Carl Eric "Charlie" Brandt (February 23, 1957 – September 13, 2004) was an American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who murdered at least four female victims; one in Indiana and three others in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Growing up in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, Brandt shot his parents in their family home on the night of January 3, 1971, when he was 13, killing his pregnant mother and wounding his father. He spent one year at a psychiatric hospital before being released and was never criminally charged. 33 years later, on September 13, 2004, Brandt stabbed his wife and niece to death and then hanged himself in his niece's garage. This incident, Brandt's efficiency in killing his wife and niece, and his hidden obsession with

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led investigators to look into the possibility that he had committed other murders since moving to Florida in 1973. The 1989 murder of a homeless woman near Brandt's home was solved as a result of the investigation, as Brandt was found to have been the perpetrator. The police suspect him in three other Florida murders, but his true number of victims could potentially be more than 30.

Early life

Charlie Brandt was the second child of Herbert and Ilsa Brandt, two

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immigrants who originally settled in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

before moving to

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. Brandt's father worked as a laborer for a division of

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

, eventually working his way up to draftsman and project engineer. The family moved frequently and as a result Brandt and his older sister Angela attended several different schools. Brandt was regarded as a good student, but was shy and had difficulty adjusting to new surroundings. In September 1968, Herbert was transferred to International Harvester's plant in

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The family frequently vacationed in

, where Brandt hunted small game with his father.

1971 murder

On the evening of January 3, 1971, after their children had turned in for the night in their Fort Wayne home, Herbert Brandt was shaving in the bathroom while Ilsa, eight months pregnant, was taking a bath. Charlie Brandt, then aged 13, abruptly walked into the bathroom and shot both parents at point blank range with his father's handgun, which he had taken from a dresser. His father survived, but his mother and the fetus were killed instantly. Brandt then entered his sister Angela's room and attempted to shoot her, but his gun would not fire.Deadly Obsession
Page 3, CBS News, 25 May 2006 After a physical struggle, Angela managed to calm her brother down by promising him that she would help him figure out what to do. Angela eventually convinced Brandt to go upstairs to retrieve blankets for their infant sisters, who were unharmed, before fleeing the house and seeking help from neighbors. After pursuing his terrified sister outside, Brandt knocked on a neighbor's door, telling her, "I just shot my mom and dad." Herbert later identified his son as his attacker. After the shooting, Brandt had told Angela that he could not remember what he had done. Angela described her brother as being in a trance-like state, which had broken during their struggle. Upon being interviewed by police, Brandt attributed the shooting to "a combination of things" related to school, stating that, "Everything sort of just snapped in my mind. I felt like I never felt before." Brandt also alluded to an incident that took place a few days before the shooting, near the end of his family's annual Christmas vacation in Florida, in which Herbert shot and killed their dog while the two were hunting. Three separate

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s failed to determine what triggered the shooting. Because he was too young to be tried for murder under Indiana state law, Brandt spent one year at a psychiatric hospital before being released back into the custody of his family in June 1972. The family never spoke of the incident again. Until 2004, Brandt's two younger sisters had lived under the impression that their mother had been killed in a car accident.

Relocation to Florida

Shortly after Brandt's release, his family relocated to

Ormond Beach, Florida Ormond Beach is a city in central Florida in Volusia County. The population was 43,080 at the 2020 census. Ormond Beach lies directly north of Daytona Beach and is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL Metropolitan ...

. One year later, Brandt's father (who had remarried) and two younger sisters moved back to Indiana, while Brandt and Angela stayed behind in the care of their grandparents. In 1984, Brandt received a degree in electronics and became a radar specialist for

Ford Aerospace Ford Aerospace was the aerospace and defense division of Ford Motor Company. It was based in Dearborn, Michigan and was active from 1956 (originally as Philco and then Philco Ford) through 1990, when it was sold to the Loral Corporation. Major div ...

in Astor. In 1986, Brandt married his girlfriend Theresa "Teri" Helfrich. No relatives were invited to their wedding. His sister Angela and her husband Jim had advised Brandt to tell Teri about the murder of their mother, but it is unclear whether or not he ever did. The couple settled in a beach house on

Big Pine Key Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

in 1989.

1989 and 2004 murders

On September 2, 2004, Brandt and Teri evacuated from their home ahead of

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. Their niece, Michelle Lynn Jones, invited them to stay at her residence near

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

. 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. After that night, Jones stopped answering telephone calls, which alarmed her acquaintances. 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 Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is e ...

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 Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...

and

disemboweled Disembowelment or evisceration is the removal of some or all of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract (the bowels, or viscera), usually through a horizontal incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment may result from an accident ...

, with her

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and

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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

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catalogs, had an extensive collection of

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-themed books, posters, and clippings, and regularly searched online for autopsy photos and

snuff film A snuff film, or snuff movie, or snuff video, is a type of film that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide. The concept of snuff films became known to the general public during the 1970s, when an urban legend alleged that a cland ...

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 case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

s in Florida that matched his apparent ''

modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of op ...

''. They also launched requests for similar inquiries in the U.S. and abroad. The investigation uncovered evidence linking Brandt to the 1989 murder of a woman near his home. 38-year-old Sherry Perisho's partially-clothed body was found on July 16, 1989, floating in the water near the North Pine Channel Bridge at Big Pine Key where she lived on a

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

. Her throat had been slashed and her head had been nearly severed. Like Jones, her body was extensively mutilated and her heart was removed. Perisho was found less than 1,000 feet from where Brandt lived, and Brandt matched a

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of a man seen crossing

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near where Perisho was discovered on the night she was murdered. Teri had further confided in her brother-in-law that she suspected Brandt in the Perisho killing, and that he had come home with blood on his shirt that night, which he claimed was from him filleting fish. Based on this evidence,

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investigators determined that Brandt killed Perisho and officially closed the case on May 6, 2006.

Further investigation and other possible murders

Ultimately, the search prompted police to reinvestigate twenty-six unsolved murders in Florida dating back to 1973 for potential evidence of Brandt's involvement. Aside from the 1989 Sherry Perisho murder, there was not enough evidence to conclusively link him to other crimes. However, three cases that were determined to have been of particular interest were: * 1978, Carol Sullivan, 12. Sullivan was abducted from a school bus stop in

Volusia County Volusia County (, ) is located in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Florida, stretching between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the county was home to 553,543 people, an incr ...

on September 20, 1978. Her skull was found in a bucket, leading authorities to presume she was murdered and decapitated. Brandt was 21-years-old and lived in Volusia County at the time, but could not be tied to the crime in any other way. * 1988, Lisa Saunders, 20. Saunders was beaten, stabbed, and dragged from her car in Big Pine Key in December 1988. Her heart was missing when she was found, but it is unclear if it was extracted by an attacker or eaten by vultures. * 1995, Darlene Toler, 38. Toler was a sex worker from

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

whose body, missing her 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 100 miles 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.

References