Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction in an unsolved La Mesa murder from 2021.
Cornelius Brown, 21, was shot in the doorway of his La Mesa apartment early in the morning of April 24, 2021.
Since then, investigators with the La Mesa Police Department have “exhausted all investigative leads and requested that a reward be offered to encourage anyone with information about this murder” to the department, the governor’s office said in a release.
Brown, a Navy petty officer assigned to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, was shot around 12:30 a.m. after answering a knock at his door while he was hosting a gathering. He was confronted by two masked individuals, one of whom fired at Brown several times.
Brown was struck and transported to a hospital where he died.
In early 2024, San Diego Crime Stoppers, Brown’s family and other of the Navy ed forces to offer a $15,000 reward for information in the case.
“Someone knows something, and hopefully we can encourage that person to come forward and share information that leads to an arrest,” La Mesa police Lt. Katy Lynch said last year. “We would love some information that points us in the right direction.”
The offer is from the Governor’s Reward Program, a California law that allows agencies to request rewards in unsolved cases to encourage people to come forward.
The governor on Friday announced a total of $200,000 in rewards for unsolved cases across the state, including in La Mesa, San Mateo County, Kings County, and Sonoma County.
Anyone with information regarding Brown’s murder is advised to La Mesa police Det. Royce Culp at 619-667-7533.
