Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Strange Twist in Missing Boy Murder Case

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

More than nine years after 13-year-old Robert Bee vanished, a friend of his mother's has been charged with murdering him. Keith "Amy Jo" Brackett, 48, was paroled from prison in December 2025. Now, police in Pekin, Illinois say Brackett is the person who killed Robert Bee and hid his body in November 2016. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the disturbing case in this episode of Crime Fix— a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CRIMEFIX at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Will SvilarCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just because this is classified as a runaway does not mean that we treat this any differently than any other missing person case. At first, it looked like Robert B. ran away, but his disappearance quickly became something far more sinister, a murder that took about 10 years to solve. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. Have you ever stopped and wondered what people might be able to find out about you online? It's really scary if you stop and think about it. Stuff like your name, your phone number, even your address is just sitting on the web for data brokers to sell. Our sponsor Incogni lets you get rid of that.

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In November 2016, Robert B disappeared. He was just 13 and seemed to vanish without a trace. Police in Peak in Illinois began searching for him. Peekin is a city of about 31,000 people south of Peoria. At first, police thought that Robert just took off, but something was off, off enough that they held a press conference. On November 17th, a truancy officer from, I believe, District 108, went to the house of Robert B, along with the Pekin police officer, where the mother was issued a truancy ticket for the child failing to be in school.

when the officer had contact with Robert and advised him he had to go to school, Robert took off running from the house at that time. On November 18th, Robert was not in school. Truancy officer again was involved, asked for a police officer from Pekin Police Department to go to the house where they were going to again issue the mother a truancy ticket, and the mother at that time reported Robert as a runaway. Again, on November 18th, we posted Robert's picture provided by the mother on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and we also used our Nixel alert system to notify the public.

This was due to the cold and reported medical conditions. He was immediately listed as a missing and endangered juvenile. Now, usually police issue an Amber Alert for a missing child, but that didn't happen in this case, and you're probably wondering why. The police chief explains. The case was immediately assigned to our police detective division, and contact was established with the mother on a daily basis. We have received approximately 30 tips and have followed up on everyone. However, we have not had any leads which have confirmed sightings of Robert B. since November 18th.

We have had the cooperation and assistance by other agencies as we receive information on an ongoing basis in other nearby communities. We want to be clear on a few issues about this case. We are unable to activate an Amber Alert as it does not meet the criteria which states specifically, quote, law enforcement must confirm the child has been abducted, end quote. We have absolutely no information that Robert B. has been abducted. However, we have been in touch with the Illinois State Police and are in the process of entering information of a missing or endangered person advisory. What this advisory will do will send information out

through various news outlets, however, it is up to the news outlets whether or not they broadcast that information. I want to let the public and everybody know that we do take this situation seriously and are very concerned about Robert B., who is 13 years old. We've assigned our entire investigation unit to this case, So you heard the police chief say Robert's disappearance simply didn't meet the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert, so all they could do was plead with the media, beg, really, for them to air the information that he was missing.

And what was really strange about this case is the fact that police had actually gone to the home and they saw Robert. They went there to take him to school and he took off running. But then he never returned home. Police wanted to talk to a friend of Robert's mother, Keith Brackett. An affidavit stated that despite their age difference, Robert would go to Brackett's home sometimes to hang out when he skipped school and even spent the night there at times. The state attorney wrote in an affidavit. On November 28, 2016, Detective Keen spoke with Brackett on the telephone. Brackett stated that he had last seen Robert on November 15th or 16th, and that Lisa had called him on November 18th and asked him to check his residence to see if Robert was there.

Brackett stated that he opened the door and yelled for Robert but received no reply. Brackett said that he then left town with Tracy, and they had just got back into town. Now, weeks passed, and detectives again went back to Keith Brackett to interview him about Robert's disappearance. The detective wrote in an affidavit, on December 16, 2016, Detective Keene and Detective Sergeant Rainey interviewed Brackett. Brackett stated that on November 16, 2016, a number of... of people, including Lisa B. and Tracy, were at his residence partying. On November 18, 2016, at approximately 8 a.m., Lisa texted him and asked him to see if Robert was at her residence. Brackett stated that he went to Lisa's residence at about 9.15 a.m. and the front door was

open, but that he got no response when he yelled into the residence. It stated that he then went to Eureka to pick up Tracy to drive to Southern Illinois to apply for a job. Later in the interview, Brackett stated that he had driven to Southern Illinois by himself. Brackett gave permission for his cell phone to be downloaded. A subsequent review of Brackett's cell phone records showed that Brackett's cell phone was still located in Pekin at 1248 p.m. on November 18, 2016. So it looked like the detectives are trying to say he gave some false information there. Now, even more time passed with no sign of Robert B.

This week, your Greater Peoria Area Crime Stoppers serving Peoria, Taswell, and Woodford counties, takes you to Peekin to focus on a missing persons case. On November 18th, 13-year-old Robert B was reported as a runaway by his mother. Detectives have worked many hours to locate Robert with no luck. State and federal authorities have joined the investigation working with Peacom Police Department to follow leads in numerous locations throughout Central Illinois. Searches, interviews, and ground searches have been done, but investigators still have not been able to locate Robert. Robert is 4 foot 6 inches, 110 pounds, and was last seen wearing a red and gray shirt with blue jeans and red Nike shoes. I'm Detective Mike Eaton. Crime stoppers will pay up to $1,000 this week for information that leads investigators to locate Robert B.

Then in July of 2017, a gruesome, grim discovery. The state attorney wrote, on July 24, 2017, skeletal remains were located in a secluded area behind the residents located on Route 29. detectives from the peak and p d tazwell county sheriff's department and isp responded to the scene in addition to the skeletal remains two different types of rope of different colors and a wad of duct tape and black electrical tape with what appeared to be human hair stuck to it were also located at the scene further investigation revealed that the property where the remains were located was owned by a woman named mary mary was interviewed and stated she owned the property but that it was maintained by her nephew Keith Brackett. Mary stated that Keith has been taking care of the property since 2016 and that Keith had mowed the property approximately two weeks ago. Mary also stated that Keith was currently residing at a residence

that she owned located on Cooper Street in Pekin. Tazewell County detectives went to that residence and upon approaching the residents noted some rope outside the residence that appeared to be similar in composition and color color to the rope located at the scene where the skeletal remains were found. A search warrant for the residence was issued. In the garage of the residence, where bracket resided, detectives located ropes that appeared to match the ropes located at the scene as well as duct tape, black electrical tape, and a number of restraints commonly used in sexual acts. The state attorney said that an autopsy

determined that those remains were Robert B's and that he likely died of asphyxiation. and his death was ruled a homicide. The following day, detectives went back to Keith Brackett for a little chat, and they said he agreed to talk with them. The state attorney wrote, on July 25, 2017, at approximately 5.15 p.m., peak in Detective Hazelwood, interviewed Brackett. During the interview, Detective Hazelwood asked Brackett, what would be the best way to place a body on the property where the skeletal remains were found during the daylight hours? Brackett drew a detailed map of the property and stated that you could carry a person of Robert's size up from the railroad tracks but stated that if he had placed the body, he would have just parked next to the garage on the property, which was much closer to where the remains were found, and no one would take note because his vehicle was often there. Brackett stated he had not been in the wooded area where the remains were found for two to three years.

Brackett stated he was bisexual and into BDSM, that's bondage, domination, sexual mutilation, and would go to BDSM clubs in Chicago and Champaign to engage in sexual encounters. BDSM typically stands for bondage, dominance, sadism, and masochism. Now, in so many cases, electronic evidence is important, and in this case, the state attorney says it will play a part. He wrote, on December 12, 2019, a search warrant was issued for Brackett's Google account, A forensic examination was conducted on Brackett's data. The examination showed that Brackett had been in the area where the remains were found on a number of times between November 18, 2016 and July 24, 2017, including on April 17, 2017, where his cell phone was placed within approximately 30 feet from where the remains were located. A Google voice search of Brackett's voice was recovered that had been completed on July 24th, 20, 20th, 20th.

2017, only hours after the remains were discovered and prior to detectives arriving at Brackett's residence or speaking with him. Brackett's voice search asked, how long does DNA stay on ropes? Only law enforcement was aware that there were ropes found at the scene of the skeletal remains when that voice search was completed. Brackett also completed a voice search in the early morning hours of July 25, 2017, asking, what do you do if you are a suspect in a murder? Keith Brackett went to prison in 2018 for burglary and other crimes, but he was paroled in December of 2025.

Two days after Brackett was released, he posted this photo on Facebook. Then on February 1st of this year, Keith posted on Facebook, I'm excited to start this new creative journey in professional mode. Check out my profile to learn more about me and follow me to stay connected. Hashtag professional mode. Then on March 13th, bracket posted on Facebook, I'm a transgender that's female that's asking for help so I can have more clothes, personal hygiene and cleansing equipment. As a female, I am not a joke. I am a human that's living on the streets and in the Dream Center in Peoria, Illinois. And I'm asking for your support to helping me get out here and be who I am supposed to be.

If you're homophobic, I'll still be your friend, even know you're homophobic. Let me explain to you the truth about, life. Please let me explain that I am a human. I believe the same. I had the skin, same skin tone, so color does not matter. But at the end of the day, we are all born from my mother's womb. We are the same. It doesn't matter. Color doesn't matter. Race, it doesn't matter. Sexuality, what matters is we are the same. Please help sponsor and send me money so I can get items to become the person I am. Keith also posted a flyer on Facebook with an announcement saying, that she now wants to be called Amy Jo and wrote, while in prison I had a life-changing surgery and I became the person I've always wanted to be, a female.

Now as a person experiencing homelessness, I am not able to complete this transition, so I am asking for donations to purchase items, such as women's clothing, makeup, perfume, hair clips, etc., items to help me be me. Less than a month after Amy Jo Brackett posted that flyer, and more than nine years, years after Robert B vanished, police announced that Keith Brackett, who now goes by Amy Joe, is charged with murdering Robert. This morning, detectives with the Peacom Police Department arrested 48-year-old Keith A. Brackett, formerly of Peaccon, for the 2016 murder of Robert B. Brackett was arrested for first-degree

murder and concealment of a homicidal death and was taken to the Tasswell County Jail. Several agencies, including the FBI, have worked this case. The Tazzo County and Peoria County search and rescue teams have searched hundreds, if not thousands of acres at our request. Illinois State Police Air Operations, Illinois State Police Crime Scene Technicians, FBI surveillance teams, the FBI behavioral analysis unit in Quantico. And a special thank you to the scientists at the Illinois State Police Crime Lab and the FBI Lab in Quantico. they have cumulatively spent hours, countless hours, assisting us in this investigation. We've made numerous requests, and they've always obliged all of those requests. So to discuss this just horrifically disturbing case, I want to bring in Will Svilar.

He is a retired Chicago police detective who worked homicides at Will. This obviously is way down the road from you in Pekin, Illinois. However, a homicide case is a homicide case. What is interesting to me is the fact that it seems like they've had a lot of this evidence. Since 2019, Keith Brackett, who now goes by Amy, was paroled in December of 2025 from a burglary case that he was paroled and let out of prison. Why now? Why are they charging this out now in April of 2027? 26. Well, you said it. He was locked away for seven years. For seven years, I think from the start of this case, they had an idea that this was the guy they were looking for. This is the guy that was responsible for this. Certainly after the poor kids' remains were found behind his aunt's home. Certainly that fed into this. They did a lot of search warrants. They did a lot of work. But he was locked up. He was locked up for seven years. So they had the opportunity to take their time, be very methodical, make sure they didn't miss anything.

and get a good case to bring to the prosecutors. And then once he's paroled, it's time to grab him. But he's been out for like three months now. And so, well, more than three months, he's been out. So do you think they just were kind of just sitting back and waiting to see what he did? I mean, what do you think was going on? Well, I think they were getting in their case together. Like you said, it took seven years.

It took, you know, almost 10 years from the time the poor kid was killed. But I think that they, the kids. the police are building their case through this whole time search warrants background checks are putting this puzzle together the three months after he's out is he in a halfway house is he you know is he getting ready to to move out of state which you can't do if he's on parole unless he gets special permission um i think they were just putting their case together maybe there was just a little bit of outlying evidence that they were waiting waiting for forensic evidence but um i i think it's an appropriate time for them to to bring charges very interesting

It seems like they've had at least what they cited in this probable cause affidavit. They've had most of this stuff since at least 2017, 2019. And what they have right now is some what appears to be pretty strong circumstantial evidence. I mean, you have, you have poor Roberts remains found on a property maintained, according to the cops, by Keith Brackett. You have the remains, you know, bound with items, rope, tape that is similar to what was found on brackets property where he was living at the time. Let's just talk about those two items right now. And then we'll get into the other stuff. Okay, let's talk about the rope. When you talk about similar robe or is it the same rope, because there's a difference. Regular rope, I mean, the argument the defense can make on regular rope is how many people have access to getting this type of rope? So, that's a part of the puzzle. But if you have ends of the rope from the remains and from what you found on that search warrant, if you have ends of the rope that were clearly cut and you can say they were cut by the same tool,

now that becomes direct evidence and not circumstantial evidence. If you can say, it's like tool marks. Burglary tools leave a certain pattern on a door. If you find that tool and you put it on a door jam, you could say this tool made that mark just like a fingerprint. So that rope is huge. And if that rope was linked, by tool marks, that becomes direct evidence and not circumstantial. And as far as the proximity of where the body is found, I mean, that's a strong circumstantial evidence as you can get. You know, a defense attorney will pick apart this whole rope thing and the tape. They will do that.

But they've had enough time the police have to take what was taken from Roberts remains and then compare it at the lab to. what was found at Keith Brackett's home. They've had a lot of time to do that. And possibly, who knows, were there receipts at the home for these items? That could be a possibility as well. Absolutely. You know, again, the kid goes missing in 2016.

Does the guy go to the store? Is there a Home Depot receipt? Is there a credit card charge? I know they did a lot of search warrants on his phones. And they were able to give him, put him in geolocation. of where he was at the time of the disappearance. So, yes, there was plenty of time. Like you said, it was seven, seven years in prison,

10 years since the crime, nine years since they found the remains. There was plenty of time to do all of that work and make sure that you are on point when it comes time to bring this case against this guy. One of the things that I think is really one of the most damning pieces of evidence here, aside from the fact that this kid was spending time, at his house. Robert was at Keith's house, and we'll get into that in a second, but there was a forensic examination done of the Google account belonging to Keith Brackett, and this is all in the

affidavit written by the detective in this case, or at least the state's attorney, I should say, but the detectives gathered this information, and let's put it up on the screen. It says that on December 12, 2019, a search warrant was issued for Brackett's Google account, and they did a forensic examination on the data and they said that they found that he was in the area of the remains a number of times between November 18th 2016 when Robert went missing in July 24th 2017 including on April 17th 2017 it says his cell phone was placed within 30 feet approximately of where the remains were located. So we're talking,

I don't think they're talking cell phone triangulation data there. They may be talking about Google data. So that might be more precise. Yes, I mean, Google data was just kind of new when I was doing all this stuff. Like you said, triangulation is how we did it from cell towers. And then once you got that cell towers,

if you were looking for somebody actively, you had this trigger fish item where you could ping, as you're approaching, you could ping and you can be that specific. but this Google data is much more specific than the triangulation. And that's about as damning as you can get. Yeah. And then there's another layer to this. There's another layer to the Google data.

And that's this voice search that they claim that Keith Brackett did. They said that there was a voice search recovered from Keith Brackett's data. And it was on July 24th, 2017, the same day that Roberts' remains were found. And he said it was prior to the detectives going to Keith's data. brackets home and that he's he searched how long does DNA stay on ropes and that only law enforcement was aware there were ropes found at the scene of the skeletal remains when that voice search was completed and in the next day he searches what do you do if you're a suspect in a murder i mean these are all very damning things like the the rope thing is incredibly suspicious because if nobody

knew that publicly that that's a piece of information law enforcement would have held back back because only the killer would have known that. Absolutely. Be very careful what you put out there. You're absolutely right. When you're in an interview room, when you're talking to a suspect, you don't want to give them anything. You want them to give it to you, especially if it's something like you said, the rope. If nobody knew about the rope and he gives you the rope, your case gets stronger and stronger.

This puzzle gets the puzzles all over the table at first, and now you're starting to bring it together to get all the pieces together. And that's what they did in this case. And then he's wondering what you do, you know, this is the allegation that he searched. What do you do if you are a suspect in a murder? And so, you know, I'm sure that he got Google results for that. And the Google results probably said don't talk to the cops. Absolutely. Get a lawyer.

Things like that. Absolutely. I mean, like we said, all this is all part of the case. They had plenty of time to do it. They put it together well. first of all, I don't care what the circumstances are. A 13-year-old should not be friends with a 40-year-old. There's a problem there from the start.

And that makes my, you know, hair stand on end and certainly becomes a red flag for the police. And I'm glad you're bringing that up. I mean, there's, there are some huge concerns here because in the, in the beginning of this paperwork, it talks about how Robert was skipping school. and he would his mom said you know sometimes he'll go over to my friend keith's house and even spending the night these are not this is not normal stuff and i think parents watching this and even if you're not a parent but one day you're going to be a parent you need to be aware that you know your your teenage child or your child at all hanging out with much older individuals or even in their 20s it's not normal

Let's talk about that, Will, how that's just like a huge red flag and parents. And I mean, everybody can learn a lesson here. That's not normal behavior. No, it's not normal behavior. And you have to understand as a parent, I'm a parent, and my kids are older now, but what you expose your children to or what you expose yourself to, you're exposing your children to. And there's got to be, you know, there's got to be some more to this.

And I don't want, I don't know much about the mom's background or the family background, but there's got to be a little bit more going on there where you have knowledge that your kid is spending the night at a grown man's house at 13 years old and skipping school and going to those house there's got to be something else going on there it sounds like they were mom was partying with keith bracket um i don't know if there was like a lot of drug use or or something to that effect um it sounds like that's likely a possibility but he was dating this woman tracy and they were all so-called partying um that's how it's described in the affidavit. Would you expose yourself to? You expose your children to. Right. And kids, like a 13-year-old kid should be at home with their parents hanging out,

not around adults partying. No, hanging out with other 13-year-olds. Right. It's really a horrifically tragic case. And, you know, what makes me so sad about this, too, is that Robert, it says that when the cops went to the house, to issue the truancy ticket to mom and to take him to school, he took off. He ran away. And that was, I mean, he's just so sad. And then he's gone. And nobody ever sees him again.

And I'm assuming that the cops think he went to Keith Brackett's house and then he was never seen again. That's kind of like, you know, the line you can connect here, the dot you can connect with this case. So, so Will, we're just reading what they have in this to, to offer for probable cause. Do you think they have a whole lot more we just don't know about yet? Oh, I do. I think the prosecutor is going to put on a real good case. All the things that we talked about, all the forensic stuff that we talked about, possible tool marks, all that's coming out. You don't need it for probable cause.

But when it comes time to proving it beyond a reasonable doubt, you better believe it's all going to be there. And we don't know if he's made any other statements. Keith Brackett. We just know what they've put in the affidavit. Right. Right. Well, it's just an awful case. This poor child, 10 years ago, almost 10 years ago, vanished and should still be here. And it's just a really sad, horrific case.

Will Sveilar, thank you, as always, for your time and your expertise. Sure. You're welcome. Now, Keith Brackett's name is still legally Keith Brackett. It has not been legally changed, but as you. you heard, Keith is transitioning to Amy and prefers to be called Amy Joe and said so in court. So Keith Brackett, who goes by Amy Joe now, remains in the Tazwell County Jail. So we'll follow this case and let you know what happens. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix.

I'm Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.