Teen Disappears After Date: Couple Accused of Murder, Dismemberment | Crime Alert 03.25.25

A couple is accused of murdering and dismembering a 17-year-old girl after luring her for a "date." Woman arrested for domestic battery by watermelon!

For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alert I Nancy Grace Breaking crime News Now. Miranda Corsett's,
seventeen reported missing from Saint Petersburg when she doesn't come
home from a date. Investigators find Stephen Gress, thirty five,
sets up a date with Miranda at his home, but
when the teen arrives, she also makes his girlfriend, Michelle Brande's.
Not long into the date, Branda's flies into a rage

(00:24):
over a missing ring, accusing Miranda of being a thief.
The couple then torture Miranda, tying her to a chair,
beating her. Miranda dies when the couple shoves a pool
ball into her mouth and wraps her face with plastic wrap.
Gress and Branda's then dismember Miranda and leave her body

(00:47):
in a dumpster.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Nancy Will. Police believe Miranda died in Gress and Branda's
Saint Petersburg, Florida home. They believed the couple drove her
body to a home and largo, where they found evidence
of a dismemberment. A witness tipped police off to the
murder and believed the couple had dumped Miranda's body at
a gas station where Branda's works, but police had yet
to locate Miranda. Gress was already in custody when connected

(01:09):
to Miranda's disappearance on drug possession and pointing a dangerous
weapon a harpoon at his partner. Michelle Branda's later turned
herself in.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Stephen Gress thirty five. Michelle Branda's thirty seven charged with
kidnap and murder After a grocery run, Shelley Hardwick gets
in an argument with her boyfriend in their hotel room.
The argument turns into a screaming match. Shelley Hardwick grabs
a large watermelon and hurls it at the boyfriend. He dodges,
but he is covered in watermelon and seeds when it

(01:39):
explodes against the cabinet. Cops are called, while Shelley Hardwick
claims she only threw the watermelon out of frustration and
didn't intend to hurt her bow. The fifty one year
old Shelley Hardwick arrested for domestic battery by watermelon. More
crime and justice news after this Now with the latest

(02:00):
crime and justice breaking news crime allize John Linley.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
South Carolina is set to carry out its fifth execution
since resuming capital punishment last autumn after a thirteen year hiatus.
The state Supreme Court has scheduled Michael maddy to die
on April eleventh at six pm at a Columbia prison.
The forty one year old Maddi was convicted of murdering
an off duty police officer. He must choose between lethal injection, electrocution,

(02:28):
or a firing squad, the same method used earlier this
month for the nation's first execution by bullets in fifteen years.
If he does not decide by March twenty eighth, the
electric chair will be used. Meanwhile, the court has postponed
the execution of Stephen Bixby, convicted of killing two officers
in a two thousand three land dispute. A judge must

(02:49):
first rule on his mental competence. A psychologist says Bixby
understands his death sentence, but also believes blood found on
his clothes the night of the killings contains the debasa
of Jesus Christ. Three other inmates have been executed in
the States since September, all by lethal injection. A Pennsylvania
man has been sentenced for his role in a series

(03:11):
of high profile art and memorabilia thefts that spanned over
two decades. With more Here's Sidney Sunder of Crime Online.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Forty nine year old Thomas Trotta of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, received
an eight year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to
the theft of major artwork. Trota was part of a
theft ring responsible for burglarizing twenty museums and institutions across
several states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
North Dakota, and Washington, d c. Among the stolen items

(03:40):
were Andy Warhol's silkscreen La Grand Passon and Jackson Pollock's
nineteen forty nine oil on canvas Springs Winter, both taken
from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania in two thousand
and five. The group also targeted sports memorabilia, stealing nine
World Series rings and two MVP plaques belonging to baseball
legend Yogi Bearra. Trotta's attorney, Joe DeAndrea, acknowledged his client's

(04:02):
central role in the burglaries, stating he was the main burglar.
He was the one that went into the institutions and
burglarized them. The stolen items were often melted down and
sold for a fraction of their value, leading to the
loss of irreplaceable cultural artifacts.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Despite Trotta's cooperation with authorities, many stolen artworks and memorabilia
remain uncovered.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Thanks John. Antonio Sanchez, twenty three, works at mount Olive
Pickles in mount Olive, North Carolina. Antonio clucks out two
thirty pm Feb eight, planning to fish his usual spot
that afternoon. When he's still not home by nine pm,
his family reports him missing. Sure enough, mount Olive p
D finds his car parked at the cliffs of the

(04:44):
New State Park where he likes to fish. Officers hiked
down to his favorite spot find his gear, but no Antonio.
Searches by Wayne County Sheriffs, mount Olive p D, and
North Carolina State Parks r MAC, Water Response and Seven
Springs Fire Department turn up nothing. Antonio Sanchez Hispanic five eight,
one hundred and forty five pounds, shoulder length, black hair,

(05:07):
brown eyes. If you have any information on Antonio Sanchez,
please call Wayne County North Carolina Emergency Services nine one
nine seven three one one four nine three. For the
latest crime in justice news, go to crime online dot
com and please join us for our daily podcast Crime Stories,

(05:27):
where we do our best to find missing people, especially
children and solve unsolved homicides with this crime Lark. I'm
Nancy Grace