Charlie Brandt

2004 murder–suicide On September 2, 2004, Brandt and Teri evacuated from their home ahead of Hurricane Ivan. Their niece, Michelle Lynn Jones, invited them to stay at her residence near Orlando. Throughout the visit, Jones kept in regular contact with her mother, Mary Lou, as well as several friends. On the evening of September 13, one of Jones' friends, Lisa Emmons, was scheduled to visit her house. However, Jones discouraged her from coming, saying that the Brandts had an argument after drinking.

On September 15, another one of Jones' friends, Debbie Knight, went to her house to check on her while on the phone with Jones' mother. After finding the front door locked, Knight tried to enter the house through the garage, where she found Brandt's decomposing body hanging from the rafters; he had hanged himself using bedsheets. Knight contacted the police, who entered the house and found the bodies of Brandt's wife and niece. Teri had been stabbed seven times in the chest while lying on a couch. Jones had been decapitated and disemboweled, with her heart and organs removed, and her head was placed next to her body. The weapons used in the crimes had been knives from Jones' kitchen.

Following the discovery of the bodies, a search of Brandt's residence on Big Pine Key revealed that he was a monthly subscriber to Victoria's Secret catalogs, had an extensive collection of surgery-themed books, posters, and clippings, and regularly searched online for autopsy photos and snuff film websites depicting violence against women. Police determined that Brandt's murder of Jones indicated past experience, and because he traveled often due to his job, police checked cold cases in Florida that matched his apparent modus operandi. They also launched requests for similar inquiries in the U.S. and abroad. The investigation uncovered evidence conclusively linking Brandt to the 1989 murder of Sherry Perisho.

Further investigation and other possible murders Ultimately, the search prompted police to reinvestigate unsolved murders in Florida dating back to 1973 for potential evidence of Brandt's involvement. Her skull was found in a bucket, leading authorities to presume she was murdered and decapitated. Brandt was 21 and lived in Volusia County at the time, but could not be tied to the crime in any other way. 1995, Darlene Toler, 38. Toler was a Miami resident whose body, missing its head and heart, was wrapped in plastic and blankets, and discovered dumped in a grassy area near a highway. Brandt used the same highway regularly and he kept a mileage record of his travels, which shows an entry for on the day of her murder, roughly the driving distance between Big Pine Key and the area of Miami where Toler's body was found.