SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A man convicted of killing a woman so his friend could acquire a $1.5 million trust fund will spend 55 years to life in prison, according to a press release from the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
DA Summer Stephan says Luther Brown was sentenced Wednesday. He and Brendan Doyle were convicted in April 2024 for the murder of 65-year-old Laura Doyle, the release states.
Doyle was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison last August for the murder of his mother. In a press release sent to ABC 10News, the district attorney said Doyle strangled his mother in 2019, demanding two checks for $1,000 each. He later met up with Brown to conspire to murder his mother and get her trust fund, which was worth $1.5 million.
Ms. Doyle was found dead in her home in Oct. 2020. Neighbors contacted authorities and said they should investigate her son. The autopsy showed that Ms. Doyle’s cause of death was brutal strangulation, resulting in multiple fractures.
After her death, her son spent more than $11,000 on her credit card. He was arrested in November 2020. Investigators used DNA evidence found on Ms. Doyle’s clothing that linked Brown to the crime. The press release says Brown bragged to a roommate about killing someone for a friend back in 2020; he was arrested in 2021.
Doyle is still litigating the disbursement of his mother’s trust in probate court, the DA's office says.
