At least six people knew that a teenage girl was being held and tortured by a Florida couple in the days before she was brutally murdered and dismembered, according to investigators.
Steven Gress, 35, and his girlfriend Michelle Brandes, 37, allegedly suffocated 16-year-old Miranda Corsette to death by shoving a billiard ball in her mouth and wrapping her head in plastic before chopping her up and stuffing her body parts in the trunk of their car in mid-February.
The plan was to dispose of her remains, but according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, they first decided to celebrate Brandes’ birthday by having dinner at Popeyes and then a round of mini golf at Congo River in Clearwater.
The warrant alleges that the couple allegedly lured Corsette into their home in February after Gress met the teen on a dating app.
Following the birthday festivities, the couple allegedly tossed Corsette’s remains in a dumpster in Ruskin, near where Gress’ grandparents lived, according to the warrant.
No remains were found, however, as it’s believed the dumpster was taken to a landfill and everything inside — including the teen’s remains — was incinerated.
Prosecutors are now tasked with convicting the couple without a body. But according to new details revealed in the warrant, multiple people saw the teen with the couple, or had some knowledge that she was being tortured and harmed while she was with them.
Gress had allegedly sent nude pictures of Corsette that showed her with bruises and increasingly worsening injuries to at least three people, including his mother.
According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, Gress and the teen first hung out at the couple’s home on February 14. He drove her home, and then she returned the next day.
It wasn’t long before Gress accused her of stealing his ring, which sparked the weeklong abuse and torture, the warrant states.
Gress then allegedly bragged to neighbors about beating her over the missing ring.
“This little b**** stole my ring and won’t give it back,” he reportedly said. “So I’ve been beating her a**.”
Another woman, who lived with the couple, later told police that Gress was abusive and that he would buy animals off Craigslist and kill them by throwing them off a bridge, according to the warrant.
As Gress allegedly continued to torture Corsette in their home, his girlfriend Michelle Brandes reportedly found the missing ring.
The couple’s roommate told police that she believed Brandes had it all along and that she had taken it so he would blame Corsette and then get rid of her, the warrant alleged. The woman also gave police gruesome details of how the teen was allegedly suffocated to death.
Police believe Corsette was killed between February 20 and February 24. After she was killed, Gress allegedly put her body in a car and drove to a house in Largo, St. Petersburg Police said, where evidence gathered indicates that her body was dismembered.
On February 24, her grandmother, who had custody of her after both of her parents died, reported her missing to Gulfport police.
The grandmother told police that Corsette, who has an 11-month-old baby, was known to run away and she’d usually return home, but not this time.
On March 6, police got a call from a “witness” who said they had information about a kidnapping and a murder, according to the warrant.
Gress, who was already in custody after he allegedly pointed a harpoon at Brandes while in possession of drugs, was charged with murder. Brandes turned herself in to the police on March 8.
They are both being held at the Pinellas County Jail without bond. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in the case.
No one else has been charged in the murder, but Sixth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bruce Bartlett told the Tampa Bay Times, “there’s a pretty good likelihood of more to come.”
