If Jason Derek Brown is ever caught, where will it be?

First of all, if you are Derek Palomares, the brother of Keith Palomares, the man Brown allegedly shot and who this case is really about, who still goes on shows in the hopes of getting Brown caught, then Brown should stay on the list indefinitely until he's caught. Sorry, I know you must be getting exhausted of me lecturing you by now, the problem is you're a semi-regular but not everyday/infrequent enough poster that getting some things may take longer, but in this case it's not just you who has done this or me singling you out again but when this site first started one thing I cut back on compared to the old amw.com message board where there was no moderation was some of us were still doing this thing where we comparing our personal most wanted lists and asking why one guy was ranked higher than the other or complaining about where certain fugitives ranked on John Walsh's yearly most wanted lists etc... The point is, they're all bad (allegedly) and all need to be caught, so we don't go "this guy is worse is this than this guy" or "This guy *only* killed one person while the other guy killed three*, "There are even worse fugitives" etc... I basically had to tell a lot of people, it's not something only you've done, how would you feel if G*d forbid someone harmed a loved one of yours, that person get placed on the top ten list, and then you go on the internet and see people saying the person that harmed your loved one shouldn't be on the list because someone else is more deserving or there are people "worse" than him/her? So I just want to make sure you don't fall into the same trap other posters have in the past.

As for the list itself a few main things to know:


1. The top ten list is actually NOT technically supposed to be the worst of the worst. It's mainly a publicity tool for who the FBI/an FBI media panel thinks will have a good chance of being caught as a result of placement on the list. It's not the worst of the worst, but the fugitives from the worst of the worst that the FBI thinks the public would be most likely recognize. When the FBI added Eric Toth in 2012, they basically admitted there may have been even *worse* crimes against children than him, but we're adding him because he has a distinctive mole and is over 6 feet and the public will likely recognize him more than others" and they were right. While perhaps some cases are there specifically because of a significant threat to public or horrendous crime, placement on the top ten list often just means the FBI thinks the public has a better chance of recognizing that fugitive than others.

So for example, this is also why a fugitive like El Chapo Guzman was never on the list.

EVERYONE knew who he was anyway. The FBI was always desperately searching for him anyway.

There was no need to add him to the list since he was already "famous" or "infamous" and the public knew who he was anyway.

There are times with like Robert Fisher type guys where a crime is so heinous they have to be added, but for the most part the list is a publicity tool.

2. A fugitive is actually supposed to stay on the list until capture of confirmation of their being deceased. Keep in mind Victor Gerena was on the list for 32 years despite never killing anyone and likely in Cuba with no chance of extradition while others who did kill people were taken off sooner. As horrible as his alleged crime is, there is actually more justification for taking Robert Fisher off the list since he's been on the run longer.

3. The main criteria in the past for when a fugitive does get removed are a few things:

-Believed to be probably deceased

-Deemed no longer a threat to the public

-Public leads have dried up.


In Jason's case, he allegedly killed a guy simply for money and is young enough to do it again, so he is still a threat to the public.

He is also the fugitive that the FBI receives the most tips on to this day. Unfortunately, it hasn't lead to his capture, but it is a somewhat positive sign. Other fugitives like Semion Mogilevich were removed because it was basically known where they were, but the countries they were hiding in wouldn't extradite them. (He was pretty much untouchable in Russia, so they decided to replace him with someone else), so public tips or knowing where they were wouldn't matter.

The manhunt has been frustrating, but fugitives on the run longer have been caught. Is it a possibility Brown may never be caught? Unfortunately, yes. But we've also seen Whitey Bulger, John List etc... caught when we thought they were never going to be captured either. You don't give up on a case just because it's been a long time. The victims of the fugitives still need justice.