Lancaster man sentenced to life in prison

A Lancaster man was sentenced Tuesday, April 1, to state prison for the 2006 killing of his live-in girlfriend and her adult daughter, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Christopher Anthony Brown, 44, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of the two women. Brown was convicted last month of two counts of murder and using a handgun in the killings.

During the 2006 Thanksgiving Day weekend, Crystal Danielle Dawkins, 18, arrived in Southern California from South Carolina to meet her mother, Christine Angela Bacon, 41, for the first time. Bacon had abandoned Dawkins as a baby and the girl grew up with her biological father, prosecutors said.

During the visit, prosecutors said, Bacon and Brown got into a days-long argument that left Brown thinking they were going to break up and that Bacon would try to keep the home they shared.

The argument ended with Brown shooting the mother and daughter to death. Their bodies were found nearly a month later when Dawkins' family in South Carolina flew to Southern California to find her.

-- Joseph Serna and Maloy Moore