Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / EXCLUSIVE: TEEN GAGS ON POOL BALL, SARAN WRAPPED HEAD, SUSPECTS POPEYES & PUTTPUTT, CHAINSAW

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EXCLUSIVE: TEEN GAGS ON POOL BALL, SARAN WRAPPED HEAD, SUSPECTS POPEYES & PUTTPUTT, CHAINSAW · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
0:06
Speaker 2: A beautiful young teen girl, Miranda just turn sixteen. We
0:12
Speaker 2: now know from search warrant affidavits and returns, this little
0:19
Speaker 2: girl actually dies gagging on a pool, bawl forced into
0:25
Speaker 2: her mouth, her head wrapped mummy style with kitchen saran wrap.
0:33
Speaker 2: And then after this child's body is dismembered, the purpse
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Speaker 2: leaving blood and human tissue up on.
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Speaker 1: The side of a house.
0:46
Speaker 2: They didn't even take a water hose Forte's sake to
0:49
Speaker 2: clean off this child's blood. These two go out to
0:56
Speaker 2: celebrate with Popeyes and Putt Putt after dismembering her with
1:04
Speaker 2: a chainsaw. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank
1:08
Speaker 2: you for being with us.
1:10
Speaker 3: Records reveal gruesome new details about the sixteen year old
1:14
Speaker 3: Florida teen's murder. Defendants allegedly ate Popeyes and played Midi
1:19
Speaker 3: golf before incinerating Miranda Corset's body.
1:24
Speaker 2: It all starts here when last week we obtained exclusive
1:29
Speaker 2: video of the co defendants. Here he is Gress, we believe,
1:36
Speaker 2: taking the teen girl's body out to his vehicle, just
1:42
Speaker 2: sauntering along without a care in the world, not worried
1:45
Speaker 2: if he would.
1:45
Speaker 1: Be seen nothing. He tucks the body into his.
1:53
Speaker 2: Vehicle, checks everything is just right, nothing hanging out, slams
2:01
Speaker 2: the trunk with the child's body in the car, and
2:07
Speaker 2: saunters back in.
2:09
Speaker 1: Little did he know that he upstairs.
2:13
Speaker 2: Residence this is a duplex, had her ring camera going
2:18
Speaker 2: the entire time, and we got it. It's all caught
2:24
Speaker 2: on video. This and more. He's not even worried this,
2:32
Speaker 2: as we learn, he and builds the bub the minion
2:37
Speaker 2: from Hell. Satan's assistant forced a pool ball into this
2:43
Speaker 2: child's mouth, then wrapped her head mummy style and Sarahan
2:51
Speaker 2: rap until she.
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Speaker 1: Died. In the last hours.
2:57
Speaker 2: We obtain more video and we enhance it NASA style
3:03
Speaker 2: to determine what exactly was being said at one juncture.
3:07
Speaker 2: I want you to see the video that we have enhanced.
3:12
Speaker 2: A neighbor comes from across the street and we hear
3:17
Speaker 2: her say the words.
3:19
Speaker 1: We hear Gress stating about the little girl. Quote this punch.
3:25
Speaker 2: Stole my ring right here, the ate all the food
3:29
Speaker 2: in the kitchen. He's talking about a little girl. The
3:33
Speaker 2: neighbor says, the girl in the corner, h yeah, what
3:37
Speaker 2: other girl, and the Gress says yeah.
3:43
Speaker 1: He says she says that's her body.
3:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, neighbor says, damn, listen, what is.
4:01
Speaker 1: With these people?
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Speaker 2: I'm going to leave that to a jury. Thank goodness,
4:04
Speaker 2: I got a shrink. But the shrink is joining us
4:07
Speaker 2: at about one minute. But first I want to go
4:09
Speaker 2: to Dan Sullivan joining us, writer for Tampa Bay Times
4:14
Speaker 2: at Tampa Bay dot com who obtained a lot of
4:18
Speaker 2: this affidavit and search warrant material.
4:21
Speaker 1: Dan Sullivan, did you just see the video? The neighbor just.
4:25
Speaker 2: Saunters over and goes that's her body, and Gress says yeah,
4:31
Speaker 2: And all she says.
4:32
Speaker 1: Is damn, what is wrong with this woman?
4:36
Speaker 4: I can answer that I know that what the police
4:39
Speaker 4: put in the search warrant was that at least that
4:44
Speaker 4: neighbor and at least a few other people were aware
4:48
Speaker 4: that this girl was with him during this week. You know,
4:54
Speaker 4: it's not clear.
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Speaker 2: Dan Sullivan, guys renowned writer for the Tampa Bay Times,
4:59
Speaker 2: states that his examination of court documents we have just
5:04
Speaker 2: obtained they got it revealed that at least six people
5:09
Speaker 2: knew the girl was in his words with Gress. Isn't
5:14
Speaker 2: it true, Dan Sullivan that based on these court documents,
5:19
Speaker 2: an affidavit a sworn affidavit of what the officer, the
5:24
Speaker 2: detective learned.
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Speaker 1: She wasn't just with him for an outing in the park.
5:29
Speaker 2: She was being beaten, lying naked in a corner, begging
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Speaker 2: for help, and everybody knew it.
5:36
Speaker 1: All of these people knew it.
5:38
Speaker 2: And in my mind, are complicit complicit with it. I mean,
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Speaker 2: this neighbor sees her naked in the corner.
5:48
Speaker 1: Dan Well, I.
5:49
Speaker 4: Think it seems, based on what's in the affidavit, that
5:53
Speaker 4: people didn't know what was going on. It's not clear
5:59
Speaker 4: if every one of them knew the extent of what
6:02
Speaker 4: was going on, but it seems I mean, there were
6:05
Speaker 4: a few people who received photographs that showed her in
6:10
Speaker 4: worsening physical condition throughout the week.
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Speaker 2: And you mean she's getting beaten more and more and
6:18
Speaker 2: more lying there naked in the fetal position in the corner.
6:21
Speaker 2: I'd say that is worsening condition.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it is, you know, according to what's in the
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Speaker 4: search warrant that they did receive photos of what was
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Speaker 4: going on. Like I say, though, I mean, it's not
6:32
Speaker 4: clear if everyone that saw her knew the extent of
6:36
Speaker 4: what she was going through, but some of them, you know,
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Speaker 4: it seems had reason to believe that there was something
6:44
Speaker 4: you know, very wrong happening.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, something called child abuse, child rape, and murder.
6:49
Speaker 1: Well, you're right, it is murky.
6:52
Speaker 2: And you know right now what I'm trying to figure out,
6:55
Speaker 2: Dan Sullivan, I'm trying to figure out the appropriate charges for.
7:00
Speaker 1: These six ghules.
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Speaker 2: Because right now they're not charged. But believe you me, Dan,
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Speaker 2: there is a way. There is a way. I mean,
7:13
Speaker 2: when you get sent pictures this technical legal phrase, a
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Speaker 2: hole sent pictures.
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Speaker 1: Of the little girl, a little girl.
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Speaker 2: Dan, did you know my twins just turned seventeen. My
7:28
Speaker 2: daughter weighs about ninety pounds. She's nothing but lip gloss
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Speaker 2: and eyelashes. This girl's sixteen, sixteen, Dan, and beaten to
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Speaker 2: a pulp and these people send photos. The man gress
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Speaker 2: sends photos of the little girl to various people lying there,
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Speaker 2: beaten and naked into corner.
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Speaker 1: Did you just say, Dan, that the photos got worse.
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Speaker 2: The photos show her in increasingly worse physical condition, and
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Speaker 2: he kept photoing her and sending them from his phone.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that is that is what the police wrote in
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Speaker 4: the search warrant, that you know the photos showed her
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Speaker 4: an increasingly worse physical condition. As far as whether you know,
8:24
Speaker 4: anyone else might be charged.
8:26
Speaker 5: I don't know.
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Speaker 4: Our local state attorney here, Bruce Bartlett, said that they
8:31
Speaker 4: are that that's a possibility and that they're looking at that.
8:36
Speaker 4: I don't know if you know they might need any
8:39
Speaker 4: of these people to testify as witnesses and what factor
8:42
Speaker 4: that might play in.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, you're right, man, you're thinking ahead.
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Speaker 2: You're like five steps ahead of most people, maybe ten,
8:52
Speaker 2: because these six people. You know, I'm not a batting
8:55
Speaker 2: person because I've got children put through college. I don't
8:58
Speaker 2: want to waste my money on the slot. But if
9:00
Speaker 2: I were a betting person, I would bet that these
9:04
Speaker 2: six people are either going to be states witnesses or
9:08
Speaker 2: co defendants.
9:09
Speaker 1: Mark my words. They can all be.
9:11
Speaker 2: Thrown in the same pot to stew as far as
9:14
Speaker 2: I'm concerned. Again, they're all presumed innocent, Dan.
9:17
Speaker 1: Isn't it true?
9:18
Speaker 2: The affidavit reveals that the defendants quote searched the girl's
9:25
Speaker 2: body cavities that means her vagina, her anus, her mouth
9:33
Speaker 2: for a stolen ring that really hadn't been stolen at all.
9:38
Speaker 1: Isn't that true? They did this to this little girl.
9:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, there is one part of the affidavit that describes that,
9:47
Speaker 4: and it does seem, based on what's in the affidavit,
9:50
Speaker 4: that mister Gress apparently felt very strongly about this ring
9:55
Speaker 4: and believed that Miranda had taken it, done something with it,
10:00
Speaker 4: really wanted to find it. There was some information.
10:04
Speaker 2: From really wanted to find it up her anus.
10:07
Speaker 4: That's according to the affidavit. That is what you know,
10:13
Speaker 4: he's let to have done. There was some information from
10:18
Speaker 4: one of the other people involved that you know, they
10:22
Speaker 4: believed that he you know, that Miranda had nothing to
10:25
Speaker 4: do with this ring, and that it was actually the
10:28
Speaker 4: co defendant, Missus Brandis.
10:29
Speaker 1: Brandis ring all along.
10:31
Speaker 2: Isn't it true that Brandish that the ring was quote
10:35
Speaker 2: found suddenly in Gress's car and Brandis insinuated intimated to
10:43
Speaker 2: the third roommate that she had taken it so Griss
10:47
Speaker 2: would get angry at the little girl and get rid
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Speaker 2: of her.
10:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was there was something to that effect in
10:53
Speaker 4: the search war. And this was after the the girl
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Speaker 4: had you know, that they had disposed of her body.
11:01
Speaker 2: You know what, We're spending a lot of time talking
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Speaker 2: about the ring, and frankly, Dan Sullivan, I don't give
11:06
Speaker 2: a flying fig about the ring.
11:08
Speaker 1: That was just a pretext to beat this child.
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Speaker 2: We're now learning from the affidavit that you obtained that
11:15
Speaker 2: Gress has a history of targeting let me just say,
11:22
Speaker 2: troubled women and girls. We know that Miranda had lost
11:27
Speaker 2: both of her parents suddenly it's a little girl loft
11:31
Speaker 2: boast of her parents at a young age and moved
11:34
Speaker 2: in with grandma. And Grandma was so happy that Miranda
11:39
Speaker 2: had a Valentine date date.
11:42
Speaker 1: That date.
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Speaker 2: Is with her alleged killer, Gress, who lured her online.
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Speaker 2: Speaking of the ring, that was a pretext for abuse,
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Speaker 2: torture and murder her. Listen to what the neighbor who
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Speaker 2: saunters over and sees the.
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Speaker 1: Girl and does nothing.
12:07
Speaker 2: We have managed to enhance the video from the upstair
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Speaker 2: residence ring cam, and.
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear what she says.
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Speaker 2: Now remember her last words you heard were that's her body, damn.
12:20
Speaker 1: Listen to this.
12:24
Speaker 5: Why you get out of figure out right?
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Speaker 1: The neighbor sees what's happening. The neighbor sees the little
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Speaker 1: girl balled.
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Speaker 2: Up in a corner crying, and you hear Gress say
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Speaker 2: she stole my ring and neighbor, how the hell are
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Speaker 2: you going to get her out of here?
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Speaker 1: Gress.
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Speaker 2: Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out right now.
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Speaker 2: And the neighbor says, don't kill her. I don't want
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Speaker 2: to see the police up here. So she doesn't want
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Speaker 2: them to kill the little girl because she doesn't want
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Speaker 2: the police around. Wonder why I think I know the affidavit,
13:10
Speaker 2: does it not? Dan Sullivan refer to the neighbor as
13:13
Speaker 2: having sold pot to Gress in the past.
13:17
Speaker 1: That's correct.
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Speaker 4: There is a portion of the affidavit where I believe
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Speaker 4: that it says that I guess she came over to
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Speaker 4: exchange in a drug transaction with him.
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Speaker 2: We're not sure that this is the same neighbor, but
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Speaker 2: we do know that this neighbor that actually talks to
13:37
Speaker 2: Miranda lying there dying, she does not want the police
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Speaker 2: quote up in here.
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Speaker 1: Then the neighbor says, where you got the ring, honey?
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Speaker 1: You could have just given it to him. It's not
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Speaker 1: over yet.
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Speaker 2: There is more from the neighbor, and we have been
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Speaker 2: able to enhance the video and the sound. Just the
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Speaker 2: nature of this neighbor. She sees the girl lying there naked,
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Speaker 2: dying and starts quizzing her about a ring.
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Speaker 1: Listen, I don't want to be an idea.
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Speaker 2: Joining me is renowned a psychoanalyst, author of deal Breaker,
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Speaker 2: and you can see her now on Peacock Doctor Bethany Marshall.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany, what is wrong with this woman? She just
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Speaker 1: says to Gress, Okay, don't kill nobody. You're Michelle. I
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Speaker 1: don't want to see the police. Iye been here.
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Speaker 6: That's just so casual, Nancy, this is so painful to hear. Actually,
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Speaker 6: she says, is that the body? She doesn't say, is
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Speaker 6: that Miranda? Or is that the little girl or teenager?
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Speaker 6: Why isn't she in school already? She's dehumanized and dead
14:49
Speaker 6: in the neighbor's mind. And in terms of this allegend crime,
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Speaker 6: what perpetrators do is they create something called institutional psychopathology
14:58
Speaker 6: where they gravitate towards one person who has a corruption
15:02
Speaker 6: of conscience, and that person gravitates towards another, and all
15:05
Speaker 6: of a sudden they become a little group that has
15:08
Speaker 6: criminality in common, like a criminal morning coffee clutch. We
15:14
Speaker 6: see this with child molesters, Nancy. I mean, they gravitate
15:17
Speaker 6: towards each other. Online they pass pictures around, and this is.
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Speaker 1: What Bethany Gress. Bethany, Bethany too many words.
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Speaker 2: Boil it down, give me the concentrate, hit me.
15:30
Speaker 1: Birds of a feather flock together. Joining us now is
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Speaker 1: a special guest.
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Speaker 2: It's Dave Horton, the landlord at the Gress home now
15:41
Speaker 2: believe to be murder scene.
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Speaker 1: Mister Wharton, thank you for being with us. Oh, no problem,
15:47
Speaker 1: mister Horton.
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Speaker 2: On the outside, your place looks, you know, perfect well,
15:52
Speaker 2: thank you, well manicured, painted the works. But on the
15:56
Speaker 2: inside it turns into a house of horrors for this
15:59
Speaker 2: little sixteen year old girl. Now, you just evicted Gress
16:06
Speaker 2: in the last hours. Explain to me what you discovered
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Speaker 2: inside the murder scene.
16:13
Speaker 5: Oh, I couldn't believe it. You know, the place was
16:16
Speaker 5: we had the inside fixed up just as nice. I
16:19
Speaker 5: spent a lot of time.
16:20
Speaker 7: And money over there, and it was just unbelievable.
16:25
Speaker 5: The kitchen, the damage that was in the kitchen.
16:27
Speaker 7: And her bedroom. You know, I had to evict.
16:32
Speaker 5: Them because there was rabbit feces everywhere in her room,
16:37
Speaker 5: all over the place. And we cleaned that up, you know, yesterday,
16:41
Speaker 5: And we really got into a corner there and opened
16:46
Speaker 5: up a box and we've seen a bunch of broken
16:48
Speaker 5: crystal meth pipes, a bunch of lighters and the little
16:52
Speaker 5: bag of Mathway threw that in the bottom of the garbage,
16:55
Speaker 5: took it out in the garbage man took that away yesterday.
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Speaker 7: It was just unbelievable.
16:59
Speaker 1: You know, you evicted the residence.
17:04
Speaker 5: Why the eviction was due to non payment of rent.
17:07
Speaker 5: We wanted to get him out of there. And you know, honestly,
17:11
Speaker 5: I started to evict him several years ago on a
17:14
Speaker 5: termination when he shot the window out of my kitchen
17:16
Speaker 5: with the BB gun. He had a baby hole in there,
17:19
Speaker 5: and I says, look, we don't put up with this
17:21
Speaker 5: kind of stuff around here, you know. And I spent
17:23
Speaker 5: three hundred dollars with a lawyer and they went out
17:25
Speaker 5: and served him, and you know, he ended up showing
17:29
Speaker 5: up at my house. And I don't know now if
17:31
Speaker 5: it was he was threatening me or if he was
17:34
Speaker 5: just trying to plead, like you know, he would put
17:36
Speaker 5: on the nice guy face, you know, and oh, I'll
17:39
Speaker 5: do anything. Oh my god, I'm so sorry I did that,
17:41
Speaker 5: and I'll behave it will never happen again. Well it happen.
17:44
Speaker 5: You know what happened again?
17:46
Speaker 2: You know, you know Dave Horton, he just says something
17:48
Speaker 2: I find very very probative because many people, and myself included,
17:53
Speaker 2: wonder what attracted these women to this, oh perve because
18:01
Speaker 2: he could put on, as you said, the nice guy face.
18:04
Speaker 5: Yes he could, and I think he did that with
18:07
Speaker 5: the police too. You know, they came out, oh no need,
18:10
Speaker 5: no need to go inside the apartment. That was the
18:13
Speaker 5: friday before.
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Speaker 2: When you went in the home to clean it out
18:16
Speaker 2: for the eviction, did you see any evidence that a
18:20
Speaker 2: teen girl had been held hostage there and murdered, only
18:25
Speaker 2: later to be dismembered.
18:27
Speaker 5: No, there was no evidence whatsoever there really, you know,
18:31
Speaker 5: the place was just a complete just like a bomb
18:34
Speaker 5: went off in there. You know, you didn't know what happened.
18:38
Speaker 1: You know, we say it looks like a bomb went off.
18:40
Speaker 2: Are you referring to the fingerprint dust, the fingerprint powder
18:45
Speaker 2: all over the walls or something else.
18:47
Speaker 5: They went in there on the Friday after. I just
18:50
Speaker 5: I almost gave up on the place because the police
18:53
Speaker 5: was out there on a Friday and they wouldn't do anything.
18:56
Speaker 5: And Gypsy says, well, they came out and they didn't
18:58
Speaker 5: go inside. Well, obviously she heard something in there. That's
19:01
Speaker 5: why she called the police.
19:02
Speaker 2: You know, I understand that the mother came by and
19:05
Speaker 2: the only thing she cared about was the parent.
19:08
Speaker 5: Yeah now, And I ended up ringing to him. Was
19:12
Speaker 5: through a friend of mine, and he had called me
19:15
Speaker 5: originally years ago and said, oh, you know, he knew
19:18
Speaker 5: Steve's mother and apparently he kind of helps Steve's mother.
19:23
Speaker 5: He likes Steve's mom and they hang out whatever. And
19:27
Speaker 5: he had called me and he says, Dave, is the
19:30
Speaker 5: parrot still over there at the house? And I knew
19:32
Speaker 5: it was at the animal control And I says, no, no,
19:34
Speaker 5: it's still there at the house, and she goes through.
19:37
Speaker 5: It was a three thousand dollars parrot. I'm thinking I've
19:39
Speaker 5: got about five six thousand dollars in damages. We got
19:41
Speaker 5: a dead sixteen year old girl, and all you're worried
19:43
Speaker 5: about is the damn bird the mother. So when the
19:47
Speaker 5: mother came.
19:48
Speaker 1: Out, brother preach it. She's all upset about the bird
19:52
Speaker 1: and the girl. I know, torture.
19:54
Speaker 5: I know, a.
19:55
Speaker 2: Day and a heap in the corner, naked bruised.
20:02
Speaker 1: Did you know that, according to.
20:04
Speaker 2: Witnesses, your resident, your tenant, would take pictures of the
20:09
Speaker 2: little girl like lying there all bruised and send them
20:13
Speaker 2: to people.
20:14
Speaker 1: And as he continued to.
20:16
Speaker 2: Send them to people, mister Horton, every time there would
20:19
Speaker 2: be more bruises, and she would look worse and worse
20:22
Speaker 2: and worse, and nobody kid believe this thing.
20:26
Speaker 5: I can't believe this man, I can't believe. And I
20:28
Speaker 5: heard he sent pictures to the mother too. No. Yeah,
20:33
Speaker 5: so I had the police detectives greet his mother when
20:35
Speaker 5: they when she came out there, she thought she was
20:37
Speaker 5: getting the bird, but she got to talk to them,
20:39
Speaker 5: and that's when she found out about the murder and
20:42
Speaker 5: everything else. She didn't even know about it, you know,
20:44
Speaker 5: until then when she drove out there.
20:46
Speaker 2: Well, wait a minute, she got the pictures of the
20:48
Speaker 2: little girl naked, beat up in the corner, and she
20:50
Speaker 2: didn't know anything was going on.
20:51
Speaker 5: That's what I was told, was on the news yesterday.
20:55
Speaker 5: I'm not sure, you know.
20:56
Speaker 2: Well, somebody lied to you, man, they did. Well, yeah,
20:59
Speaker 2: she's getting pictures of the little girl. Miranda just turned sixteen.
21:04
Speaker 2: We're showing pictures of her as a little girl right now,
21:06
Speaker 2: curled up in a ball in the fetal position.
21:08
Speaker 8: Of the corner.
21:09
Speaker 1: Picture after picture after picture, and every time there'll be
21:13
Speaker 1: more bruises.
21:14
Speaker 2: And more beatings on the girl, and so she cannot
21:17
Speaker 2: with a straight face state, Hey, I didn't know anything.
21:20
Speaker 1: Where's my parent?
21:21
Speaker 5: Wow? Unbelievable.
21:23
Speaker 1: You know what, I.
21:24
Speaker 2: Bet a jury's gonna believe it and remind her everyone
21:28
Speaker 2: all of this bunch of people innocent in the eyes
21:34
Speaker 2: of Lady Justice until proven guilty in the court of law.
21:37
Speaker 1: Dave Horton, I bet you've got.
21:39
Speaker 2: Some stories to tell, crime stories with Nancy Great joining us.
21:54
Speaker 2: Dave Horton a landlord at defendant's home he shared with
21:58
Speaker 2: two other women who, by their own words, were there
22:04
Speaker 2: and watched one of them allegedly participating in the brutal,
22:09
Speaker 2: brutal torture of a little girl ultimately murdered. Mister Horton,
22:16
Speaker 2: you better get that place in spick and span perfect condition,
22:20
Speaker 2: because I predict a.
22:21
Speaker 1: Jury is going to want to see the same. Thank you, sir, okay.
22:28
Speaker 3: Details emerge on sixteen year old Miranda Course has death.
22:31
Speaker 3: Documents reveal accused murderers eight popeyes and play mini golf
22:36
Speaker 3: after torturing and holding Miranda captive for a week.
22:42
Speaker 1: Popeyes, put putt, and a chainsaw. You know when I graduated, Laura,
22:49
Speaker 1: you from law school. I never thought that I.
22:51
Speaker 2: Put those three ideas in one sentence, much less a.
22:57
Speaker 1: Pool ball.
22:59
Speaker 2: To Sonoda joining me, child of sex Abes, grooming expert,
23:05
Speaker 2: social worker, author of Duck Duck Groom.
23:11
Speaker 1: The backdrop of.
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Speaker 2: What we're talking about right now is that the grandma
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Speaker 2: was so happy that Miranda was going to have a
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Speaker 2: Valentine's date right.
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Speaker 1: With gris.
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Speaker 2: A devil from hell.
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Speaker 1: What's your message?
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Speaker 9: I want every parent listening to know that children are
23:35
Speaker 9: actually following our lead. They're using dating apps. The average
23:41
Speaker 9: thirteen to seventeen year old, eleven percent of those kids
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Speaker 9: in that age group are on dating apps. We're talking Tenderokcupid, Match,
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Speaker 9: dot Com, Bumble, and we have to throw in Instagram
23:54
Speaker 9: because children are using Instagram as a dating tool. And
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Speaker 9: every parent it is pay attention to all online activity,
24:04
Speaker 9: discuss the risk factors of meeting people online.
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Speaker 1: And we need.
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Speaker 9: Better more robust age verifications. Just like miners are misrepresenting ourselves,
24:15
Speaker 9: so are adults.
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Speaker 2: You really think a minor a child is what do
24:22
Speaker 2: you mean by more.
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Speaker 1: Robust age of verifications?
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Speaker 2: If they want to get on tender or Grinder, they're
24:30
Speaker 2: going to do you really think a child that wants
24:34
Speaker 2: to get out a dating app is going to go
24:36
Speaker 2: better not lie beyter, not check that box. Of course,
24:39
Speaker 2: they're going to check the box that they're twenty one
24:41
Speaker 2: or older.
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Speaker 9: You're absolutely right, Nancy. What we've done is we've modeled
24:45
Speaker 9: to children that it's perfectly acceptable to use dating apps
24:48
Speaker 9: to meet people, and as a result, the world is
24:51
Speaker 9: open to them. Predators know this, and they are the
24:54
Speaker 9: ones who are winning. They have a direct path to
24:58
Speaker 9: access miners. Children who are vulnerable, children who want affection,
25:03
Speaker 9: want attention, are seeking love. This poor young child.
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Speaker 2: Well, hold on, you know, I agree with everything you're saying, Anna, Sonoda,
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Speaker 2: except I don't know that there's so much seeking love
25:14
Speaker 2: as an adult would describe it. But I think they're
25:17
Speaker 2: seeking acceptance that they may not be getting at school
25:23
Speaker 2: or in their world. And they're seeking friends. I mean,
25:28
Speaker 2: look at Miranda. She was fifteen at the get go,
25:32
Speaker 2: this little girl right there with her little critter. Both
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Speaker 2: parents die suddenly, she's now living with Grandma. She wants
25:44
Speaker 2: that dream she sees on TV with the boyfriend taking
25:48
Speaker 2: her out and having fun going places. This is what
25:54
Speaker 2: she got, Anna, She got one of these crammed into
25:58
Speaker 2: her mouth in our head wrapped in cell aphane, which
26:01
Speaker 2: I'm about to get to. So I don't know if
26:04
Speaker 2: more robust age verifications are going to help anything. I
26:08
Speaker 2: think it's more on the parents to stop it.
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Speaker 1: But this grandma, I mean, what did she know? She
26:15
Speaker 1: probably doesn't even know what Google is. For Pete's sake,
26:17
Speaker 1: I want to go quickly to Dan Sullivan.
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Speaker 2: Dan, we're learning so much from the documents. As a
26:23
Speaker 2: matter of fact, listen.
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Speaker 8: Court documents show that at least six people knew Stephen
26:28
Speaker 8: Gress and Michelle Brandis were holding sixteen year old Miranda
26:31
Speaker 8: Corsette against her will and beating her. Gres allegedly sent
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Speaker 8: photos of Miranda covered in bruises to three people, including
26:38
Speaker 8: his mother. Gres's mom denies viewing the photos, but amidst.
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Speaker 1: The police that her son tried to.
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Speaker 8: Tell her about Miranda, she shut down the conversation, telling
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Speaker 8: her son that she didn't want to know. At least
26:49
Speaker 8: two neighbors also saw Miranda in distress at the home,
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Speaker 8: and finally, a woman living with Gress and Brandas stood
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Speaker 8: witness to a week of torture, Miranda's murder, and the
26:58
Speaker 8: cleanup isn't it.
27:00
Speaker 2: True based on the documents that you obtained Tampa Bay
27:04
Speaker 2: Times that after the child was murdered transported in the trunk,
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Speaker 2: we see them all packing the car like they're going
27:13
Speaker 2: on for a weekend in the country.
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Speaker 1: They go where Dan Sullivan.
27:20
Speaker 4: Well, according to what's in the search Warren Fi David,
27:24
Speaker 4: they went Putt Putt golfing and to Pope Is to
27:28
Speaker 4: eat fried chicken. The affidavit states that I guess they
27:31
Speaker 4: went there because it was Brandis's birthday that day.
27:34
Speaker 2: But then whoa, whoa, whoa whoa wait wait repeat they said.
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Speaker 4: The affidavit states that it was Brandis's birthday, so they
27:42
Speaker 4: went to eat fried chicken at Papa's and Putt putt golfing.
27:46
Speaker 2: Joining me right now is Paul Duffy, senior consultant with
27:49
Speaker 2: Group nine Security Consulting and Training, former Deputy inspector.
27:56
Speaker 1: With the US Marshall Service.
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Speaker 2: You can find him a Group nine dot US. Paul,
28:03
Speaker 2: thank you for being with us. A quick question regarding
28:06
Speaker 2: the evidence in his case. The photos are going to
28:10
Speaker 2: be damning. They're going to have to be obtained off
28:13
Speaker 2: of cell phones or from the cloud. But Dan Sullivan
28:18
Speaker 2: has just described these ghules from Hell.
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Speaker 1: Taking the little girl.
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Speaker 2: And Dan, did they go out for Popeyes and put
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Speaker 2: Putt before or after the dismemberment of this child?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, the way the after David has written it sounds
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Speaker 4: like it was after they had dismembered the girl's remains
28:40
Speaker 4: that they went golfing and to.
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Speaker 2: Popeyes, Okay, Paul Duffy Popeyes, and I believe it was
28:48
Speaker 2: Congo River, Correct.
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Speaker 1: Me if I'm wrong, anybody on the panel.
28:51
Speaker 2: Congo River, put Putt, pop Peyes and put Putt is
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Speaker 2: going to be a treasure trove of evidence because it's
29:02
Speaker 2: my belief that they go they dismember the body in
29:06
Speaker 2: Brandis's mother's house, and the mother.
29:09
Speaker 1: And the granny nanny are in there and.
29:11
Speaker 2: They can hear a chainsaw outside. What do they think
29:14
Speaker 2: is happening?
29:15
Speaker 1: Human tissue and blood is.
29:18
Speaker 2: Found on the side of Michelle Brandis's codefendant mother's house.
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Speaker 2: They didn't even take a garden hose to like clean
29:31
Speaker 2: off the site. They just left the little girl's blood
29:35
Speaker 2: on the side of the house. But after they dismember her,
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Speaker 2: and correct me again if I'm wrong, Dan Sullivon, they
29:43
Speaker 2: put her dismembered remains back in the car, and to
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Speaker 2: celebrate Brandis's birthday, he wanted to make her feel special.
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Speaker 1: They go to putt putt and pop pies. Now, Paul,
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Speaker 1: this is what I would like to show a jury.
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Speaker 2: I would like to show video surveillance of these devils
30:10
Speaker 2: from hell playing put putt?
30:13
Speaker 1: How many rounds did they play? Did they keep score.
30:16
Speaker 2: Or they're like whow I got a hole in one?
30:19
Speaker 2: And then I'd like to find out from the drive
30:22
Speaker 2: through or did they eat inside. I'd like to see
30:26
Speaker 2: the video of them eating a fried chicken while this
30:31
Speaker 2: girl chopped up is in the car. What do they
30:35
Speaker 2: talk about at lunch? Did they talk about where we're
30:38
Speaker 2: going to dump the body? I just I want to
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Speaker 2: see the video.
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Speaker 1: What about it? Paul Duffy, That.
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Speaker 10: Video would be compelling in court, Nancy. It would paint
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Speaker 10: a picture that they were remorseless and depraved and add
30:55
Speaker 10: to the indications that this is perhaps not Steve's first.
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Speaker 2: Rodeo speaking the evidence, speaking of that video, I pray
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Speaker 2: to heaven, Paul Duffy, and I learned this the hard
31:06
Speaker 2: way in the Chandra Levy case where Chandra Levy, you
31:10
Speaker 2: remember the DC intern that was murdered.
31:15
Speaker 1: The high rise where she lived.
31:17
Speaker 2: In DC would restart and tape over surveillance video like
31:22
Speaker 2: every seventy two hours. And I could have learned a
31:25
Speaker 2: lot if I had known when she left her apartment
31:28
Speaker 2: for the last time.
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Speaker 1: Was she dressed up to go out?
31:31
Speaker 2: Was she she was going jogging? Was she with anybody?
31:36
Speaker 2: Could I see her go out and get in a cab?
31:38
Speaker 2: And I can find that cab and I can find
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Speaker 2: where she went from that cab driver.
31:43
Speaker 1: You know, every cab is identified with a number.
31:45
Speaker 2: But no, they reacted it every seventy two hours, so
31:49
Speaker 2: all that evidence was lost. I pray to Heaven that
31:53
Speaker 2: Popeye's and Congo River put put doesn't do the same thing.
31:59
Speaker 2: Is there any chance they would store that in the
32:01
Speaker 2: cloud even if they you know, tape over.
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Speaker 10: All, security systems aren't equal, Nancy. It all depends on
32:07
Speaker 10: what the business invested in their security system.
32:17
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, you know, Paul Duffy.
32:24
Speaker 2: You and I can explore the ins and outs the
32:27
Speaker 2: intricacies of saving digital data on the cell phones, the
32:32
Speaker 2: nav system in the car. And I think there was
32:34
Speaker 2: one toll roads. Florida is full of toll roads. Where
32:41
Speaker 2: I'll get video of them just driving happily along, going
32:44
Speaker 2: on their merry way with the child's dead body in
32:46
Speaker 2: the trunk.
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Speaker 1: I want it all.
32:48
Speaker 2: I want licensed grabbers showing their route to Brandi's mother's house.
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Speaker 2: I want to find out if there's video surveillance video
32:55
Speaker 2: at the mother's house. Is their stop like cam? Is
32:58
Speaker 2: there anything that I could show this jury to corroborate testimony.
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Speaker 2: I want all that digital data.
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Speaker 1: Every bit of it.
33:07
Speaker 2: But what is very powerful is the ring camera from
33:13
Speaker 2: the upstairs residence home.
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Speaker 1: And I would have this neighbor on.
33:17
Speaker 2: The hot seat explaining to her what accessory after the
33:22
Speaker 2: fact means.
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Speaker 1: And this is why listen.
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Speaker 8: The neighbor says Miranda stayed at the home for several
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Speaker 8: days with no issues until Gres woke up to find
33:44
Speaker 8: he's missing a ring given to him by a friend.
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Speaker 8: She says, Gress accused Miranda of stealing it and flew
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Speaker 8: into a rage when she only trembled in fear at
33:53
Speaker 8: his accusation. After two days of brutal beatings, Branda sneakily
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Speaker 8: shows her roommate that she has the ring it from Gres.
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Speaker 8: The woman believes Branda's took the ring to provoke Gres
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Speaker 8: into hurting Miranda.
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Speaker 2: Okay, so the female roommate turned murder code defendant Brandis
34:09
Speaker 2: Michelle Brandis had the ring all along. Okay to Dan Sullivan,
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Speaker 2: isn't it true, Dan joining us from Tampa Bay Times,
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Speaker 2: who's cracked this case wide open? Isn't it true that
34:22
Speaker 2: Gres says it was Brandis after he shoved the pool
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Speaker 2: ball in the little girl's mouth as she's tied up naked.
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Speaker 2: I guess on a chair that Brandis wrapped her head
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Speaker 2: as saran wrap, and he said.
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Speaker 1: Don't come, hey, don't cover her nose.
34:39
Speaker 2: But she did cover her nose, and that Gres says
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Speaker 2: he rushed over and punch holes in it so.
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Speaker 1: She could breathe, but she was already dead. Isn't that
34:47
Speaker 1: in the affidavit?
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Speaker 2: Yeah?
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Speaker 4: I believe. According to the other witness, she said that
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Speaker 4: Brandis actually put the poolball in Miranda's mouth.
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Speaker 8: And then.
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Speaker 4: Was wrapping her head in saran wrap, and there was
35:08
Speaker 4: some discussion about you know, uh, Gress saying that he
35:15
Speaker 4: wanted to put holes or not to cover her nose,
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Speaker 4: and wanted to put holes in the in the wrap
35:20
Speaker 4: so she could breathe, but couldn't get to her quick enough.
35:25
Speaker 4: You know it's there. There was there was something.
35:28
Speaker 2: So let me understand something. Angel Lewis joining me, veteran
35:32
Speaker 2: trial lawyer, a partner at Sirce Law firm, Palm Beach,
35:36
Speaker 2: former felony prosecutor, Andrea, You're not a prosecutor anymore. You're
35:43
Speaker 2: on the other side. So let me understand. Is gress
35:46
Speaker 2: gonna somehow? They're all doing this. They're all pointing the
35:49
Speaker 2: finger at each other, and we've got more video to
35:52
Speaker 2: show you of that. But Angela Lewis, I see Grass
35:55
Speaker 2: swooping in with a she done it? And I tried
35:59
Speaker 2: to say, hey, I tried to punch holes in the
36:01
Speaker 2: saran wrap.
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Speaker 1: Why did you let seran rap get wrapped around her
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Speaker 1: head to start with?
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Speaker 2: So? What is he going to try to blame Brandis?
36:08
Speaker 2: And Brandis is going to blame him in the roommate's like,
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Speaker 2: I had nothing to do.
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Speaker 1: With this, Nancy.
36:13
Speaker 11: I am sure that that's what they're going to try
36:15
Speaker 11: to do. But here's the problem with that. Right, we
36:18
Speaker 11: have this man that went online and actually found this child,
36:24
Speaker 11: enticed her into coming over to his home for we
36:28
Speaker 11: know what he had nefarious motives. We know that they
36:30
Speaker 11: were sexually motivated. He's the one who brought her over there.
36:33
Speaker 11: This is his house of horrors that we know that
36:37
Speaker 11: there were crimes being committed inside there. This man is
36:41
Speaker 11: evil at his core, and it's going to be very difficult,
36:45
Speaker 11: if not impossible, for him to direct all of the
36:50
Speaker 11: guilt here onto his co defendant. Now, he is not
36:54
Speaker 11: going to be able to escape unfazed here in my opinion.
36:58
Speaker 1: So, Andrea, what would the defense be, Well, the.
37:03
Speaker 11: Defense in this case has got to be it wasn't me,
37:08
Speaker 11: it was my co defendant, it was somebody else. And
37:11
Speaker 11: I think what they're going to try to do here
37:15
Speaker 11: is that when we know that the death penalty is
37:17
Speaker 11: going to be on the table, as it should be.
37:20
Speaker 11: So I think, what, given all of the evidence in
37:23
Speaker 11: this case and the video, it's going to be overwhelming.
37:26
Speaker 11: Their best vet is going to try to be just
37:29
Speaker 11: to flee this case out to something less.
37:32
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, Well, if the DP is on the table,
37:36
Speaker 2: I don't see a plea happening. And in addition, I
37:40
Speaker 2: imagine either the first or the last witness. If I
37:45
Speaker 2: was trying the case, it would probably be the first witness,
37:49
Speaker 2: although that would be going out of chronological order which a.
37:52
Speaker 1: Jury really likes. Doctor Kendall Crowns.
37:55
Speaker 2: I think the jury needs to know at the get
37:58
Speaker 2: go the COD cause of death of this little girl.
38:01
Speaker 2: Doctor Kendall Crowns is a renowned medical examiner joining us
38:05
Speaker 2: out of Terrent County, that's Fort Worth, Texas. He is
38:09
Speaker 2: launching a new podcast in a week April at fourteen
38:14
Speaker 2: Mayhem and the Morary is an esteemed lecturer at Burnett'
38:17
Speaker 2: School of Medicine at TCU.
38:20
Speaker 1: Doctor Kendall Crowns, what would.
38:22
Speaker 2: Be after all of this? What would be the cood?
38:28
Speaker 2: Could it be the beatings? Is their internal bleeding and
38:31
Speaker 2: she bled out on the inside. Did she die of
38:34
Speaker 2: asphyxiation when.
38:35
Speaker 1: The poolball gag in her mouth?
38:38
Speaker 2: Or was it the saran wrapped taken right out of
38:41
Speaker 2: the kitchen drawer and wrapped around this child's head? Well,
38:46
Speaker 2: how do I determine with all of that happening to
38:48
Speaker 2: this little girl, Miranda, what is the COD plus she
38:53
Speaker 2: was dismembered. We don't have a body, but in your expertise, doctor.
38:59
Speaker 1: Crown what would be the CD.
39:02
Speaker 12: Based on all the information we have that she's beaten,
39:05
Speaker 12: she's gagged, saran wrap put around her face. To me,
39:09
Speaker 12: it would be more likely than not a suffocation with
39:12
Speaker 12: the gag being put in her mouth, when the saran
39:15
Speaker 12: wrap covering her head, she wouldn't be able to get
39:17
Speaker 12: oxygen in and she would basically suffocate from lack of oxygen.
39:21
Speaker 12: That was the beatings bad enough. You have a progression
39:24
Speaker 12: of the beatings seen in the pictures of her having
39:27
Speaker 12: multiple bruises over time, So I don't think the beatings
39:30
Speaker 12: were actually bad enough to have killed her. I think
39:33
Speaker 12: that was more of a torture method, and their final
39:36
Speaker 12: thing that killed her was actually shoving the pool ball
39:38
Speaker 12: in her mouth and putting seran wrap over her head.
39:40
Speaker 12: So I feel cause of death would be asphyxiation or
39:43
Speaker 12: suffocation manner of death homicide.
39:46
Speaker 1: Yes, Sullivan, it's a no body case. We don't have
39:51
Speaker 1: a body.
39:51
Speaker 2: The body's very likely been incinerated, so that's a problem.
39:57
Speaker 2: But I don't believe the definite shaded gold star or
40:00
Speaker 2: an A plus because they managed to get rid of
40:02
Speaker 2: the body. What do you foresee happening? Do you believe
40:07
Speaker 2: the six ghules that knew this child was being tortured
40:12
Speaker 2: and killed and sat by and they actually heard the
40:16
Speaker 2: chainsaw outside as his child was being dismembered and.
40:21
Speaker 1: Nobody did a thing. Nothing.
40:25
Speaker 2: Do you expect charges of accessory after the fact.
40:29
Speaker 4: It's hard for me to answer that, not being a lawyer.
40:32
Speaker 4: I think there is a possibility, and our local state
40:36
Speaker 4: attorney has said that, you know, they're looking at, you know,
40:41
Speaker 4: whether anybody else could face charges. But again, you know,
40:45
Speaker 4: it's also possible that they will need these people as witnesses,
40:48
Speaker 4: so that could influence, you know, any decision about other charges.
40:53
Speaker 4: It's also unclear, you know, at least with the upstairs neighbor,
40:59
Speaker 4: the one who had the surveillance video, if she.
41:04
Speaker 8: Was aware of what was going on.
41:05
Speaker 4: It doesn't seem like she was, but it definitely seems
41:08
Speaker 4: like there were other people who were aware that Miranda
41:11
Speaker 4: was in.
41:12
Speaker 2: Trouble, right, I agree the upstairs neighbor was very, very
41:15
Speaker 2: cooperative and very distraught when we spoke to her and
41:19
Speaker 2: she gave us all of that video. We wait as
41:23
Speaker 2: justice unfolds, and now we remember an American hero, Special
41:27
Speaker 2: Agent Derek Bear, USPS Office Inspectory General, killed in the
41:31
Speaker 2: line of duty.
41:33
Speaker 1: A US Coast Guard vet.
41:35
Speaker 2: Served Ellie law enforcement fifteen years, leaving behind a wife
41:40
Speaker 2: turned widow Lenica, children Alexander, Evelina and Vivian American hero
41:48
Speaker 2: special agent Derek Bear. Nancy Gray signing off Goodbye friend,