Law&Crime Sidebar - Florida Teen Dismembered by Man She Met on Dating App: Police

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Police in Florida believe a 16-year-old’s remains might be in a local landfill. Miranda Corsette reportedly met 34-year-old Steven Gress on a dating app, but when he and his girlfriend accused her of stealing from them, Gress reportedly tortured her for days before finally suffocating her. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber analyzes the case and Gress’s prior charges with former Florida state’s attorney Dave Aronberg.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY 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.

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A teenage mother's body might be in a Florida landfill right now after authority say a local man lorted to his home on a dating app killed her and then dismembered her. Now he and his on again often again, girlfriend, they are both under arrest. We're going to dig into the details of this case

and where the investigation goes next with former Florida State's attorney Dave Aaronberg. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. This is honestly the worst case scenario. When we cover true crimes and we talk about the dangers online, the unknown attacker, the stranger in the night, the allegations that you're about to hear

are a textbook example of some of our greatest of what can happen. Because authorities in St. Petersburg, Florida, say, 16-year-old Miranda Corsetti is dead, dismembered by a man she met on a dating app. This teen was reported missing on February 24th, and investigators are in the process of trying to locate her remains. This is a horrible story. And it's one that involves, by the way, multiple locations along the Gulf Coast of Florida. So we start with the fact that Miranda lived in Gulfport with her grandmother. And according to police, her parents are both deceased, and officials also confirmed that Miranda was actually the mother of an 11-month-old baby and had been homeschooled.

Now, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway provided a timeline leading up to Miranda's death, and he told reporters during a press conference that 35-year-old Stephen Gress reached out to Miranda on a dating app on Valentine's Day. Now, authorities claim he drove to her home in Gulfport, took her back to his place in St. Petersburg. Gress reportedly took Miranda back to her home. This is according to police. day, she apparently returned to Gress's home a second time. But unfortunately, she wouldn't leave alive. Now, on the 20th at the house, there was some type of dispute over some missing jewelry. So from the 20th through the 24th, she was beaten and tortured because they could not

find this piece of jewelry. We know at some time there, she was then killed. Mr. Gress placed her body in his car, along with his domestic partner, Michelle Brandis, and they drove her to Largo. In Largo, the detectives found evidence that Miranda was, excuse me, Miranda was dismembered at that location. They didn't place her in the car, and they drove her down to Ruskin where they dumped her into a dumpster, and her body is somewhere possibly in a landfill somewhere in that county. We're going to do everything possible to bring Miranda home. Again, we know the body was placed into a dumpster, but we've got to try to figure out where did that,

which landfill did that dumpster go to? It's pretty horrifying to think about, to say the least, my gosh, 16 years old. And now authorities believe she was killed sometime between February 20th and February 24th. And as you heard, Gress's domestic partner, 37-year-old Michelle Brandis, is believed to have helped Gress transport Miranda's body to another home,

which police say belonged to Brandis's mother, where the teen was dismembered and then put into a dumpster in Hillsborough County. And when investigators filed an arrest affidavit with the court for Gress on a first-degree murder charge, that is when we learned other horrifying details about what allegedly happened to Miranda, because the affidavit states that Gress, quote, unlawfully and from a premeditated design to affect the death of Miranda Corsetti, a human being, repeatedly beat the victim while holding her captive for seven days and eventually suffocating her by wrapping plastic wrap around her face, thereby inflicting upon the said Miranda Corsetti mortal wounds.

And the affidavit goes on to say, the defendant and co-defendant held the victim against her will for over seven days, tortured her by beating the victim, and eventually stuffing a billiard ball into her mouth and wrapping her face with plastic wrap, causing her to suffocate. The defendant and co-defendant felt the victim had stolen a ring. And the defendant and co-defendant then dismembered the body of the victim and discarded the victim in a dumpster in Ruskin, Florida. it is just unthinkable. And neither police nor the affidavit provided any sort of reason for why Gress and Brandis might

have believed Miranda took this ring, nor is there any evidence that she actually stole anything. But on February 24th, Miranda's grandmother reported her missing. And then several days later, police say a witness came forward to give them a tip about what might have happened to Miranda. So when police started to figure out who might be responsible in her disappearance, it turned out that Gress was already in jail on other serious charges. Yeah, this is a pretty crazy, scary. story, to say the least. But look, we're glad we're able to bring it to you. We're glad we're

able to shed a light on these allegations, what happened to Miranda. So it's our privilege to be able to cover these kinds of stories. And for that, I want to quickly thank and call out our great partner and sponsor Morgan and Morgan because it's their support that helps us to keep on doing this. Now, this is America's largest injury law firm, a firm with over 1,000 attorneys, and that's because they win a lot. I mean, in the past few months, Morgan and Morgan secured a $9.3 million dollar verdict for a car crash in Florida, $5.6 million for another car accident victim in Atlanta, and not to mention $1.8 million in Kentucky after insurance offered them, I mean, $5,000 in that case. Now, even if you think your case isn't worth millions of

dollars, why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? And Morgan and Morgan makes it so easy. You can start a claim from your phone in just eight clicks. So if you're injured, you can simply start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar. I want to bring back onto the show former state's attorney Dave Arrenberg, who prosecuted crimes in Palm Beach County, Florida. He is the host of court authorities on YouTube. It's a product of the Midas Touch. Thanks so much, Dave. Good to see you.

My gosh, I mean, the details of this crime are incredibly brutal. Did you prosecute cases like this in the sense about people meeting online and then, you know, violence ensues? Yes, Jesse, first, it's good to be with you. this is a terrible tragedy here in my home state. And yes, we have seen crimes of people lured into human trafficking, right? Being on an online dating site or just online on innocuous sites like Facebook. So I wonder if this case could have been prosecuted as human trafficking, if there was no death. And that matters because it would be an aggravator for the death penalty. I assume that the state will seek the death penalty in this case. And if there was human trafficking,

that would allow the state to get that penalty. But there are other ways. you can get the death penalty in this case. The crime was heinous, atrocious and cruel, and boy, this, by definition, is heinous, atrocious and cruel. So it's a real tragedy, Jesse. I guess my first question would be, what kind of dating site allows a 36-year-old to meet a 16-year-old? I mean, we just accept that they met on a dating site. Well, that shouldn't be allowed. I mean, that's just another part of this horrific nature of this case. And we don't know if people were lying about their ages or what was going on, but I'll ask you this, how difficult is it for authorities to actually find her remains? I mean, this is not the first

case I've seen where remains were put in a dumpster or allegedly in dumpster and then you have to search landfills and it can be almost impossible, right? It's tough and that's why you bring out the dogs who have the ability to find cadavers. It's just, it's just an ugly scene. You have people who took great steps to try to hide their crimes. That's going to be used against them as well. And it is difficult because once it gets to the landfill, yeah, it makes it very hard. But you heard from law enforcement there that they are intent on bringing her home. So kudos to law enforcement. They're doing what they can.

This girl really didn't have much of a chance at life. I mean, she had her parents died. She was being raised by a grandmother. She was being homeschool. She had a child who was 11 month old. She had mental illness. She was going on dating sites. And her grandma didn't know where she was going.

It's just a tragedy all around. Now, going back to Mr. Gress for a minute, he appeared. in court over the weekend on charges of first degree murder and kidnapping and at one point he tried to speak up in court but he was quickly shushed repeatedly beat the victim while holding her captive for seven days and eventually suffocating her by wrapping plastic wrap around her face he just said that i i don't say any more here and he also wanted to know where his co-defendant was thank you we're done turns out police wanted to know that too because during his press conference on Friday the chief told reporters that brandis was still a wanted suspect now she ended up turning

herself in on saturday morning she was also charged with kidnapping and murder dave i mean your reactions to seeing that him's trying to speak up in court and i i mean the fact that he mentioned where's michelle brandis at i don't know if he's trying to i don't know my first thought was is he trying to suggest that she's to blame for this how do you think that that what was your reaction to that and also the fact that there are two defendants here i think he wants to get their stories in sync. He worries that his co-defendant will turn against him. I think that's actually likely. I think that the state may try to bargain with the co-defendant because she knows all in this case. And they may deem her slightly less culpable that this guy is the ringleader. I think that's

one reason why he's demanding to know where his accomplice is. As far as this guy's concerned, I'm not surprised he's chatty Kathy at that hearing. I've seen that a lot. I've done a lot of first appearances. And these people just want to get things off their chest and talk. They're so sociopaths and it's what they do. They don't realize the gravity of the moment or that everything they say can be used against them, but they just think they're smarter than everyone else and they're just going to talk their way out of it and just convince the judge to let him free right there on the spot. That's why they're a sociopath. Let's say they're both equally culpable. They both engaged in inflicting violence upon Miranda and being instrumental in her murder and

dismemberment. How could you work out a deal? Do they need her really? Do they have the evidence against both of them, that's the part that I would struggle with. They've got evidence against both of them, but it would be easier to get the death penalty against him if they could deal with her. They could know what goes in his mind and what was happening and how cruel everything was, all the dirty details. I know they have an idea of what happened, but if they can kind of deal with her and just say, we'll give you life in prison, we will not seek the death penalty against you. Then I think that's the deal that the state would want. Now, a reason why the state would want that is that even if they're both equally culpable,

The reality is it's much harder to get a jury to impose a death penalty against a woman. Oh, is that true? Okay, that's interesting to think about. Yeah, I think you're right about that. Well, look, I'll tell you what, so the acting police chief of Gulfport, this is again where Miranda lived, spoke at the news conference about the struggles this teen had, and you wonder how relevant this is going to be. But take a listen. We are very familiar with Miranda.

We know that she is a frequent runaway, excuse me, and she has a history of men's, health issues as well as drug abuse. The grandmother is her primary caregiver at this time, and she said that she normally comes home so she doesn't report her missing every time she leaves. She just didn't come back in a timely manner this time. Dave, how does that factor into the case here? My first thought was maybe prosecutors would say this was somebody who was vulnerable and the defendants took advantage of that vulnerability. That's the only thing that I could see how that might play a factor into this. Yes, that and her age and her potential mental disability.

Yes, that shows that she's uniquely vulnerable. On the other hand, you have to watch out at trial to make sure there are no jurors who try to do some victim blaming here. She's a teenager and she's doing teenager things and running around and running away. And so to try to blame her for what happened. absolve this guy of any responsibility. So it does cut both ways. You want to make sure you get the right jury understands that this person was a vulnerable victim and as a teenager with mental illness who lost both her parents and who apparently had a grandmother just wasn't too strict on her that she

would just go out all day and the grandmother just wait for her to come back. So this is what's probably going through the prosecutor's minds right now. And I think it is relevant the fact that she is who she was. I want to point out another interesting fact from a separate affidavit that was filed against Gress. So this one is in connection with the kidnapping charge. And it reads, The victim sustained visible injuries and based on the statement of two separate witnesses,

the victim was held against her will through force and intimidation, constituting kidnapping under Florida law. So they mentioned at least two witnesses, and we know from local reporting that Gress lived in this duplex, that there was another tenant that also lived there. And Gress's landlord, David Horton,

spoke with ABC 10 and told them that Gress had been essentially a menace for months. There had been lots of calls related to welfare checks and domestic violence incidents, although interestingly, police records show there was no callouts to the address during the time Miranda was supposedly there. But Dave, two witnesses, I mean, it's unclear if either, you know, the tenant or the landlord are the witnesses mentioned in the affidavit, but A, how critical would their testimony be? And B, why are they not charged? Yeah, what kind of witnesses see a kidnapping in progress and don't call police?

That is unbelievable. There is no good Samaritan law in Florida. So they wouldn't necessarily be charged unless I had an obligation to report something and it's not clear that they did. So I don't seem charged unless also they were an accessory, but it looks like they just saw something. It didn't say something. So they will be scrutinized at trial. That's what makes their witness testimony imperfect because they'll go up there and they'll say, this is what I saw. And then on cross-examination, the defense lawyers will say, and you didn't call anyone. You saw kidnapping, but you didn't call anyone or tell anyone.

So it will diminish their credibility at trial. And prosecutors will say, listen, we can't choose our witnesses. It's what we're given. They're ever, you know, they're imperfect witnesses, but listen to their testimony nonetheless. Now, this is not the first time. And I mentioned this before, that Gress or Brandis have had dealings with law enforcement in the court system because both have apparent long criminal histories dating back to the early 2000s. This is according to the Pinellas County court records. In fact, when investigators connected Gress to Miranda's murder, as I mentioned, he was already sitting in jail. Turns out, just days before, police denounced his alleged involvement in this case, Gress had allegedly threatened Brandis outside that duplex.

The affidavit related to that incident reads, The defendant and the victim are in an on-again, off-again domestic relationship. After coming to the defendant's house and having sexual intercourse, the defendant and victim were engaged in a verbal dispute in which the victim tried to leave, and the defendant was trying to get her to get into a vehicle with him. The victim refused and began to walk off, and the defendant kept walking in front of her, attempting to block her path. The defendant then retrieved an air-powered 72-caliber harpoon gun

and was standing in the front yard of the residence in a menacing manner, causing the victim to be placed in a well-founded fear for her life, fearing the defendant would fire the harpoon gun at her. Dave, a harpoon gun. That is a new one. I don't think I've heard that one before. A, this is a relatively, we'll get into the charges he's facing, but relatively minor case compared to what he's charged with with respect to Miranda. Having said that, could the jury in the trial related to the murder and kidnapping of Miranda hear about this? Well, I think that's going to be used in his co-defendant's case.

If she goes to trial, that he had her under her thumb and that she was a victim herself. What you're describing is her defense. So all that stuff would come in in her trial. Now, in his trial, you can't use prior bad acts to prove that he did it here. So you'd have to find an exception. If he took the stand, obviously, he could come in, but he's not taking the stand. This guy, he better try to cut a deal where he gets life in prison instead of the death penalty because it looks like they've got this guy dead to rights.

And he's uniquely unlikable because, as you saw at his hearing, he just wants to chat about everything looks to me like a sociopathic. You believe that even if they can't find her remains. Oh, yeah. You don't need to find a body to convict someone in a case. It's better if you had the body, but you don't have to. You have witness testimony already. You have her potential testimony if she cuts a deal.

you have all the forensic evidence that they have. I mean, they've got this whole detail. They know all these details without even having to call these people already. So as far as the prior bad act, there are exceptions to the rule and you can bring in what's called Williams rule evidence, but it's limited. And I would be cautious as a prosecutor about bringing that in when that could jeopardize a sure conviction. Because if you bring that in, then on appeal, the conviction could get overturned.

And that'd be the worst case scenario. They'd have to do it all over again. Right. No, of course, both for prosecutors and the victim's family. So, by the way, going back to this incident, when police got to that scene, they had trouble apparently getting dressed to cooperate because according to the affidavit, it reads, the defendant having been challenged by multiple law enforcement officers investigating a domestic aggravated assault, willfully disregarded commands to exit the vehicle he was occupying and

placed his hands in the air. Upon exiting the vehicle, the defendant continued to ignore commands to keep his hands in the air and attempted to walk away multiple times before complying under the threat of force of being tased. Now, Gress also allegedly had drugs on him when police took him into custody. The affidavit says the defendant, having been taken into custody for domestic aggravated assault was found to be in possession of 13.3 grams of methamphetamine in two small plastic baggies. Small amount of marijuana was also found in his pocket. And so for that incident, it's our understanding Gress was charged with aggravated assault, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance

and obstruction or resisting an officer without violence. I think it's just interesting, Dave, as we put a wrap on this. Look, he's innocent until proven guilty, so is Ms. Brandis. But these allegations, this incident, definitely tell a very interesting story about this defendant. Not surprised at all that he's allegedly a meth head who uses a harpoon gun to try to do violence against his girlfriend who has a long rap sheet. I mean, who else would do a crime like this? This guy meets the central casting of what this kind of criminal would be. I'm not surprised at any of this, and that he would want to tell the world about himself and why he's not guilty at his hearing.

This guy's headed towards a conviction. The question is, will he get the death penalty in Florida? We'll see. And then what happens to his co-defendant already clearly wants her to clam up by calling out, where is she? Where is she? So I'm glad we're following this, Jesse, because there are a lot of bad Florida cases out there, but this one, he'll be one of the worst of them all. it's really uh it's really something else a tragedy and a very upsetting and unsettling case uh dave arrenberg thanks so much for coming on appreciate taking the time and you check

them out on court authorities everybody it's great show thanks dave appreciate it thank you jesse all right everybody what a case uh that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on youtube apple podcast Spotify wherever you should get your podcasts i'm jesse weber i'll speak to you next time You can binge all episodes of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.