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Most of the guns found after Pasco slaying of four belonged to victim, son testifies

 
Adam Matos attends jury selection on Wednesday at the West Pasco Judicial Center with Pinellas-Pasco Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Mary Handsel. Matos is accused of killing is ex-girlfriend, Megan Brown; her parents, Margaret and Gregory Brown; and her new boyfriend, Nick Leonard. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD  |  Times]
Adam Matos attends jury selection on Wednesday at the West Pasco Judicial Center with Pinellas-Pasco Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Mary Handsel. Matos is accused of killing is ex-girlfriend, Megan Brown; her parents, Margaret and Gregory Brown; and her new boyfriend, Nick Leonard. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times]
Published Nov. 6, 2017

NEW PORT RICHEY — After four people were slain in Hudson in 2014, a Pasco County sheriff's dive team found eight guns and two bows submerged in a canal behind their home.

On Monday, Gregory Aaron Brown identified most of the weapons as belonging to his father, one of the victims.

Brown testified Monday in the murder trial of Adam Matos, accused of killing Gregory and Margaret Brown, their daughter, Megan Brown, and her boyfriend, Nick Leonard.

The son, 32, spoke softly as he recalled his late father's interest in hunting. He kept trigger locks on all the guns, Brown said. They were always unloaded.

"I know they were all top-of-the-line," he said.

When a prosecutor showed him pictures of the items recovered from the canal, he recognized all but a handgun.

Prosecutors have not yet told jurors which gun was used to shoot the father and daughter, the two victims who died of gunshot wounds.

However, in an opening statement last week, Assistant State Attorney Bryan Sarabia told the jury that the two were shot with the same gun. A forensics technician testified Monday that a bullet found on the driveway also came from that gun.

Sarabia has also said that the mother and Leonard suffered head injuries "consistent with a hammer." A hammer was among items recovered from the canal.

Jamey Martin, a forensic investigator who testified, donned blue gloves and reached into a brown evidence bag to remove the hammer. He passed it in front of the jury.

Martin said divers also retrieved from the canal shotgun shells, rifle cartridges, three power drills and some drill bits. A truck, belonging to Leonard, contained a tool kit and drill bits, but was missing a drill.

Jurors were shown pictures of the guns and were told of blood stains throughout the house, including a large one in the master bedroom closet where Sarabia said the father had died.

They learned that Margaret Brown's hands were bound with zip ties and that a plastic trash bag covered her head.

Neither the state nor the defense asked Brown about his family's relationship with Matos.

The defendant sat quietly, looking down at a table, during Brown's brief testimony.

He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Contact Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@tampabay.com. Follow @TimesDan.