a teenage mother's body might be in a Florida landfill right now after authorities say a local man lorded to his home on a dating app killed her and then dismembered her now he and his on again off again girlfriend they are both under arrest we're going to dig into the details of this case and where the investigation goes next with former Florida State's Attorney Dave aronburg welcome to sidebar presented by law on crime I'm Jesse Weber this is honestly the worst case scenario when we cover True Crimes and we talk about the dangers online the unknown attacker The Stranger In the Night the allegations that you about to hear are a textbook example of some of our greatest fears of what can happen because authorities in St Petersburg Florida say 16-year-old Miranda coretti is dead dismembered by a man she met on a dating app this teen was reported missing on February 24th investigators are in the process of trying to locate her remains this is a horrible story and it's one that involves by the way multiple locations along the Gulf Coast of Florida so we start with the fact that Miranda lived in Gulfport with her grandmother and according to police her parents are both deceased and officials also confirmed that Miranda was actually the mother of an 11-month-old baby and had been homeschooled St Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway provided a timeline leading up to Miranda's death and he told reporters during a press conference that 35-year-old Steven Gress reached out to Miranda on a dat app on Valentine's Day authorities claim he drove to her home in gulport took her back to his place in St Petersburg grass reportedly took Miranda back to her home this is according to police but the next day she apparently returned to gr's home a second time but unfortunately she wouldn't leave Alive Now on the 20th at the house there was some type of dispute over some missing jewelry so from the 20th through the 24th she was beaten and tortured because they could not find this piece of jewelry we know at sometime there she was then killed MrGres placed her body in his car along with his domestic partner Michelle Brandis and they drove her to Largo in Largo the def the detectives found evidence that Miranda was excuse me Miranda was dismembered at that location they then placed her in the car and they drove her down to Ruskin where they dumped her into a dumpster and her body is somewhere possibly in a landfill somewhere in that county we're going to do everything possible to bring Miranda home uh again we we know the body was placed into a dumpster but we got to try to figure out where did that which Landfield did that dumpster go to it's pretty horrifying to think about to say the least my gosh 16 years old and now authorities believe she was killed sometime between February 20th and February 24th and as you heard gr's domestic partner 37-year-old Michelle Brandis is believed to have helped GR press transport Miranda's body to another home which police say belonged to brandis's Mother where the teen was dismembered and then put into a dumpster in Hillsboro County and when investigators filed an arrest affidavit with the court for Gress on a first-degree murder charge that is when we learned other horrifying details about what allegedly happened to Miranda because the affidavit states that Gress quote unlawfully and from a premeditated design to affect the death of Miranda coretti a human being repeatedly beat the victim while holding her captive for 7 days and eventually suffocating her by wrapping plastic wrap around her face thereby inflicting upon the said Miranda corsetti mortal wounds the affidavit goes on to say the defendant and co-defendant held the victim against her will for over 7even days tortured her by beating the victim and eventually stuffing a billiard ball into her mouth and wrapping her face with plastic wrap causing her to suffocate the defendant and co-defendant felt the victim had stolen a ring and the defendant codefendant then dismembered the body of the victim and discarded the victim in a dumpster in rusin Florida it is just Unthinkable and neither police nor the affidavit provided any sort of reason for why grass and Brandis might have believed Miranda took this ring nor is there any evidence that she actually stole anything but on February 24th Miranda's grandmother reported her missing and then several days later police say a witness came forward to give them a tip about what might have happened to Miranda so when police started to figure out who might be responsible in her disappearance it turned out that Gres was already in jail on other serious charges yeah this is a pretty crazy scary story to say the least but look we're glad we're able to bring it to you we're glad we're able to shed a light on these allegations what happened to Miranda so it's our privilege to be able to cover these kinds of stories and for that I want to quickly thank and call out our great partner and sponsor 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just online on innocuous sites like Facebook so I wonder if this case could have been prosecuted as human trafficking if there was no death and and that matters because it would be an aggravator for the death penalty I assume that the state will seek the death penalty in this case and if there was human trafficking that would allow the state to get that penalty but there are other ways you can get the death penalty in this case the crime was heinous atrocious and cruel and boy this by definition is heinous atrocious and cruel so it's a real tragedy Jesse I guess my first question would be what kind of dating site allows a 36-year-old to meet a 16-year-old I mean we just accept that they met on a dating site well that shouldn't be allowed I mean that's just another part of this this horrific nature of this case and we don't know if you know people were lying about their ages or what was going on but I'll ask you this how difficult is it for authorities to actually find her remains I mean this is not the first case I've seen where remains were put in a dumpster or allegedly in a dumpster and then you have to search landfills and it can be almost impossible right it's tough and that's why you bring out the the dogs who have the ability to find cabers it's it's just it's just an ugly scene you have people who took great steps to try to hide their crimes that's going to be used against them as well and it is difficult because once it gets to the landfill yeah it makes it very hard but you heard from law enforcement there that they they are intent on bringing her home so kudos to law enforcement they're doing what they can this girl really didn't have much of a chance at life I mean she had her parents died she was being raised by a grandmother she was being homeschooled she had a child who was 11-month old she had mental illness she was going on dating sites and her grandmother didn't know where she was going it's just a tragedy all around now going back to MrGres for a minute he appeared in court over the weekend on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping and at one point he tried to speak up in court but he was quickly shushed repeatedly beat the victim while holding her captive for 7 days and eventually suffocating her by wrapping plastic wrap around her face he just said that I suffocated don't say any more here and he also wanted to know where his co-defendant was where's Michelle thank you we're done turns out police wanted to know that too because during his press conference on Friday the chief told reporters that Brandis was still a wanted suspect now she ended up turning herself in on Saturday morning she was also charged with kidnapping and murder Dave I mean your reactions to seeing that him trying to speak up in court and I I mean the fact that he mentioned where's Michelle brand is at I don't know if he's trying to I don't know my first thought was is he trying to suggest that she's to blame for this how do you think that that what was your reaction to that and also the fact that there are two defendants here I think he wants to get their stories in sync he worries that his codefendant will turn against him and I think that's actually likely I think that the state may try to bar argain with the codefendant because she knows all in this case and they may deem her slightly less culpable that this guy is the ring leader I think that's one reason why he's demanding to know where his accomplice is as far as this guy's concerned I'm not surprised he's chatty Kathy at that hearing I've seen that a lot I've done a lot of first appearances and these people just want to get things off their chest and talk they're sociopaths and it's what they do they don't realize the gravity of the moment or that everything they say can be used against them but they just think they're smarter than everyone else and just going to talk their way out of it and just convince the judge to let him free right there on the spot that's why they're a sociopath let's say they're both equally culpable they both uh engaged in inflicting violence upon Miranda and being instrumental in her murder and dismemberment what how could you work out a deal do they need her really do they have the evidence against both of them uh that's the part that I would struggle with they've got evidence against both of them but it would be easier to get the death penalty against him if could have deal with her they could know what goes in his mind and what was happening and how cruel everything was all the dirty details I know they have an idea of what happened but if they can cut a deal with her and just say we'll give you life in prison we will not seek the death penalty against you then I think that's the deal that the state would want now a reason why the state would want that is that even if they're both equally culpable the reality is it's much harder to get a a jury to impose a death penalty against a woman oh is that true okay that's interesting to think about yeah that I think right about that well look I'll tell you what so the acting police chief of Gulfport this is again where Miranda lived spoke at the news conference about the struggles this teen had and you wonder how relevant this is going to be but take a listen we are very familiar with Miranda we know that she is a frequent R runaway excuse me and she has a history of mental health issues as well as drug abuse the grandmother is her uh primary caregiver at this time and she said that she she normally comes home so she doesn't report her missing every time she leaves she just didn't come back in a timely manner this time Dave how does that factor into the case here my first thought was maybe prosecutors would say this was somebody who was vulnerable and the defendants took advantage of that vulnerability that's the only thing that I could see how that might play a factor into this yes that and her age and her potential mental disability yes that shows that she's uniquely vulnerable able on the other hand you have to watch out at trial to make sure there no jurors who try to do some victim blaming here to say oh she's a teenager and she's doing teenager things and running around and running away and so to try to blame her for what happened and absolve this guy any responsibility so it does cut both ways you want to make sure you get the right jury understands that this person was a vulnerable victim and as a teenager with mental illness who lost both her parents and who apparently had a grandmother just wasn't too too strict on her that she would just go out all day and the grandmother just wait for her to come back so this is what's probably going through the prosecutor's Minds right now and I think it is relevant the fact that she is who she was I want to point out uh another interesting fact from a separate affidavit that was filed against Gres so this one is in connection with the kidnapping charge and it reads the victim sustained visible injuries and based on the statement of two separate Witnesses the victim was held against her will through force and intimidation constituting kidnapping under fler law so they mentioned at least two witnesses and we know from local reporting that Gres lived in this duplex that there was another tenant that also lived there and gr's landlord David Horton spoke with abc10 and told them that Gres had been essentially a menace for months there had been lots of calls related to welfare checks and domestic violence incidents although interestingly police records show there was no call outs to the address during the time Miranda was supposedly there but Dave two witnesses I mean it's unclear if either you know the tenant or the landlord are the witnesses mentioned in the affidavit but a how critical would their testimony be and B why are they not charged yeah what kind of witnesses see a kidnapping in progress and don't call police that is unbelievable there is no Good Samaritan law in Florida so they wouldn't necessarily be charged unless they had an obligation to report something and not clear that they did so I don't see them charged unless also they were an accessory but it looks like they just saw something and didn't say something so they will be scrutinized at trial that's what makes their with witness testimony imperfect because they'll go up there and they'll say this is what I saw and then on cross-examination the defense lawyers will say and you didn't call anyone you saw kidnapping but you didn't call anyone or tell anyone so it will diminish their credibility at trial and prosecutors will say listen we can't choose our Witnesses it's what we're given they're ever you know they're imperfect Witnesses but listen to their testimony nonetheless now this is not the first time and I mentioned this before that Gres or Brandis have had dealings with law enforcement in the court system because both have apparent long criminal histories d back to the early 2000s this is according to the pelis county court records in fact when investigators connected Gres to Miranda's murder as I mentioned he was already sitting in jail turns out just days before police denounced his alleged involvement in this case Gres had allegedly threaten Brandis outside that duplex the affidavit related to that incident reads the defendant and the victim are in an onag again off again domestic relationship after coming to the defendant's house and having sexual intercourse the defendant and victim were engaged in a verbal dispute in which the victim tried to leave and the defendant was trying to get her to get into a vehicle with him the victim refused and began to walk off and the defendant kept walking in front of her attempting to block her path the defendant then retrieved an airp powerered 72 caliber Harpoon Gun and was standing in the front yard of the residence in a menacing manner causing the victim to be placed in a well-founded fear for her life fearing the defendant would fire the Harpoon Gun at her Dave a Harpoon Gun gun that is a new one I don't think I've heard that one before a this is a relatively we'll get into the charges he's facing but relatively minor case compared to what he's charged with with respect to Miranda having said that could the jury in the trial related to the murder and kidnapping of Miranda hear about this well I think that's going to be used in his codefendants case if she goes to trial that he had her under her thumb and that she was a victim herself what you're describing is her defense so all that stuff would come in in her trial now in his trial you can't use prior bad acts to prove that he did it here so you'd have to find an exception if he took the stand obviously it could come in but he's not taking the stand this guy he better try to cut a deal where he gets life in prison instead of the death penalty because it looks like they've got this guy dead to rights and he's uniquely unlikable because as you saw at his hearing he just wants to chat about everything looks to me like a sociopathic you believe that even if they can find her remains oh yeah you don't need to find a body to convict someone in a case it's better if you had the body but you don't have to you have witness testimony already you have her potential testimony if she cuts a deal you have all the forensic evidence that they have I mean they've got this whole detail they know all these details without even having to call these people already so as far as uh the prior bad act there are exceptions to the rule and you can bring in what's called Williams rule evidence but it's limited and I would be cautious as a prosecutor about bringing that in when that could jeopardize a sure conviction because if you bring that in then on appeal the conviction could get overturned and that' be the worst case scenario to have to do it all over again right no of course um both for prosecutors and the victim's family um so by the way going back to this incident when police got to that scene they had trouble apparently getting gr to cooperate because according to the affidavit it reads the defendant having been challenged by multiple Law Enforcement Officers investigating a domestic aggravated assault willfully disregarded commands to exit the vehicle he was occupying and placed his hands in the air upon exiting the vehicle the defendant continued to ignore commands to keep his hands in the air and attempted to walk away multiple times before complying under the threat of force of being tased now Gress also allegedly had drugs on him when police took him into custody the affidavit says the defendant having been taken into custody for domestic aggravated assault was found to be in possession of 13.
