Texas Man Killed Stepdaughter's Ex for Threatening to Send Nude Photos of Her

A Texas man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday, Nov. 1, for killing his stepdaughter’s ex-boyfriend who threatened to show a nude photo of her.

Jessie Clifford Brown, 42, was found guilty of murder in the 2015 death of John Allen Franco, KLTV reported.

Franco, 24, was discovered about 10 p.m. on May 20, 2015, in his truck in a ravine in Liberty City with a bullet wound to his head.

He died at the scene.

A woman inside Franco’s vehicle told police that a blue truck drove past them prior to the shooting, and then stopped on the side of the road, per the Longview News-Journal, citing an arrest warrant. Three men got out of the truck and walked towards them. She said Franco drove off and the men followed. When Franco stopped at one point, one of the men jumped out of the truck and ran towards their vehicle.

“When the shot was fired, Franco, who was the driver, had the vehicle in reverse,” Gregg County First Assistant District Attorney Stacey Brownlee tells PEOPLE. “And when he was shot, either because he was injured, and had some type of reflex or intentionally put the truck in reverse, it drove off into the ravine.”

After the shooting “there were quite a few names that were called in, potential suspects that were called in and a lot of rumors,” says Brownlee. “The investigator ran those rumors down, trying to check to see if anyone matched the descriptions of the initial suspects, did cell phone forensics, and basically we ran out of leads.”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

However, in 2017, a witness came forward and told authorities that Brown and two other men were involved in the shooting, according to the News-Journal, citing an arrest warrant.

One of the men allegedly told police that Brown “wanted to assault Franco because Franco had threatened to show nude photos of (Brown’s) stepdaughter,” per the warrant.

“They were trying to get a phone from Franco and on the phone were inappropriate pictures of Jessie Brown's stepdaughter,” Brownlee says. “Part of their outing that evening was to get the phone from Franco,” who had previously dated Brown's stepdaughter.

Brownlee says Franco had sent a text to the stepdaughter showing a nude photo, which prosecutors believe amounted to a threat to disseminate such photos of her.

Brown was arrested on Oct. 18, 2018.

“We are just grateful for citizens that are willing to step forward regardless of the cost, because that's what it takes to solve crime,” says Brownlee.