True Crime Stories

This is another one of those cases in which people like myself who are staunch supporters of our justice system, whether I agree with decisions or laws or not, are left with a bad taste in their mouths.  It is not simply because a law was violated or that a bad seed in the system did unlawful things, it is because when it is exposed there does not seem to be any sort of ramifications for their actions. I am not just talking in monetary value... I am talking in real terms of punishment or sanctions.  It has been said that even when there is clear prosecution misconduct that the reason we rarely see someone punished for it is because people would lose faith in the justice system.  I do not believe that to be true, I believe people would have MORE faith in the justice system to know that wrongs are righted and the no matter who the person is there are consequences for actions.  Sadly this is not one of those cases.  In fact, although there are still ...

This is a case that made it to my list of cases to search probably quite some time ago.  It was brought back to my attention recently after Dateline  did an update episode, and then again in recent days as a sub-portion of this case was settled.   We all know that when a murder occurs the first people looked at are the last person that saw the person alive, those closest to the victim (spouses and other family members) and the person who finds the victim.  Oftentimes this is all the same person, but obviously not always.  This case falls into the latter category. We all also know that murders are most often not just committed by people the victim knew but so often it is a spouse or significant other or an ex spouse or ex significant other.  So it was no surprise that after Russell Faria found his wife dead in their Troy Missouri home on December 27, 2011 that police looked at his as a person of interest.  What is surprising is that there was clear an...

I generally spend throughout the week working on other projects such as my genealogy and  reading and watching things on stories about true crimes mainly to add to my growing list of cases.  Sunday is generally my day that I sit down the entire day and work on things here.  From time to time I will find a case that I feel the need to look into much sooner and this is one of them. We have all heard the stories from defendants.... they are innocent, their lawyer did not do their job properly and the all common idea that someone (quite often the police) framed them.  Sadly these things have become so common and so often proved to be false that one has difficulty in taking the claims seriously. And then from time to time along comes the case that you simply cannot ignore. I know I have blogged recently about the Steven Avery/Brenden Dassey case from Making a Murderer  and all the things involving a shady investigation in that case but I think this one completely r...

My research on this case is far from over as I start this but this has been an unusual case for me for many reasons.  Not only is it one of those cases that has a lot of twists and turns but it is also one that seemingly has tried to make an investigator out of me.  I am not talking the type of investigator where I am trying to do what other investigators are doing, trying to see if Charlie Brandt can be tied to more murders, but the type of investigator that digs a little deeper when something does not sound right.  Does this mean that I am becoming an investigative journalist in some way?  Lord knows I need an editor some days, that's for sure!  :) On January 3, 1971, 13 year old Carl Brandt who everyone called Charlie was apparently sitting down in his room doing his homework at his home in Fort Wayne Indiana.  His older sister, Angela was in her room.  His two younger sisters were already in bed for the night.  Charlies parents, Herbert and ...