A Florida couple is behind bars after they allegedly lured a teenage girl they met online to their home, tortured and suffocated her to death over a piece of missing jewelry, and dismembered her body before disposing of her remains in a dumpster.

Steven Gress, 35, and his girlfriend Michell Brandes, 37, stand accused of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of 16-year-old Miranda Corsette. The St. Petersburg Police Department said in a press release Friday that Gress picked up the girl on Feb. 14 after meeting her on a dating app and took her to his home in the 2700 block of 27th Ave. N. After hanging out that day, he drove her back to her home. Miranda returned to his home the next day, but this time she would not make it out alive.

More from Law&Crime: ‘F— you, he is not going to bite me’: Boyfriend ‘jealous’ of 5-year-old getting ‘too much attention’ beat him to death for being ‘disrespectful,’ police say

St. Petersburg police Chief Anthony Holloway told reporters at a press conference that there was a dispute over some missing jewelry on Feb. 20. Gress and Brandes allegedly assaulted and tortured Miranda for the next week.

“Repeatedly beat the victim, while holding her captive for seven days and eventually suffocating her by wrapping plastic wrap around her face,” a judge said during Gress’ first appearance, according to local NBC affiliate WFLA.

Gress and Brandes then put the teen’s body in his car and drove the remains some 15 miles to a home in the 12000 block of Mallory Drive in Largo. There, police believe she was dismembered. Her remains were once again moved, this time to a dumpster about 55 miles away across Tampa Bay. Cops have located the dumpster, however the remains were disposed into a Hillsborough County landfill. Cops are continuing to search for Miranda’s body.

Miranda’s grandmother, who had custody of her after both of her parents died, reported her missing to Gulfport police on Feb. 24. Gulfport police commander and acting chief Mary Farrand said her department is “very familiar” with Miranda, who is a “frequent runaway” with a history of mental health issues and drug abuse. She also was the mother of a 11-month-old child. Her grandma told police Miranda was known to run away and she’d usually return home, but not this time.

On Thursday, a “witness” contacted police regarding information about a kidnapping and homicide. Police realized they already had Gress in custody after he allegedly pointed a harpoon at Brandes and was in possession of drugs. Detectives quickly unfurled the horrific case. Brandes turned herself into cops on Saturday.

One of the seven people accused of torturing and killing a missing man in New York for months — simply because “they enjoyed it,” according to prosecutors — is also facing coercion charges for allegedly forcing two children, ages 7 and 12, to take part in hurting and treating the victim “like a dog,” officials say.

“To have two children have to participate in the beating of another human being, it’s deeply disturbing,” Ontario County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford said at a press conference Wednesday. “It has, I can speak for myself and everyone involved in this investigation, been one of the most troubling parts of this. It’s heartbreaking.”

According to prosecutors and police, Minnesota resident Sam Nordquist was lured by his online girlfriend Precious Arzuaga to the Empire State in September and taken captive at a hotel in Ontario County by Arzuaga and six others in December. The group physically and sexually assaulted Nordquist; prevented him from eating food and hyrdrating; forced him to eat feces and drink urine; and other grotesque forms of torture, according to prosecutors.

“They forced him to obey their commands, treating him like a dog,” Wolford said Wednesday. “We have a seven-year-old and a 12-year-old who are also victims. They may have been forced to participate, but their lives are forever changed by what they saw and endured there.”

An Alabama man pleaded with the public and appeared on the local news seeking help after his wife of 30 years went missing. Police now say he admitted to killing her.

Stephen Miller Sr., 64, first reported his wife Gloria Miller, 57, was missing on Feb. 24, according to a press release from Dothan Police. In the following days, the seemingly concerned husband appeared on local news, pleading for help and taking gut-wrenching phone calls in front of TV cameras. But behind the scenes, police said his story started falling apart. In a press conference on Feb. 26, the Dothan Police Department announced that Stephen Miller had been charged with murder after allegedly admitting to strangling his wife.

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Criminal Justice

Prosecutors seek to revoke Alex Murdaugh’s federal plea deal over $6M in missing money

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 27, 2024, 2:02 pm CDT

Federal prosecutors want to revoke their financial-crimes plea deal with disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh because they think that he has not been truthful about the location of more than $6 million in missing money and the possible involvement of another attorney in wrongdoing.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh was required to be “fully truthful” about criminal activity as part of the deal in which Murdaugh pleaded guilty to federal charges in September 2023 for stealing millions of dollars from clients, his law firm and the estate of his late housekeeper. He violated that promise, prosecutors say in a March 26 motion filed in South Carolina federal court.

The Associated Press and the Post and Courier have coverage of the prosecution request to hold Murdaugh in breach of the agreement.

Prosecutors had alleged that Murdaugh murdered his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in June 2021 to distract attention from his financial crimes. He was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison in March 2023. Two months after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing from clients, he pleaded guilty to state charges of financial crimes.

As part of the federal plea deal, prosecutors said they would recommend that Murdaugh’s federal sentence for stealing from clients run concurrently with any state sentence for the same conduct. Now, prosecutors say the government should be relieved of its obligations under the plea deal, including the recommendation for a concurrent sentence. Prosecutors now plan to recommend the maximum sentence.

The government says Murdaugh failed polygraph tests in which he was asked about the missing money and possible involvement by the other attorney, who was not named in the motion. Murdaugh did, however, admit involvement of two others in his financial crimes—former banker Russell Laffitte and disbarred lawyer Cory Fleming, the government points out.

The motion says Murdaugh can’t withdraw his guilty plea because it would unjustly reward him for breaching the plea agreement.

Murdaugh has sought a new trial on the murder charges on the ground that the elected court clerk in Colleton County, South Carolina, tampered with the jury by warning jurors that they shouldn’t be fooled by defense testimony and by meeting privately with a jury foreperson. The new trial request was denied.

Rebecca Hill, the Colleton County, South Carolina, clerk, announced her resignation Monday, the Washington Post reports.

Authorities fear the worst after recapturing three jail escapees — the men allegedly stole a yacht and might have killed a missing sailor couple.

“The RGPF is currently working on leads that suggest that the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed in the process,” the Royal Grenada Police Force wrote on Thursday. “It is believed that the occupants of the yacht were American citizens.”

Loved ones identified the missing sailors as Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, a married Virginia couple in their 60s who had been enjoying retirement on their boat, “Simplicity.”

As Wisconsin authorities search for missing 3-year-old Elijah Vue, scrutiny falls on his mother and a caretaker. Both adults are locked up in the Manitowoc County Jail respectively on a case for party to child neglect, and child neglect.

Authorities are largely keeping mum about it all, but a prosecutor on Friday reportedly said that the mother, Katrina Baur, 31, lied about her own whereabouts during the investigation. The co-defendant, Jesse Vang, 39, is charged because Baur had put Elijah in his care, so it was also his responsibility to make sure the boy was all right.

“She intentionally sent that child for disciplinary reasons for more than a week to the residence,” Manitowoc District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre said, according to Green Bay Fox affiliate WLUK. “She was aware of the tactics used and the lack of care provided. This was an intentional thing by her. And, on at least two occasions, during the interviews she has provided false information on her whereabout during the past week.”

Baur’s bond is set at $15,000 while Vang is held on $20,000.

Several law enforcement agencies and volunteers in Texas are fervently searching for 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, who has been missing since Thursday.

Audrii was last seen around 7 a.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Lakeside Drive in Livingston, which is about 80 miles northeast of Houston, when she was supposed to catch the bus to school. Her family called cops after she didn’t get off the bus after school, and the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an Amber Alert which described her as an abducted child. She was wearing a black hoodie with black lettering, camo backpack, black pants and black high-top tennis shoes. She also was carrying a bright red, Hello Kitty-styled backpack at the time of her disappearance. School officials said she never made it to school on Thursday.

Six people who have been missing for nearly six months, including two 3-year-old children, have prompted police to sound the alarm about a suspected online cult that they allege is operated by a man currently serving 18 years in prison for child molestation.

Rashad Jamal, also known as Rashad Jamal White, is a self-professed online “prophet” who runs a YouTube channel where he describes himself as the leader of the “University of Cosmic Intelligence.” Less advertised on his own website is his conviction on a single count of child molestation and another count of cruelty toward a child last August, Law&Crime previously reported.

Despite the fact that Jamal is behind bars, police in Missouri are now spreading the word investigators believe that in the time since Jamal was sentenced, four adults who started following him online have cut ties with their loved ones, quit their jobs and otherwise gone rogue after being lured into Jamal’s bizarre web of conspiracy theories.

In videos reviewed by Law&Crime’s Sierra Gillespie last week, Jamal is seen in one post proclaiming that “winter is not real” and that it is actually “a weapon” with the “true name of sub-zero technology.”

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Consumer Law

Missing faces on Reese’s Halloween candy targeted in would-be class action

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 5, 2024, 8:51 am CST

Reese’s labeling portrays its specially shaped chocolate peanut butter products as pumpkins, ghosts, bats and footballs, but the carved chocolate designs shown on the package are not on the candies, according to a $5 million proposed class action lawsuit.

The Russo Firm filed the Dec. 28 lawsuit in federal court in the Middle District of Florida. It alleges that the “materially inaccurate” product photos violate Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Consumers “have been tricked and misled” by the pictures on the product packaging, the suit says, citing and linking to consumer videos posted to YouTube. One reviewer, for example, said she expected the candy to have a jack-o-lantern face, but it actually looked like “a chocolate blob” and “a giant turd.”

Another YouTube reviewer held up the package, along with the actual contents, calling the candy a “monstrosity.” After taking a bite of the candy, he adds, “And the most annoying thing about it is it’s quite nice. It’s a nice peanut butter little chocolate bar snack.”

The suit says Reese’s changed its Halloween-shaped candy packaging two or three years ago. Before the company accurately portrayed the shaped product. But now, the pictures show carvings on the candy “to boost sales and revenues,” the suit alleges.

The Washington Post covered the case and contacted candymaker the Hershey Co. for comment. A spokesperson told the Washington Post that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The case is Kelly v. the Hershey Co.

A sonar team in Orange County, Florida, found a minivan and remains believed to be connected to a missing mother.

Sunshine State Sonar says they discovered Sandra Lemire, who went missing at age 47 on May 8, 2012.

“We can confirm that the red vehicle located in the water on World Drive is linked to the missing person case of Sandra Lemire,” the Orlando Police Department said in an email to Law&Crime. “Detectives have been in contact with the family. FDLE is working on identifying the remains that were located in the vehicle.”

Officers said volunteer divers reported a vehicle submerged in a body of water on World Drive and unidentified remains had been found.