Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Disappears After Date: Couple Accused of Murder, Dismemberment | Crime Alert 03.25.25

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

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.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Miranda Corsette, 17, reported missing from St. Petersburg when she doesn't come home from a date. Investigators find Stephen Grist, 35, sets up a date with Miranda at his home. But when the teen arrives,

she also meets his girlfriend, Michelle Brandes. Not long into the date, Brandes flies into a rage 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 Brandes then dismember Miranda and leave her body in a dumpster. Nancy, while police believe Miranda died in Gress and Brandes' St. Petersburg, Florida home, they believe the couple drove her body to a home in 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 have yet to locate Miranda. Gress was already in custody when connected to Miranda's disappearance on drug possession and pointing a dangerous weapon, a harpoon, at his partner. Michelle Branda's later turned herself in. Stephen Gress, 35, Michelle Brandes, 37, charged with kidnap and murder. After a grocery run, Shelly Hardwick gets in an argument with her boyfriend in their hotel room. The argument turns into a screaming match. Shelly Hardwick grabs a large watermelon and hurls it at the boyfriend. He dodges, but he is covered in watermelon and seeds when it explodes against a cabinet.

Cops are called while Shelly Hardwick claims she only threw the watermelon out of frustration and didn't intend to hurt her beau, the 51-year-old Shelly Hardwick, arrested for domestic battery by watermelon. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. South Carolina is set to carry out its fifth execution since resuming capital punishment last autumn after a 13-year hiatus.

The state Supreme Court has scheduled Michael Motti to die on April 11th at 6 p.m. at a Columbia prison. The 41-year-old Mahdi was convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer. He must choose between lethal injection, electrocution, or a firing squad, the same method used earlier this month for the nation's first execution by bullets in 15 years. If he does not decide by March 28th, the electric chair will be used. Meanwhile, the court has postponed the execution of Stephen Bixby, convicted of killing two officers in a 2003 land dispute. A judge must 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 DNA of Jesus Christ. Three other inmates have been executed in the state since September, all by lethal injection. A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced for his role in a series of high-profile art and memorabilia thefts that spanned over two decades. With more, here's Sydney Sumner of Crime Online. 49-year-old Thomas Trotta of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, received an eight-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to the theft of major artwork. Trotta was part of a theft ring responsible for burglarizing 20 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 were Andy Warhol's silkscreen Le Grand Passion and Jackson Pollock's 1949 oil-on-canvas Spring's Winter, both taken from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2005. The group also targeted sports memorabilia, stealing nine World Series rings and two MVP plaques belonging to baseball legend Yogi Berra. Trotta's attorney, Joe D'Andrea, acknowledged his client's central role in the burglaries,

stating, quote, 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. Despite Trotta's cooperation with authorities, many stolen artworks and memorabilia remain uncovered. Thanks, John. Antonio Sanchez, 23, works at Mount Olive Pickles in Mount Olive, North Carolina. Antonio clocks out 2.30 p.m. Feb. 8, planning to fish his usual spot that afternoon. When he's still not home by 9 p.m., his family reports him missing. Sure enough, Mount Olive PD finds his car parked at the cliffs of the New State Park where he likes to fish. Officers hike down to his favorite spot, find his gear, but no Antonio. Searches by

Wayne County Sheriff's, Mount Olive PD, and North Carolina State Parks, RMEC Water Response, and Seven Springs Fire Department turn up nothing. Antonio Sanchez, Hispanic, 5'8", 145 pounds, shoulder length, black hair, brown eyes. If you have any information on Antonio Sanchez, please call Wayne County, North Carolina Emergency Services, 919-731-1493. For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. And please join us for our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best to find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.