Carl "Charlie" Brandt possible serial killer
Gulffritallary
Copyright 2004 The Miami Herald All Rights Reserved The Miami HeraldSeptember
25, 2004 Saturday FL EDITIONSECTION: B; Pg. 7LENGTH: 501 wordsHEADLINE:
Detectives probe dead killer's past;Police are investigating whether a Big Pine
Key man who killed two relatives then hanged himself may have been a serial
murderer.;BIG PINE KEYBYLINE: BY JENNIFER BABSON AND SOFIA SANTANA;
jba...@herald.comDATELINE: BIG PINE KEYBODY:A Big Pine Key man who committed
suicide after murdering his wife and her niece in Central Florida last week is
now under investigation as a possible serial killer who may have murdered in
Miami, the Keys and elsewhere.Detectives from at least three Florida
jurisdictions and others from as far away as Boston are looking into whether
Carl ''Charlie'' Brandt, 47, described by stunned co-workers and neighbors as a
regular guy, may have been leading a deadly double life.Sources familiar with
the investigation in Seminole County said Brandt had carved up his wife's niece
and cut her heart out. Unbeknown to those who knew him, Brandt had killed
before: He murdered his mother and wounded his father as a 13-year-old in Fort
Wayne, Ind. Brandt was sent to psychiatric facility, according to news reports
at the time.Among several unsolved South Florida cases police are reviewing for
possible links to Brandt: the 1989 slaying of a 39-year-old woman on Big Pine
and the 1995 murder of a prostitute whose body was found wrapped in a black
plastic bag in Southwest Miami-Dade.''There are apparent similarities with the
case from Seminole,'' said Monroe County Sheriff Rick Roth.Brandt, an
electronics technician, lived with his wife Teresa, 46, in a stilt home on Big
Pine, and since 1985 had worked as a contractor for a U.S. Air Force radar
blimp facility on Cudjoe Key.As Hurricane Ivan approached, Brandt and his wife
evacuated to the home of her niece, Michelle Jones, 37, in Maitland.What
happened on Sept. 13 caught the attention of cold-case detectives across the
state. Brandt stabbed his wife to death, authorities say, and stabbed his niece
several times, then pulled her heart out. After killing the women,
investigators believe Brandt changed into clean clothes and hanged himself in a
garage.The bodies were found two days later.Last weekend, Seminole detectives
traveled to the Keys in search of additional evidence. Now police are
scrambling to see if Brandt could be involved in other cases:In 1989, Sherry
Perisho, 39, a high school beauty queen from Illinois, was found floating in
South Pine Channel. Perisho had her throat slit and heart stolen.Two other
unsolved murders occurred in the Big Pine area during the same period: the July
1988 murder and rape of 4-year old Patty Lanza, who was abducted from a party,
and the grisly December 1988 murder of Lisa Sanders, 20.Sanders also was
missing organs, including her heart, though animals were believed responsible.
Now, Monroe detectives are taking a closer look at of those cases.Miami-Dade
investigators are looking at the November 1995 murder of Darlene Toler, 35. Her
mutilated body, without head and heart, was found wrapped in a black plastic
bag near Southwest 137th Avenue and Eighth Street.Like many who knew Brandt, a
co-worker said Friday he was in shock.''He was the nicest guy I met at work. .
. ,'' said Kyle Clark. ''I basically think what they are saying is a bunch of
bull-crap.''
Here's story #2:Copyright 2004 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel
(Florida)September 25, 2004 Saturday FINALSECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A1LENGTH: 644
wordsHEADLINE: EVIDENCE BOOSTS MURDER THEORIESITEMS OF THE MAN WHO KILLED
HIMSELF AND 2 WOMEN IN SEMINOLE MAY LINK HIM TO OTHER DEATHS.BYLINE: Robert
Perez, Sentinel Staff WriterBODY:BIG PINE KEY -- A search of Carl "Charlie"
Brandt's home has uncovered evidence that bolsters investigators' theory that
the mild-mannered radar technician, who killed his wife and her niece before
taking his own life last week in Seminole County, may have been involved in at
least two other slayings and possibly more.Monroe County investigators who
searched Brandt's truck, safe-deposit box and home removed a diary belonging to
his wife, Teresa, a computer and other items.While investigators said they
found nothing incriminating in the diary, they would not disclose what was on
the computer, which was sent with the other evidence for analysis in Central
Florida.Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger would not discuss the nature of
what was found, but he insisted there were "items of value" to the
investigation. Authorities in Monroe and Miami-Dade counties are reviewing at
least two slayings to see whether Carl Brandt may have been involved in those
unresolved cases.On Friday, Eslinger said there could be even more killings
possibly linked to Brandt."There is a strong potential for others," he said. He
would not elaborate.Brandt, 47, was found Sept. 15 hanging in the garage of a
home owned by his wife's niece near Altamonte Springs. The bodies of Teresa
Brandt, 46, and her niece, Michelle Lynn Jones, 36, were found inside the
house. They had been stabbed to death.The Brandts had traveled to Central
Florida a few days earlier after evacuating the Florida Keys ahead of Hurricane
Ivan.Friends of the Brandts' initially were skeptical that Carl Brandt had
killed the two women. But it was later revealed that, 33 years ago in Fort
Wayne, Ind., 13-year-old Carl had gone on a shooting rampage, killing his
pregnant mother, Ilse, and seriously injuring his father, Herbert. A grand jury
did not indict Brandt, but the boy spent a year in a state mental-health
facility before being returned to his father.Findings at the crime scene in
Seminole County -- which authorities called "extensive" -- prompted the review
of the South Florida killings. Eslinger said there are several similarities in
the crimes, though he would not provide details.The first involved the 1989
killing of a former beauty queen about a quarter-mile from Brandt's home on Big
Pine Key. The second is a 1995 slaying of a Miami prostitute.In both cases, the
victim's heart was cut out, authorities said.The 1989 slaying of Sherry Perisho
was the third violent death in and around Big Pine Key in a year, said Becky
Herrin, a Monroe County sheriff's spokeswoman. Fishermen found Perisho's
partially clad body in 10 to 12 feet of water near the Pine Channel Bridge. She
had been slashed across her throat and down the length of her torso. Her heart
had been cut out and her spine severed."It was surgical," said sheriff's Sgt.
Darrell Hull, one of the divers who retrieved the body.Monroe County
investigators found nothing obvious in their search of Brandt's house that
would immediately resolve the Perisho case, Herrin said. Teresa Brandt's diary
had entries about marital problems, but there was nothing to suggest her
husband was violent, Monroe County Sheriff Richard Roth said.Still, the 39-year
Sheriff's Office veteran said he thinks the investigation is on the right
track."My gut feeling is that we will close Perisho when all this is said and
done," he said.In Miami-Dade County, authorities are taking another look at the
1995 killing of Darlene Toler, 35, a prostitute and mother of three whose body
was found stuffed into a plastic bag along a road on the west side of the
county.Toler's body was discovered the day after Thanksgiving. The heart and
head were missing, and neither has been found. Toler had been last seen the
night before in the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana. CONTACT: Robert Perez
can be reached at rpe...@orlandosentinel.com or 407-322-1298.
Here's story #3:
Copyright 2004 Sentinel Communications Co. Orlando Sentinel (Florida)September
23, 2004 Thursday FINALSECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A1LENGTH: 1003 wordsHEADLINE:
KILLER'S SECRET SHOCKS FRIENDSAS A BOY, THE CULPRIT IN A SEMINOLE COUNTY
MURDER-SUICIDE KILLED HIS PREGNANT MOTHER.BYLINE: Gary Taylor, Sandra Pedicini
and Robert Perez, Sentinel Staff WritersBODY:A man who stabbed his wife and
niece to death before hanging himself last week in Seminole County had, as a
teenager, killed his pregnant mother and shot his father more than 30 years
ago, authorities confirmed Wednesday.Carl "Charlie" Brandt, 47, was found Sept.
15 hanging in the garage of his niece's home near Altamonte Springs. The bodies
of his wife Teresa and niece Michelle Lynn Jones were discovered inside the
house. The Brandts had sought refuge with her when Hurricane Ivan threatened
their home in the Keys. The murder-suicide stunned friends of the Brandts', who
described the couple as loving. Revelations that he had killed before left them
in shock Wednesday. Even Teresa Brandt's family knew nothing about his deadly
past, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said.It's unknown whether Teresa
Brandt, 46, or Jones, 37, knew about his earlier rampage.Both families refused
to comment. Carl Brandt's family issued a statement through the Sheriff's
Office saying, "Like everyone, we struggle to understand why."Brandt was 13
when, on Jan. 3, 1971, he killed his mother, Ilse, by shooting her four times
as she bathed at home in Fort Wayne, Ind. He also tried to kill his father,
Herbert, who was hit by three bullets but survived after escaping to a bedroom
and locking himself inside, according to newspaper reports.A grand jury did not
indict Brandt because of his age, but it recommended that the teen get
psychiatric treatment, stating that "it is possible that such antisocial
conduct could repeat itself in the future." Brandt spent a year in a state
mental-health facility.Dr. Robert F. Green was one of the two court-appointed
psychiatrists to examine Brandt in 1971. Reached at his south Indiana home
Wednesday, Green, 80, said he remembers him "completely," but "it would not be
right" to comment.For the past 20 years, Brandt and his wife had lived in
Florida. He was a radar technician with Lockheed Martin Corp., working on Fat
Albert, a landmark-surveillance blimp stationed at Cudjoe Key.Michelle Jones,
an advertising executive with The Golf Channel in Orlando, had opened her home
at 390 Hickory Lane to her aunt and uncle about two weeks ago.According to
friends, the Brandts arrived Sept. 11 and visited his father in Ormond Beach
the next day. They said they planned to return home to Big Pine Key on Sept.
13.Brandt's father could not be reached for comment.Jones spoke with a friend
about noon that day. They were supposed to get together for dinner two days
later. When Jones failed to show up, the friend went to her home and she and a
neighbor saw the silhouette of a body in the garage. That's where investigators
found Carl Brandt.After autopsies determined the women had been stabbed to
death, Seminole County sheriff's investigators ruled that Carl Brandt killed
them and then hanged himself.Melanie Fecher, who described Teresa Brandt as her
best friend, said she was shocked by news of the 1971 slaying. If Teresa Brandt
knew about it, she never confided in her, Fecher said.Hans Kemmler of
Melbourne, who worked with Carl Brandt at Lockheed Martin, said nothing in his
behavior hinted of past problems."We didn't ever notice anything that would
suggest he was having problems," Kemmler said. "No depression. No withdrawal."A
neighbor of the Brandts', Alice Francis, was in disbelief."I've never heard
anything like that. I really can't believe that," said Francis, whose husband
used to fish and dive with Brandt. All Brandt ever said about his mother, she
said, was "that she had passed away when he was young."Local news accounts at
the time reported that Carl Brandt told authorities he "just felt the urge and
something must have snapped."From the start, prosecutors felt making a case
against someone so young would be difficult. Indiana state law presumed
children younger than 14 are not capable of understanding the consequences of
their actions.Prosecutors in Allen County, Ind., on Wednesday would disclose
little about the case, because Brandt was a juvenile at the time.But Eleanore
Kriz remembers that night in 1971. Like last week's killings in Seminole
County, there had been no indication of trouble before the shootings in Fort
Wayne. "They were decent people," she said. "It's not like they were weird or
anything."Herbert Brandt had been sitting on a stool in the bathroom, reading
Shakespeare to his wife, when Carl Brandt went up and shot them both, recalled
Kriz, who lived across the street. Carl Brandt's sister, Angela, fled to Kriz's
home after the shooting, she said."She flew in the door. She almost fell in,"
said Kriz, now 77 and living in the same house. "And she told me what her
brother had done. . . . She said, `My brother shot my mother.' . . . She ran to
get out of the house because she thought he'd kill her. . . . She was
unglued."Kriz said police asked her and a neighbor to go into the Brandts'
house and pick up two younger daughters who had slept through the shooting.
Authorities wanted the children removed so they could conduct their
investigation.Kriz described Carl Brandt as "a very quiet boy" whom she often
saw taking care of his younger sisters. "He used to baby-sit constantly with
those two younger daughters," said Kriz, recalling how he would ride them
around on his bike, "just doing what he was supposed to do."Kriz didn't talk to
Brandt's father, but heard that he was at first reluctant to take the boy back
after his release from a state hospital in Indianapolis. When Carl Brandt
returned home, she said, he was confined to the house and "kept away from
view."About a year after the incident, she said, Brandt's father remarried. The
family moved out of town shortly thereafter. CONTACT: Carol Scott, Amy Rippel
and Errin Haines of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Gary Taylor
can be reached at gta...@orlandosentinel.com or 407-324-7293. Sandra Pedicini
can be reached at sped...@orlandosentinel.com or 407-322-3513. Robert Perez
can be reached at rpe...@orlandosentinel.com or 407-322-1298.GRAPHIC: PHOTO: A
Jan. 4, 1971, article in the Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel recounts the
slaying of Ilse Brandt, a pregnant mother of 4. Her son, then-13-year-old Carl,
was arrested in the slaying and the shooting of his father.LOAD-DATE: September
23, 2004
tinydancer
"Gulffritallary" <gulffri...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040928215749...@mb-m18.aol.com...
Man, he made his first kills at 13 years old. Makes you wonder how many
other 'young killers' kill again, 'eh? Very interesting, thanks for
posting.
td