The Invisible Killer

In 2004, a brutal series of events shocked the police, as well as the family and friends of the victims. No one expected what would come from the investigation.

Carl “Charlie” Brandt was born on February 23rd, 1957 in Connecticut to parents Herbert and Ilse Brandt. Charlie had one older sister, Angela. The family moved around a lot, due to Herbert’s work, and Angela and Charlie were forced to become highly adaptable at a young age.

In 1968, the Brandt family settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Herbert had a good, solid, stable job at an International Harvester’s plant. The family also frequently vacationed in Florida, where Angela and Charlie’s grandparents were. Charlie and his father often hunted small game on these vacations. From a young age, Charlie had a reliable, working knowledge of guns.

In 1971, Angela was 15, Charlie was 13, and the Brandts had added two young toddlers to the family. On the evening of January 3rd, things took a turn for the worst.

Angela was reading in her room, while her parents were getting ready for bed. Ilse, who was 8 months pregnant, was relaxing in the bath, while Herbert was standing over the sink. All of a sudden, Angela heard her father exclaim: “Charlie, stop! Charlie, no!” Charlie had shot his father once in the back, rounded to the bathtub, and shot his mother five times at point blank range. He’d taken the gun from his father’s dresser.

Moments later, Angela was frozen in fear as Charlie burst into her bedroom, and attempted to shoot her as well. Thankfully, the gun jammed, and wouldn’t fire. Charlie launched himself at his sister, and they both grappled and scuffled as Angela tried to get the gun away from Charlie.

As they were struggling, Angela noticed that Charlie’s eyes seemed to clear. Suddenly, he asked her: “What did I do?” Keeping calm and composed, Angela told her brother that she wasn’t sure what had happened, but that they would figure it out together.

Calmly, Angela asked Charlie to take some blankets upstairs, and get their younger sisters, who were unharmed, so that they could leave the house together and ask for help. Charlie walked backwards up the stairs, watching Angela the entire time, asking her to please not leave him.

When Angela believed there was enough space between them, she bolted from the house. She heard Charlie run after her, screaming: “You said you wouldn’t leave me!” Angela pounded on a neighbour’s door, begging for help. As Charlie got closer, Angela ran away. Charlie approached the door Angela had just left, knocked very calmly, and told the neighbour who answered: “I just shot my mom and dad.”

Police and paramedics were called to the scene, and life saving measures were performed. Herbert survived the shooting, and immediately identified his son as the shooter. Ilse and her unborn child had died immediately after the first shot.

When Charlie was interviewed by police, he didn’t have any answers as to why he’d shot his parents, and tried to shoot his sister. All he said was that he ‘snapped’ due to pressure at school, and an incident after the family’s Christmas vacation in Florida where Charlie saw Herbert shoot the family dog for no discernable (or, at least, no specified) reason.

While in police custody, Charlie underwent three separate psychiatric evaluations. They hoped to discern the motive behind the shooting, or uncover hidden mental illness. Nothing presented itself. Charlie just kept reiterating that he ‘snapped’.

Under Indiana law at the time, Charlie could not be charged or tried for murder due to his young age. Instead, he spent a year in a psychiatric facility. In June of 1972, Charlie was released back into the custody of his father.

Herbert Brandt put an immediate ban on speaking of the shooting. Angela and Charlie’s two youngest sisters believed, up until 2004, that their mother had died in a car accident. Charlie’s records were sealed, and no one spoke of the incident again.

Living in Indiana with all the publicity was difficult for the Brandt family. As a result, they moved to Florida, where the children could be closer to their grandparents. A year later, Charlie and Angela stayed behind in Florida, while their father remarried, and took their younger sisters back to Indiana.

By all appearances, Charlie had a solid adolescence in Florida. He went to college, and received a degree in electronics in 1984. Shortly after that, he got a really good job with Ford Aerospace, where he worked as a radar specialist.

When Angela began dating a man named Jim, she told him all about her family. She didn’t want any secrets between them. Through Jim, Charlie met Theresa “Teri” Helfrich. When he expressed an interest in marrying her, both Jim and Angela pushed him to tell Teri about their past – especially about their mother.

Charlie said he would. However, the wedding in 1986 was rushed, and no family members were invited. The couple seemed very happy, and settled into a beautiful beach house in the Florida Keys in 1989.

Teri’s family later stated that had Teri known about Charlie’s past, she would not have married him. She would have seen the red flags for what they were, and would have called off the relationship.

It is unknown whether Charlie actually told Teri or not. Either way, friends and family stated that they made a wonderful, affectionate couple. They were living the dream in their beautiful house, established in their careers, and loving each other.

In early September 2004, Hurricane Ivan was bearing down on the Florida Keys. An evacuation was ordered. Charlie seemed disgruntled by this, but boarded up the house immaculately, and set off with Teri to stay with their niece, Michelle Jones in Orlando.

Teri and Michelle’s mother, Mary Lou, were sisters, and Michelle was very close to both of them. She spoke with both her mother and her aunt on the phone every day, without fail. She also had a very close relationship with her friends, and she’d even given a copy of her house key to her friend Debbie.

While in Orlando, Charlie and Teri made plans to visit other friends and family in the area. Charlie met up with one of his younger sisters, and complained to her that he didn’t want to be there. He seemed anxious and nervous to get back home in a hurry, and found the entire evacuation measure ridiculous.

After nearly 10 days of staying with Michelle, Teri and Charlie planned to leave on September 12th to head back home. Their bags were packed, and sitting by the door. And yet, they stayed for one more night.

The next day, September 13th, 2004, Michelle’s friend, Lisa, was supposed to go visit her friend. Michelle called and cancelled, explaining that he aunt and uncle had had an argument, and it wasn’t a good time. Lisa said she understood, and the friends made plans for a later date.

After that evening, Mary Lou couldn’t get through to her daughter. Her calls kept going to voicemail, and Michelle wasn’t calling her back, which was highly unusual. Mary Lou grew increasingly concerned.

Worried sick about her daughter, Mary Lou called Michelle’s friend Debbie, and asked her to check in on Michelle, as she knew Debbie had a key. Debbie went over, and began knocking on doors and windows, to no avail. She grew more and more desperate. As she tried to open the door, her key stuck and wouldn’t turn. Debbie knew that everyone was home, as she saw all the cars in the driveway.

Debbie collected herself, and went around to the garage, hoping to gain entry into the house that way. As she peered into the garage windows, she saw a body hanging from the rafters. She recognized him as Charlie Brandt, Michelle’s uncle. Debbie immediately called the police.

When they arrived, they found Charlie’s body first. Using Debbie’s key, which turned this time, police entered the house. Seasoned police officers lost their composure at what they discovered inside.

In the living room, police found Teri lying on the couch. She’d been stabbed in the chest seven times. Michelle was in her bedroom. She’d been decapitated, with her head lying beside her. She’d also been disemboweled, her heart and other organs removed. Strewn around the room were various articles of Victoria’s Secret brand underwear.

Michelle’s kitchen knives were found on the scene, the evident murder weapons.

It was evident early on to police that this had been a murder-suicide. Charlie had murdered his wife, then his niece, and then he had hanged himself in the garage. What police didn’t know – what no one seemed to know – was why Charlie had done it.

Police pulled Charlie’s records, looking for something in his past that may glean an answer or two. But he was clean. He had a good job, a loving marriage, family nearby, and seemed to be living the high life as a normal guy.

Angela Brandt had a different story to tell.

She came forward, and explained to police what had happened to her mother, and how Charlie had never given a reason for why he’d ‘snapped’. She explained that his records had been sealed under Indiana law, and no one had known about the shooting, except for immediate family.

Angela’s story cleared some things up for police. Charlie Brandt had hidden in plain sight. He was invisible. If they wanted answers, they’d have go digging deep.

As the investigation continued, a picture of the façade that Charlie had crafted was starting to take shape.

Angela further explained that ever since the incident, she was terrified of her brother, but tried her best to hide this from him. She never visited him, and was always uneasy when he visited her. She tried to keep him away from her children.

Charlie’s coworkers offered up another piece of the puzzle. They told police that Charlie often spoke of his niece – his Victoria’s Secret, as he called her. They said Charlie was fixated on Michelle; he was obsessed with her. This had always struck them as odd, but they hadn’t thought anything much of it.

As police searched the Brandt house in the Florida Keys, they discovered that Charlie was a monthly subscriber to the Victoria’s Secret catalog. This, they believed, explained the strewn underwear in Michelle’s bedroom. But that wasn’t all.

Police found a collection – a rather large collection – of books, posters, and clippings about anatomy, and intense surgery-specific images. Hanging on the back of the Brandt’s bedroom door was a poster of a woman, cut in half. One half depicted the skeletal system, while the other depicted the muscular system.

These discoveries would bring every piece of the Charlie Brandt puzzle into clear focus. Especially with what Charlie’s best friend Jim had to say.

Angela’s now ex-husband, Jim, told police that Charlie was his best friend, and he was flabbergasted. He couldn’t imagine Charlie doing this. However, he also said that Charlie had some odd ways of thinking.

When Jim’s marriage to Angela broke down, and she left him, Jim was hurt, and upset. He spent the weekend with Charlie, hanging out, doing things people do when they break up. Then things got eerie.

While out fishing, Jim ranted and raved. He was angry. He wanted to get revenge on Angela for breaking his heart. Charlie had a perfect solution. He told Jim that the perfect revenge was to kill someone, cut their heart out, and then eat it.

Jim was taken aback. Charlie looked completely serious. But, to his knowledge, Charlie hadn’t been violent since 1971. He just shrugged it off as Charlie having his back during a difficult time.

A few years later, Jim said, Teri approached him and asked him if she should call the police on Charlie. Shocked, Jim asked her why.

Teri then told him that she’d come home early from work one day, and found Charlie in their fish-gutting room, a small utility room off the side of the house. Charlie was covered head to toe in blood, and blood was all over the sink. However, there hadn’t been a single fish in the room.

Teri was terrified. She’d heard from the news that a gir had been found murdered not too far from them. She’d been found mutilated in a rowboat. The timing of the two events worried Teri incredibly, and she was scared.

Jim told police that he managed to calm Teri down, and convinced her not to call the police. He couldn’t believe Charlie would ever do something like that. The blood was just from gutting fish, and Teri was just reacting out of fear due to the horrific news story.

With all of this new information, police believed that there was no way the murders of Michelle and Teri were Charlie’s only crimes. They launched a full scale investigation. They looked at Florida cold cases that matched either disembowelment, or decapitation. They also looked into cases in the Bahamas, from when Charlie lived there briefly.

Police have found 26 unsolved cases that they believe could be linked to Charlie Brandt. No official list has ever been made. However, two cases have definitively been linked to Charlie Brandt.

On July 16th, 1989, Sherry Perisho, 38, was found partially clothed in a dinghy rowboat. Her head had been nearly severed from her body. Her heart had been removed. Charlie Brandt lived only 1,000 feet away from where Sherry was found, and he closely matched a composite sketch a witness had produced of a man who’d been near the area.

Sherry Perisho was the woman that Teri had told Jim she was worried Charlie had murdered when she’d found him covered in blood.

On March 6th, 2006, Charlie Brandt was officially named Sherry’s killer, and the case was closed.

Police were also able to link Charlie to the 1995 murder of 38-year-old Darlene Toler. Darlene’s body had been found in some bushes in Miami, wrapped in plastic. Dog hair was found on her body, which police had kept.

When Charlie Brandt’s vehicle was searched, almost 10 years later, they found similar looking dog hair. Charlie and Teri didn’t have a dog.

Police discovered that Charlie had helped a friend take their dog to the ver multiple times. Eventually, DNA confirmed that the hair found in the vehicle, was the same hair found on Darlene’s body.

Authors Diana Montane and Sean Robbins also speculate that two more killings can be attributed to Charlie Brandt in their book Invisible Killer: The Monster Behind the Mask. Law enforcement have not connected these cased to Brandt definitively.

Between 1972 and 2004, an invisible killer potentially lurked around every corner Florida. Charlie Brandt has been definitively identified as his mother’s killer, Sherry Perisho’s murderer, Darlene Toler’s murderer, and as Teri and Michelle’s murderer.

There remain 24 murders that are suspected to have been linked to Brandt. It’s unclear whether those cases can be definitively linked to him or not. Or whether those are the only ones he is responsible for.

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Sources:

Charlie Brandt Killed His Mom at 13 – Then Walked Free to Butcher His Wife as an Adult – William DeLong – All That’s Interesting
Crime Junkie podcast – SERIAL KILLER: Charlie Brandt
Charlie Brandt Wikipedia page