Charlie Brant: Dark Secrets

Summary

Crime Salad: Episode Summary
Title: Charlie Brant: Dark Secrets
Release Date: February 23, 2025
Host: Rikki and Ashley

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Introduction to the Episode

In the episode titled "Charlie Brant: Dark Secrets," hosts Rikki and Ashley delve into the harrowing true crime story of Angela Brandt and the dark legacy of her brother, Charlie Brant. This case intertwines family tragedy, psychological turmoil, and chilling acts of violence, presenting a compelling narrative that explores the complexities of familial bonds and the depths of human darkness.

The Tragic Night of January 3rd, 1971

The story begins on a seemingly ordinary evening in Fort Wayne, Indiana. On January 3rd, 1971, 16-year-old Angela Brandt was settling into her family's new home after a vacation in Florida. As Angela and her family watched an episode of "The FBI: Unknown Victim," little did they know that reality was about to mirror the fiction they were viewing.

At [02:04], Rikki sets the stage:

Rikki ([02:04]): "Let's begin. So on January 3rd of 1971, 16-year-old Angela Brandt was curled up in front of her family's new color TV, getting settled back into their home located in Fort Wayne, Indiana..."

The evening took a horrific turn when gunshots disrupted the family's peaceful night. Angela initially believed the sounds were firecrackers, a misconception that only lasted moments before the grim reality set in. Her mother, Ilsa Brant, urgently instructed her to "call the police" ([02:58]), which would be the last words Angela heard from her mother.

The Attack and Immediate Aftermath

Moments after Ilsa's plea, she was fatally shot, and her unborn child was lost. The assailant, armed with a 9mm handgun, then turned his attention to Angela. A tense confrontation ensued, culminating in Angela's quick thinking to hide the weapon and her subsequent escape attempt. Bloodied and traumatized, Angela managed to find refuge at a neighbor's house, while her father, Herbert Brant, secured the home and called the authorities.

The Unveiling of Charlie Brant's Dark Side

As investigators probed deeper into the case, a shocking revelation emerged: the shooter was none other than Angela's 13-year-old brother, Charlie Brandt. This revelation was particularly jarring given Charlie's previously perceived image as a shy and well-behaved child. The abnormality of a minor committing such a violent act prompted extensive scrutiny.

As Jim notes at [07:48]:

Jim ([07:48]): "So when you narrow that down to kids under 14 like Charlie, it drops to like 0.5%."

Life After the Tragedy

Following the tragic events, the Brandt family relocated to Florida in an attempt to rebuild their lives. Herbert Brant, grappling with the loss of his wife and unborn child, remarried and returned to Fort Wayne with Angela's younger sisters, Jessica and Melanie. Angela, now 18, chose to remain in Florida to start anew.

Charlie, after serving time in a state mental hospital, was released with warnings about potential future violence. Despite his troubled past, Charlie managed to integrate into society, building a seemingly stable life by marrying Terry, a manager at a retail store. Their marriage appeared harmonious, with friends praising their relationship's stability ([12:00]).

The Second Tragedy in 2004

The facade of Charlie's reformed life began to crumble in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan. The couple evacuated to the home of Terry's niece, Michelle Jones, in Maitland, Florida. What transpired during their extended stay remains shrouded in mystery, but tragedy struck when the bodies of Charlie, Terry, and Michelle were discovered under horrifying circumstances.

At [24:31], Jim reflects on Charlie's state:

Jim ([24:31]): "Oh, no. So the fact that he killed himself kind of foreshadows that this is going to be really bad."

The discovery revealed that Charlie had brutally murdered Terry and Michelle before taking his own life. The meticulous nature of the murders, including the removal of hearts and decapitations, suggested a disturbing ritualistic pattern. Investigators soon connected Charlie to additional unsolved cases, both domestically and internationally.

Investigation and Aftermath

Delving into Charlie's digital footprint uncovered a disturbing interest in violent and necrophilic content, indicating that his actions were not mere impulses but manifestations of deeper, darker fantasies. This revelation led authorities to suspect Charlie in multiple unsolved murders, particularly of sex workers in South Florida.

The investigation highlighted systemic failures, particularly Herbert Brant's decision to reintegrate Charlie into the family despite the known risk of recidivism. This choice has since been a point of contention, with some blaming it for the subsequent tragedies.

Societal Reflections and Conclusions

The episode concludes by prompting listeners to reflect on broader societal issues, such as the handling of violent offenders who are released back into society and the importance of public databases to prevent future tragedies. The Jones family, affected by the loss of Terry and Michelle, advocates for greater transparency and accountability to ensure that individuals like Charlie do not slip through the cracks unnoticed.

Ashley emphasizes the need for change:

Rikki ([31:07]): "And this also raises broader questions about how society handles individuals who have committed violent crimes but are later released."

The tragic story of Charlie Brant serves as a stark reminder of the complexities surrounding criminal behavior, mental health, and familial bonds. It underscores the necessity for vigilant monitoring and comprehensive support systems to prevent such devastating outcomes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Rikki ([02:04]): "Let's begin. So on January 3rd of 1971, 16-year-old Angela Brandt was curled up in front of her family's new color TV..."
• Jim ([07:48]): "So when you narrow that down to kids under 14 like Charlie, it drops to like 0.5%."
• Jim ([24:31]): "Oh, no. So the fact that he killed himself kind of foreshadows that this is going to be really bad."
• Rikki ([31:07]): "And this also raises broader questions about how society handles individuals who have committed violent crimes but are later released."

---

This episode of Crime Salad masterfully intertwines personal tragedy with broader societal implications, offering listeners a deep dive into a case that challenges our understanding of violence, redemption, and the fragility of familial relationships.

Transcript

[Rikki]

Mmm. Oh. Whatcha eating?

[Ashley]

The new banana split cookie from AM pm. All freshly baked with real butter with banana, chocolate and strawberry flavors.

[Rikki]

Wow, that sounds amazing. Can I have a bite?

[Ashley]

I'm sorry but no. But you can't split the banana split.

[Rikki]

Not even a little.

[Ashley]

Not even a crumb.

[Rikki]

What if.

[Ashley]

No, please. Mine. When it's too legit to split. That's cravenience. Get a 3 pack for 99 cents with our app ampm. Too much good stuff. Plus tax where applicable. Prices and participation may vary. Terms and conditions apply.

[Rikki]

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

[Ashley]

Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

[Rikki]

Could you be more specific?

[Ashley]

When it's cravinient. Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at am pm. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. pM.

[Rikki]

I'm seeing a pattern here.

[Ashley]

Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.

[Rikki]

Crave, which is anything from AM pm.

[Ashley]

What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience. AM pm Too much. Good stuff.

[Rikki]

Hey, Crime sci listeners. Today Rikki and I are going to share a story of how one night changed Angela Brandt's life forever. A tragedy that foreshadowed the devastation on the horizon by the hands of a serial killer in the making. This case is a complex one with layers that detectives are still working to uncover. And I know you may have been expecting part three of Stolen the Life and Tragedy of Leto McClinton, but we're a little sick this week. I don't know if you could tell in my voice, but we're gonna do a shorter than usual episode this week. It's still very interesting. And next week join us as we wrap up part three of Leda McClinton's case.

[Jim]

Ashley currently looks like Droopy the dog. You know that cartoon dog where his face is like drooping. Drooping.

[Rikki]

Thanks. I do feel like that actually.

[Jim]

Please be advised that this episode comes with some big trigger warnings. This narration includes descriptions of violence, dismemberment and death.

[Rikki]

Let's begin. So on January 3rd of 1971, 16 year old Angela Brandt was curled up in front of her family's new color tv, getting settled back into their home located in Fort Wayne, Indiana after having spent two weeks vacationing in Florida. That evening, Angela and her family were watching the TV show the FBI. Unknown Victim Season 6, Episode 16 just aired an episode where Kidnappers abduct a young woman mistakenly believing that she is the daughter of a millionaire. In reality, she is the daughter of a middle class couple who was driving a car that belonged to the intended victim. And while engrossed in this show, Angela had no idea that all too soon she was about to live through a horrific ordeal. One that she had only ever heard about. After the show, Angela went up to her room to read. Her mother, who was pregnant, Ilsa Brant ran a bath and started reading the Time magazine while her father, Herbert Brant, was shaving. The night seemed like any other night as the family went about their typical nightly routines. That is, until the quiet stillness of the casual night was shattered in an instant when gunshots echoed through the house. Not expecting anything as tragic as someone firing a gun, 16 year old Angela in her room assumed it was just firecrackers the neighbors were letting off. Mentally shielding herself of the dark reality. But something felt off. She got out of bed to investigate. She could hear her parents yelling. The commotion, tangled with confusion, became all too real when her mother's voice cut through the chaos with the chilling warning, Angela, call the police. And those would be the last words Angela would ever hear from her mother again. Moments later, 40 year old Ilsa was shot several times by a 9 millimeter handgun. One of the bullets hit her stomach, ending the life of her three and a half pound unborn son. And before Angela could even react, her mother's killer was walking towards her bedroom. Angela was the next victim. The gun clicked, but it was out of bullets. The shooter tossed the gun on the floor and Angela acted quickly, kicking the gun under the bed. The shooter opted for physical violence. Stunned by the unimaginably horrific turn the night had taken, Angela fought off her mother's killer. Bloody and bruised from the only physical altercation she had ever been in, Angela fought for her life. In an interview with investigator Rob Hammered, she remembers her back being pressed against the floor as her attacker was on top of her, strangling her. She drifted in and out of consciousness. Then the weird glazed overlook Angela had noticed on his face disappeared. The madness that had terrified Angela was replaced by apparent confusion.

[Jim]

As he said, what am I doing? What have I done?

[Rikki]

Instead of panicking and trying to overpower him, Angela said, I don't know. Get off me. And so he got off her and Angela started silently plotting her escape.

[Jim]

He said, you're not going to leave me, right?

[Rikki]

Angela assured him she wasn't going to leave him. But in the moment that there was enough distance between them, Angela would run out of the house and down the street. She screamed for help as she ran through the January snow in her nightgown, stopping at the first house right across the street street from her family's home that had been transformed into a bloody crime scene. Without bothering to knock, she grabbed the doorknob only to discover that it was locked. As she ran to the next house, Angela heard the shooter outside calling for her.

[Jim]

Angie. You promised you wouldn't leave me. You promised you wouldn't leave me.

[Rikki]

That echoing voice would go on to haunt her for years to come. Thankfully, Angela escaped. She was found safely in the warmth of her neighbor's house. While inside the family home, bleeding from three bullet wounds. Angela's father, Herbert, had enough strength to pull himself up and let the water out of the bathtub so his wife wouldn't drown. Then he locked the bedroom door and called the police. Angela's little sisters, three year old Jessica and two year old Melanie, were brought to the neighbor's house to be with her. While trying to process the horrors of the night, a neighbor told Angela that her mother had died. Unfortunately, this isn't where Angela's nightmare ends. About a year later, the boy who pointed a gun at Angela shot her father and killed her pregnant mother would be welcomed back into the family's home to live with them. Angela would do her best to keep what had happened a secret, even from her younger sisters, Jessica and Melanie, who were just too young to remember that night that their mother was killed. That's because the killer was their own brother, Charlie Brand. You see, Charlie was only 13 years old when he snuck into his parents bedroom, grabbed his father's 9 millimeter handgun from a nightstand drawer and went on to use that gun to shoot his father and mother. His sister only spared due to an empty bullet chamber. No one suspected that the shy A and B student could ever be capable of such violence. Murders committed by kids under the age of 18 are rare. Between 1980 and 2008, only 11.1% of homicides in the US involved minors.

[Jim]

So when you narrow that down to kids under 14 like Charlie, it drops to like 0.5%.

[Rikki]

Yeah. So it really makes you wonder what would drive a 13 year old to kill his own family.

[Jim]

Right. And what's more unsettling is the fact that he kind of just snapped out of it. It kind of makes me think that maybe there was something deeper going on with him. Like maybe this was like a psychological issue.

[Rikki]

Yeah, maybe it was a moment of uncontrollable rage or some Kind of break from reality. And it's chilling to think about actually, especially when he was allowed to move back in with the family.

[Jim]

Yeah, it would be hard to sleep at night for sure.

[Rikki]

Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm sure Angela was experiencing that. There was another survivor in this story, the father, Herbert. Although he was being wheeled into surgery, he was with it enough to give investigators some insight to what went down in his home. He told investigators that there hadn't been any arguments before the shooting. He claimed that his son was the nicest boy you would ever want to meet. Their neighbor, 16 year old Sandy Radcliffe, seemed to agree with the stating Sandy saying that's why this whole incident was such a shock, because they were very close. Incredibly so. He was a mama's boy.

[Jim]

Wow. So way different description than I pictured.

[Rikki]

For him right now. When the police asked Charlie why he turned the gun on his family that night, he said it was due to a combination of things. A lot of work, tests to make up. I had to make up my interim card. I. Everything sort of just snapped in my mind. I felt like I never felt before. Charlie claimed when he picked up his father's gun, he didn't want to use it. Rather he felt programmed to do it. He hesitated, but the next thing he knew, he had shot them. Following the shooting, a police officer drove Charlie to the hospital to see his father, who he apologized to several times. Herbert told Charlie that everything would be all right and promised to visit him. Charlie brought up the family dog, a death which his father apologized for having shot the dog a few days prior to the shooting.

[Jim]

So maybe it was the shooting of the dog that kind of triggered all of this.

[Rikki]

Yeah, that very well could be. To get further insight into what other factors might have caused the teenager to turn against his family in such a brutal attack, Charlie was interviewed by experts undergoing three court ordered psychological evaluations. And oddly enough, none of these evaluations shed much light on the tragedy. When Ronald Pankner, one of the psychiatrists who spoke with Charlie, was asked why the boy had turned so violent, Pankner admitted that they didn't know, stating that this kid did well in school, he didn't get into any trouble, he loved his family and the family said that he was a loving kid. He doesn't have a diagnosable mental illness. We found no psychosis, no distorted thinking that would basically be a reason for this crime to be done. The psychiatrist determined that Charlie had no mental disabilities and had acted solely on an irresistible impulse. Despite this, after spending four months in jail Charlie was found to be not criminally responsible for his actions, with the warning this might happen again if he didn't get psychiatric treatment. He spent a year at the state mental hospital in Indianapolis, where his father visited him every weekend until Charlie was released to his father in June of 1960.

[Jim]

I gotta say, though, how difficult would that be? Like his son killed his wife, an unborn baby, and had intentions to kill everybody in that house. And you want to support your son, but, I mean, it's just evil.

[Rikki]

Yeah. Not to mention he could have killed his father also. He was trying to kill him.

[Jim]

Yeah, exactly.

[Rikki]

Herbert was unable to live in the house where his life and unborn son were murdered, so he took a leave of absence from his job, and he moved his family to Ordmont Beach, Florida, where they used to vacation each year, back when the Brandt family was still intact. About a year after the move, Herbert remarried and moved back to Fort Wayne with Jessica and Melanie. Angela, who's now 18 years old, she decided to stay in Florida, moving out to start a life on her own. Meanwhile, the children's grandparents moved from Germany to Florida to look after Charlie as he was finishing high school. Granted distance from the brother who almost shot her, it seemed Angela might finally be able to move on from that horrific night. Charlie was doing well for himself. He was attending a community college and earning his associate's degree before going on to become an electronics technician. Angela started her own family, becoming a mother and a wife. Yet memories of the shooting lingered in Angela's mind, fueling anxiety that she couldn't quite shake. Haunted by a persistent fear of her brother and the trauma from that night, Angela eventually broke down and tearfully told her husband, Jim Graves, everything. Having already gotten to know, and like Charlie, Jim was shocked. And based on the interactions with him, it seemed clear to Jim that Charlie was past whatever violent streak had caused him to go after his family all those years ago. He was a changed man.

[Jim]

But I feel like that trust can only go so far. I mean, you're already traumatized by those events.

[Rikki]

Mm. Jim. He didn't see any reason to fear Charlie, though. Looking back, there was one particular conversation he had with Charlie after he and Angela split up that now stands out to him. According to Jim, while having a few beers after a day spent fishing, the two men started talking about revenge. Charlie looked at Jim and said, well, if you really want to get revenge, you should kill somebody and cut their heart out. Jim said it creeped him out, but apparently not enough to convince him that Charlie was dangerous. Now this remark stayed with Jim, and it was pushed to the back of his mind years later, when his new girlfriend wanted to play matchmaker for her friend Teresa Helfrig, Jim reached out to Charlie. By April 1985, when Charlie was set up on a date with Teresa, better known as Terry, Charlie had managed to build a successful life. Despite his dark past. He stayed out of trouble and got a job working at the Ford Aerospace and Communications Service electronic warfare range in Astor, Florida. Charlie had girlfriends over the years, but Terry, a manager of a retail store in Daytona beach at the time, caught his attention right away. Though Charlie had been described as quiet, reserved, and eccentric, Terry's sweet and carefree, happy, go lucky demeanor suited Charlie's personality perfectly. It didn't take long for Charlie to decide that he wanted to marry terry, and on August 29th of 1986, that's exactly what he did. The couple got married, and though no family members were invited to the wedding, most people seemed to think highly of the couple. They lived on the water in the home that they built on Big Pine Key and traveled, fished, and enjoyed life together. Charlie got a job as a radar technician and appeared to be a devoted husband. Terry's close friend Melanie Fetcher once said, if my husband could love me one third of the amount that Charlie loved Terry, I'd be the luckiest woman in the world. According to Melanie, as far as she knew, the couple never argued, and she never saw Charlie get mad at his wife. You know, running a business used to feel like solving a true crime case. Clues everywhere, missing pieces, and way too many dead ends Before I found Shopify. Managing sales, inventory and checkouts was a mess. But once I made the switch, everything changed. It's seamless, it's simple, and honestly, it just works. It's now instead of worrying about my online store, I can focus on what really matters. Growing our Podcast Nobody does selling better than Shopify, Home of the number one checkout on the planet and the not so secret secret With Shop Pay, Shopify boosts conversions by up to 50%, meaning way fewer abandoned carts and way more sales. So if you're serious about growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell whenever your customers are, whether they're scrolling on their phones, walking into your store, checking through their feed. Businesses that sell more sell on Shopify. Upgrade your business and get the same checkout that we use for Crime Salad with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com Crimesalad all lowercase go to shopify.com Crimesalad to upgrade your selling today shopify.com Crimesalad.

[Terry]

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[Rikki]

Several of Terry's family members have insisted that Terri didn't know anything about her husband's deadly past. Her sister Mary Lou Jones has stated, if she knew that, could she have stayed with him? I don't know. I don't think so. In my heart, I don't believe so.

[Jim]

I don't think so either.

[Rikki]

Mary Lou's husband, Bill Jones, agrees. He believes that if Terry had known about Charlie's past, she never would have married him. Bill blames Angela and Herbert for the horrors that haunted the years that followed Charlie and Terry's marriage, insisting that even if Charlie couldn't have been cured of his deadly impulses, he might have at least been stopped from causing further devastation. However, the couple's friend Jim and best man at their wedding believes that Charlie did tell Terry about the murder of his mother. He said that there was confirmation on July 1989, after Sherry Prasiano's body was found under a bridge off Big Pine Key by a local fisherman just months after Terry and Charlie had moved to Big pine key. The 38 year old woman had been decapitated, her heart removed with a surgical incision before her body was discarded in the water, where she was found floating face down about 1,000ft away from the couple's new home. And Jim claims that Terri mentioned the murder to him and told him that she was thinking about calling the sheriff. When he asked her why, she confided that she had found Charlie downstairs with blood on him, Charlie explained that he was filleting fish. When Terry asked what had happened, wow.

[Jim]

That really makes you think about that thing that he said about revenge and taking someone's heart out right now.

[Rikki]

At first she believed him. But upon hearing the discovery of Cherry Prasano's body and given Charlie's past, she was now suspicious. Despite this, Terry never reported her suspicions. Jim confronted Charlie about it, telling him that Terry thought maybe he killed Sherry. And Charlie insisted that he didn't do it, so Jim just let it go. Unfortunately, 15 years after this disturbing conversation, Jim would realize far too late that he should have taken Terry's concerns more seriously. We don't know for sure if Terry was suspicious of Charlie or suspected that he was living a double Life. However, by 1993, she did start to take note of Charlie's moods more frequently. In her daily planner writing things such as Charlie's a little depressed, Charlie had a rough day. Charlie called very emotional, weird talk and not a good night. Without context, these shifts in moods sound relatively normal. It's not uncommon for people to have rough days and get emotional sometimes. Yet as investigators continued to learn more about what Charlie was really up to all of those years ago, I can't help but wonder if Terri's intuition was trying to tell her something through these notes. Maybe she knew more than what she was letting on, but sensed that she had to be cautious not to tip Charlie off. Now, what we do know for sure is that by September 9, 2004, when Charlie and Terry needed to evacuate their home due to Hurricane Ivan threatening the coast, no one raised any concerns about their decision to stay with Terry's niece, Michelle Jones. Michelle was 37 years old at the time, a successful executive at the Golf Channel in Orlando, Florida. In her four bedroom house in Maitland, a city that saw little crime, seemed to be the perfect place to wait out the storm and enjoy spending time with their niece, who they were both very close with, especially Terry. However, despite Charlie's initial reluctance to evacuate after reaching Michelle's house on September 11th, Charlie's mindset shifted. This led to the couple's stay lasting longer than was necessary. In the years since then, many people have wondered what exactly happened at Michelle's house during that weekend. Were there signs of the immense danger Terri and Michelle were in? Maybe Terri sensed something was wrong. As their extended time away from their own house dragged on, Terri told her sister during a phone call that she wasn't happy that Charlie wanted to stay another day. Perhaps she was just antsy to get back to her home, clueless to the darkness that lurked in her marriage. On the following Wednesday night, Angela Charlie's sister was woken up by a call that brought her back 33 years into the past, reminding her of a feeling she'd probably rather forget. It was her father calling to share the bad news that bodies had been found at Terri's niece's house. He told Angela that something bad had happened. He could feel it. Angela refused to believe that such a brutal nightmare could become her reality once again. She fell asleep two hours later, trying to convince herself that there must be some mistake. Eventually, she'd have to face the truth. September 13th of 2004. Charlie, Terri and Michelle had dinner together. Michelle's friend Lisa Emmons was supposed to drop by for a visit. But after dinner, Michelle told Lisa not to come over. They had a little too much to drink and Terri and Charlie had been arguing. Michelle was tired and ready to get some rest. That night, Mary Lou, Michelle's mother and Terri's sister, called Michelle to check in as she often did, typically talking to her daughter almost daily. Despite being in North Carolina, Michelle didn't answer. The next day, Mary Lou tried calling again. Still no answer. By Wednesday, when Mary Lou still couldn't get a hold of Michelle, she decided to call her daughter's friend Debbie Knight and ask Debbie to check up on her. Marilu stayed on the phone with Debbie as she walked up to Michelle's house. When she couldn't open the front door with her key, Debbie headed to the back. Shock struck Debbie as she looked through the glass door into the garage and and found Charlie with a yellow bedsheet wrapped around his neck, hanging from a rafter, with a metal stepladder within reach. Charlie Brandt had hung himself. But that was only the beginning of the horrors that would be discovered in the house.

[Jim]

Oh, no. So the fact that he killed himself kind of foreshadows that this is going to be really bad. The fact that he couldn't even live with himself after this.

[Rikki]

Mm. Now, Terry. She would later be found sitting on the couch, slumped over, wearing only a yellow T shirt. Her husband had stabbed her in the chest several times. Yet it seemed Terry wasn't the victim that Charlie was most interested in.

[Jim]

Oh, man.

[Rikki]

Down the hallway, Michelle Jones's decapitated head was found next to her body on the master bed. She had been stabbed once in the chest. Her breast and her heart were moved and set aside on the bed. Her left leg was detached at the hip. Assorted panties and bras from Victoria's Secrets had been sliced with a knife and then tossed on the floor. Around her, two blood stained kitchen knives made it easy enough to determine the murder weapon. Charlie's motive for killing his wife and his niece before changing out of his bloody clothes and hanging himself with was less clear. The ritualistic nature of Michelle's murder and precision of how Charlie had killed Terry and Michelle made detectives suspect that he had done this before. Searching Charlie and Terry's house strengthened their suspicions. Medical books, journals, a newspaper clipping of a human heart, and the oddly graphic poster of the female anatomy on Charlie's bedroom door painted an eerie picture of the dark side of the man that most people never suspected could be violent. Victoria's Secret catalogs served as hints of Charlie's secret obsession. You see, Charlie had come up with a rather unusual nickname for his niece. He always called her Victoria's Secret instead of using her actual name. It was a sign of his hidden infatuation with her. When talking about Charlie's obsession with Michelle, the lead detective on the case, Rob Hemmert, said, he was fascinated by her, and I think ultimately he intended on killing her. I think that's evident in the way he spoke about her and the things that he looked at on the Internet.

[Jim]

So he never really recovered. He had just been living with this secretly for years. Yeah, but what were these things on the Internet that he was alluding to?

[Rikki]

So it turns out when investigators searched Charlie's computer, they uncovered his interest in websites that showed necrophilia, death fantasies, and other forms of violence against women. Charlie didn't just fantasize about such violence, though. While keeping up with his good guy facade, appearing to be loving a devoted husband, Charlie acted upon his dark impulses and made his fantasies a reality.

[Jim]

Oh, man.

[Rikki]

Comparing the details of the case to others in the area, detectives started to find cases with similar characteristics in the FBI database. The first case that immediately stood out to detectives was that of Darlene Toller, who worked as a sex worker in Miami before she was murdered in 1995. Darlene was also decapitated. Her heart was removed before her body was wrapped up in a blanket and plastic, tied like a package, and tossed out along the highway. Though the murder occurred about 100 miles away from the Brant's house, when looking at the records that Charlie kept on his truck's mileage, investigators found that there was a spike in miles Charlie put on his truck around the same time that Darlene was killed. And Charlie's job required him to travel, meaning that he had plenty of opportunity to commit the murder of Darlene Toller, possibly along with many other women. Investigators don't yet know exactly how many women Charlie killed after being released from the mental hospital. And it's likely that they never will. After Darlene's murder, nine other sex workers were found murdered in South Florida. These cases are similar enough to Darlene's to make investigators suspect that they may be connected. Charlie isn't just suspected of killing sex workers either. Since Charlie was known to travel all over the United States and internationally, an international bulletin describing the murder of Michelle and Terry was sent out to other agencies. Over 80 responses came in. Some as far as Germany and Holland.

[Jim]

Wow.

[Rikki]

This is on top of the 26 cases that came out of the FBI database that shared characteristics with the case. Using a 35 page timeline created by going over Charlie's financial and personal records, along with Terry's daily planner, Hemmert eventually narrowed his focus on the two cases he found to be most promising. Darlene Toller was the first. The second, Sherry Parishno. The same murder that Jim said made Terry suspicious. Herbert's decision to allow Charlie to rejoin the family in his choice to keep his son's past private have been a subject of debate. Some have questioned whether it was safe, especially considering that he had three other children at the time, two of whom were under 5 years old.

[Jim]

I mean, it's a complex situation because Charlie was released by professionals. They said he was good to go back to society.

[Rikki]

Yeah. Although they did give that warning, like, he may do it again.

[Jim]

Right.

[Rikki]

It's kind of like risky.

[Jim]

But then the fact that he just hid this and lived with it for so long and there weren't really that many signs.

[Rikki]

Mm. Mm. Now, it isn't uncommon for parents to forgive a child who has committed violence against the family. In 2015, Yvonne and Zachary Irvin and made headlines for publicly supporting their sons, Cameron and Christopher Irvin, who were arrested at the ages of 17 and 22 after attempting to kill them despite being drugged, stabbed and nearly strangled before their home was set on fire. Yvonne and Zachary later advocated for leniency, with Yvonne even suggesting probation instead of prison time. Cases like these highlights just how complicated it is when the perpetrator is a loved one.

[Jim]

Yeah, it definitely makes it a murky situation, for sure.

[Rikki]

Yeah. And this also raises broader questions about how society handles individuals who have committed violent crimes but are later released. Michelle and Terry's family has reflected on this issue extensively, hoping to create change. The Joneses have been pushing for a public database that includes the names of anyone who has ever killed another person, regardless of the circumstances or the perpetrator's age. At the time. Mary Lou, advocating for this initiative, has said if we can do something to help somebody else, prevent them from facing what we did, then Michelle's life will have meaning. Terri's life will have even more meaning. There should not be Charlies on the street. If you found today's episode compelling, we encourage you to share it. As always, your support means the world to us and it helps us continue spreading awareness about important cases. Thanks for tuning in. Take care, stay safe, and we'll see you next week as we finish up Stolen the Life and tragedy of Leta McClinton, Part 3.

[Ashley]

It.