Stephanie Diane Dowells: Inglewood Woman Dies During Visit To California Prison
Stephanie Diane Dowells, 62, who also went by the name Stephanie Brinson, was a hairdresser who lived in Inglewood, California, with her son, Armand Torres, 28, his wife, Nataly Jimenez and their 3-year-old son.
In November 2024, Dowells went to visit her husband, David Brinson, 54, in Mule State Prison in Ione, California, where another visiting woman was killed. Brinson was serving time for murdering four men during a robbery in the 1990s.
Torres told news media that he had reservations about his mother visiting Brinson, who was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
“We really love our mom, and we just wanted her to be happy, you know, and she usually came back happy,” Torres told NBC News. “They talked on the phone every day, everything seemed good. I’m all for second chances.”
Torres said he even allowed his mother to bring his child to visit Brinson. “If I could trust him with my kid, I’m thinking, it’s a green light,” Torres told NBC News. “You know, like, everything’s fine.”
On November 13, 2024, the day of the conjugal visit, Dowells stayed in the prison overnight. Brinson reportedly told officers around 2 a.m. that his wife had passed out.
After prison officials tried to resuscitate her and called 911, Dowells was later declared dead.
The family was later told by the prison that Dowells died of natural causes. Four months later, an Amador County coroner concluded she had been strangled to death.
Prison officials and the district attorney’s office are investigating, with charges pending autopsy and prison reports, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Dowells’ son, Torres, said he began to grow suspicious after Brinson’s account of events kept changing.
“He would say, you know, she passed out on the floor, or she was passed out on the bed,” Jimenez told a local news outlet.
Dowells’ killing remains under investigation by prison officials and charges are pending for Brinson based off prison and autopsy reports, officials said.
RELATED ARTICLES
