Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Wicked Wednesday!

No matter what other things get in the way, the wicked continues.  Today, we have the story of Carl "Charlie" Brandt

In 1971, a 13-yr old Charlie took a gun, shot his father in the back, and slaughtered his mother.  He beat his sister severely, but she escaped.  He spent a year in a psych hospital and for some reason, was released into the custody of his father who promptly moved the kids to Florida. They were never to speak of it again.

Flash forward to 2004.  Charlie and his wife, Teri, lived in the FL keys, but a hurricane was approaching, so Teri's Niece, Michelle, invited them to hunker down at her home in Orlando.  They were only supposed to stay a couple days.  When no one could reach the couple or the niece, a friend was sent over to check on them.  The front door was locked, so she went around to the side.  And through the garage door windows, she saw good ol' Charlie hanging from the rafters with a bed sheet around his neck.

She called police.  Thank goodness for her, she did not go inside.

The police found Teri first.  She'd been stabbed multiple times in the chest.  Further inside the house, they found Michelle.  She'd been stabbed, decapitated and her heart had been cut out.

Every considered Charlie a quiet but quirky man.  They never envisioned the kinds of horrible things he was capable of.  But once they knew what he could do, the authorities looked for other things he might've done.  And they found similar crimes elsewhere.  Apparently, the head cutting off and heart removal thing was his MO.  Twenty-six unsolved murders have been attributed to this one man.

And it all could've been halted with the death of his mother in 1971.  If only someone had been paying attention.  If only someone had realized that a psychotic teen is not going to grow up to be a well-adjusted member of society. 

Indications are Teri, at the very least, knew what her husband had done all those years ago.  Whether she thought she could change him or he convinced her he was 'cured', no one will ever know.  Perhaps the night he came home covered in blood - he claimed to have been 'fishing' - if she had reported him to the police, more women wouldn't have died at his hands. 

There's a registry for sex offenders in the United States.  Why isn't there one for murderers?

Just wondering.

1 comment:

  1. Eek! This one is really scary. Even in 1971, people should have worried about a murderer more. :-(

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