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EVERYONE WISH MY SUGAR BEAR Gary Farmer A VERY BLESSED HAPPY BIRTHDAY! LUV HIM SO VERY MUCH! 🥳💐🍰🎊💙

YOU DIDN'T DESERVE THIS John Bruggeman! 💔

Marshall resident

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) — A Battle Creek man charged with murder took the victim’s ATM card and van and sent a text stating, “I did it,” court records show.

Monteko Brown, 34, was arraigned Tuesday on a count of open murder as third-time offender, the Calhoun County prosecutor confirmed to News 8. The charges stem from the death of John Bruggeman, court records show.

An Aug. 29, 2026, booking photo of Monteko Brown

The documents show Bruggeman picked Brown up in his white van at Claude Evans Park at N. Washington Avenue at Parkway Drive in Battle Creek on the evening of Aug. 25.

The documents say police took a cellphone from Brown that had an audio recording on it in which Bruggeman told Brown he had more than $109,000 in his bank account.

The phone also had text messages in which Brown said the two were going to a campsite.

“(T)hen I’m on him,” the text messages read, according to the documents. “I’m overdosing the old man with Seroquel.”

Seroquel is an antipsychotic that can treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

“Come get this money,” another text said, the documents show. “I did it.”

Police say they found a photo on the phone that had been taken at 12:40 a.m. on Aug. 26 showing Bruggeman lying on the ground with “blood on his face and swelling near his ear, with a hand holding a lighter over his body.” According to the documents, Brown admitted to taking the photo.

The document says that on the afternoon of Aug. 26, someone used Bruggeman’s card to withdraw $100 from an ATM on W. Michigan Avenue near McCamly Street in downtown Battle Creek. Video from nearby businesses allegedly shows Brown on his bicycle only four minutes before the withdrawal. They say Brown admitted to using Bruggeman’s card to get more than $500 from multiple ATMs and “receiving $275 and Bruggeman’s van in exchange.”

The Battle Creek Police Department said in a Tuesday release that the Bruggeman had initially been reported missing to Marshall police before BCPD detectives picked up the case as part of the Calhoun County Major Crimes Task Force on Thursday. A request from News 8 to Marshall police seeking details about the missing person’s case was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.

The same day, BCPD says, officers started looking into a “felony complaint involving the missing person’s vehicle.” Officials would not clarify the nature of that complaint. Police say they found the van using commercial surveillance cameras and automated license plate readers.

The court records show Brown was arrested at an outreach center on Grove Street near McCamly around 6:30 p.m. Thursday. He had Bruggeman’s van, the documents say.

He was arrested on charges unrelated to Bruggeman. The prosecutor said Brown was separately arraigned Friday on charges linked to that case, but involving a different victim: unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Police say when they questioned Brown Saturday, he told them “he knew Bruggeman was going to be killed and he did nothing to stop it.”
He then showed them to where to find Bruggeman’s body in some woods on Elm Street near Michigan Avenue in Battle Creek, the documents say.

“Brown identified the body as Bruggeman and stated the location was his own campsite,” the court documents read in part.

Brown, who was denied bond, is expected back in court Sept. 9 and Sept. 16 for hearings. If convicted of murder, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

THIS EVIL MONSTER KILLED MY SPECIAL FRIEND John Bruggeman 😭😭😭 JOHN WAS SUCH A KIND SOUL & WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR ANYONE! JUST DEVASTATED! 💔💔💔💔

ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IN THIS WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD PASTOR BOB ZUHL! 🫂💙🫂💙🫂

HELLO MONDAY HAIRROOM FRIENDS! 9-5 ✂️

EVERYONE WISH MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER JEFF BAUER A VERY BLESSED HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 💐🥳

HAPPY BLESSED THURSDAY HAIRROOM FRIENDS! 9-5 🤎🦋🧡

RIH DOLLY PARTON 🕊 🤎