit.

Fields’ attorneys told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that female golfers were offered a hat-making class after leaving the course.

The lawyers also alleged that the winner of the men’s tournament that day received a Rolex Daytona valued at between $15,100 and $56,400, while female participants were handed trophies simply for taking part.

They further claimed that the family’s loss of club amenities has affected access to the property, saying snow is no longer cleared from outside the mansion and that reaching the home can become nearly impossible during Utah’s harsh winters.

In her complaint, Fields described the caddie’s alleged instruction to hurry as a “disturbing and negative way to start play.”

Fields said she later confronted the member services manager, expressing concern that men and women were being treated differently, according to the lawsuit.

She reportedly told the male manager that the treatment of the women golfers was “unfair, disrespectful, derogatory and sexually discriminating.”

Fields also claims she asked the manager to pass her concerns along to senior leadership.

And it appears he did just that – with disastrous consequences for Mr and Mrs Fields.  

Four days later, the couple were informed by the ranch’s disciplinary committee that they had been expelled effective immediately, Mrs Fields’s lawsuit said. 

In their notice, they accused Mrs Fields of using ‘abusive and profane’ language toward staff members and of behavior ‘unbecoming’ of the club, her lawsuit alleges. 

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The couple, via the lawsuit, have disputed those characterizations and insist that they should never have ever been kicked out.

Instead they said the club banishing them was their way of concealing gender discrimination and removing members ‘whose criticism it no longer wished to hear.’ 

After being stripped of their membership, the couple’s $500,000 membership deposit and contractual refund rights were put at risk with the expulsion starting an 18-month timer to transfer their membership, the suit said. 

The couple say their mansion has suffered ‘serious devaluation’ since the loss of access to amenities, according to their lawsuit.

Membership privileges may be reactivated for whoever buys the property. 

An attorney for the family described the home, that they built themselves, as being their ‘legacy property’ that they intended to hand down to their children for generations. 

According to public records seen by the Daily Mail, the couple also own a $7.5 million home in Delray Beach, Florida. 

After being expelled, the couple requested a hearing and asked for more details, but the suit said that the ranch failed to provide them with any reports or witness statements. 

At a hearing in August of this year, the two claimed they were not permitted to ask questions and were not given the opportunity to dispute anything, the suit claimed. 

At that same meeting, the two said they read prepared statements and apologized, with the suit adding that they still did not think they had breached any provisions. 

They also requested probation or at least a temporary suspension as an alternative to being forced out entirely, the suit added. 

Despite that, they said they were informed in early August that their expulsion had been ‘reaffirmed.’

The lawsuit named the ranch’s CEO Tiger Shaw, who is also the former president and CEO of US Ski and Snowboard. The disciplinary committee were also named.

According to the ranch website, it is a private mountain community with over 12,000 acres for residents to explore. 

In addition to the golf course, there is also 3,000 acres of private skiing for residents, fly fishing, as well as miles of trails for hiking. 

Mark was previously the president and CEO of Ford Motor Company from 2014 until 2017 after having previously served as their Chief Operating Officer from 2012 until 2014.

His rise to the top job for the firm came after he worked as an executive across the Americas for the company for 23 years.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he is currently sitting on the board of Hertz, and is a Chairperson for software firm Planview.  

In a statement to the Daily Mail, representatives for the ranch said: ‘Wasatch Peaks Ranch strongly believes in respecting the privacy of its members and employees. 

‘While WPR will not discuss the specific details of this matter, WPR disputes the allegations in the Fields’ complaint and is prepared to defend against the lawsuit. 

‘WPR stands by its decision and remains committed to maintaining a positive and respectful environment for both its members and employees.’

Lawyers have been appointed by the ranch who have made their appearance known, court filings showed, but they have yet to file a response to Fields’ lawsuit. 

Monster king tides battered Huntington Beach this week, damaging more than 100 structures, prompting evacuations and leaving residents racing to clean up before another potentially destructive surge arrives next month.

The coastal flooding affected about 114 buildings, city officials said. Six homes received yellow tags restricting access because of safety concerns.

In one especially alarming incident, saltwater came into contact with a lithium-ion battery and ignited a fire inside a structure.

The destruction triggered a major emergency response as city crews worked to shield vulnerable coastal neighborhoods from the advancing seawater.

“In anticipation of the flooding, the City took proactive steps to protect our coastal communities, particularly Sunset Beach and Huntington Harbour. We activated our Mobile Command Post and strategically deployed emergency response resources into areas expected to be impacted,” the city said Thursday.

The flooding was fueled largely by powerful King Tides, a phenomenon that occurs when the moon is closest to Earth and aligns with the sun during a new or full moon, creating exceptionally high water levels.

The monster tides inundated more than coastal homes and neighborhoods. On Tuesday, they also transformed sections of Pacific Coast Highway into a flooded, impassable stretch.

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Pacific Coast Highway was closed in both directions between Seal Beach and Huntington Beach. Orange County Metrolink service was also suspended Monday between Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo and Oceanside.

In Newport Beach, knee-deep water surged through residential streets and entered homes, while several motorists were stranded as their vehicles became partially submerged.

Crews worked urgently to contain the flooding, using pumps and building sand berms to strengthen exposed sections of the coastline against the pounding surf.

The latest flooding came only weeks after Tropical Storm Rachel crossed California, damaging homes and boardwalks. In Long Beach, waves battered the city’s century-old boardwalk.

Newport Beach declared a local emergency Oct. 9 after powerful swells and elevated tides sent seawater across the Balboa Peninsula, stranding drivers and leaving vehicles partially submerged.

Experts warn that this week’s coastal destruction could be an early sign of more powerful El Niño storms expected to strike California this winter.