True Crime All The Time - Quatisha Maycock

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

In this heartbreaking episode, Mike and Gibby examine the 1998 murder of five-year-old Quatisha Maycock. What began as a friendship formed through church ended in one of Florida's most disturbing child murder cases. The episode follows the tragic events that unfolded after Harrel Braddy, a man with a hidden violent past, became involved in the lives of Quatisha and her mother, Shandelle Maycock.This case also explores the failures of the criminal justice system that allowed Braddy to be released early from prison despite an extensive history of violent offenses and multiple escape attempts.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee 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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Start your free trial at Shopify.com slash T-KKKK, at start your free trial at shopify.com slash tcatt. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 513 of the true crime all the time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime. Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? Yo, I'm doing good, man. Did you throw a yo in front of that?

I did. And then do some kind of, don't be flashing no gang signs up in here. I'm just telling you. Old school here. Yeah, you're old school. That's for sure. the key part of that phrase is old. Yeah.

All right, buddy. We're diving right in. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? Of course. We're talking about the murder of Quatisha Maycock. But we're starting in 1998, right? 22-year-old Shandelle Maycock was living in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County. She was working as an administrative assistant at a Miami-based consultant.

consulting firm. She was a single mother to her daughter, five-year-old Quatisha. Quatisha was described as a sweet girl who went by the nickname Candy. And I could see having a nickname, um, the name Quatisha is actually very nice. It is. But I could see maybe some people having trouble saying it. Candy is obviously much easier to say. Candy's all easy, rolls right off. It does. It was said Quatisha was excited when she started kindergarten in the fall of 1998. She had only been in school for about nine weeks before she was killed. And let's face it, these cases are tough.

They always are. You're talking about a very, very young child who's murdered. And, you know, those evoke different types of emotions. Yeah. Right? All cases evoke them. But, you know, when you talk about animals, you talk about young children, it can hit people harder sometimes than other types of cases.

I just don't know what is wrong with people that do anything bad. I don't know what's wrong with people that can hurt a child. A young child. Well, we're going to get into it. She had just learned how to write her name. And she was practicing it every day. She liked coloring, playing with dolls, dressing up. and going to school with her classmates.

I'm still trying to figure out how to write my name. Yeah? I know printing you're good at, it's the cursive. Yeah. That kind of throws you. I actually went through all that in school. I know they don't teach it today or they're, they didn't.

Now they're bringing it back. I don't know. My oldest daughter is terrible with cursive. Yeah. I don't think they did a lot with cursive. I know my kids, they didn't teach it. They said, no, we don't need to do that anymore. And now I thought recently I heard something that they're going to bring it back at some level just so there's some.

I think there should be a cursory knowledge. Yeah. It's kind of like telling time. I understand everybody's got a phone. Right. Or a digital watch. But I feel like every adult should know how to tell time on a standard clock. No, you're right.

I told somebody the other day, I'll see a quarter till. And they're like, quarter till, like quarter till? You don't know what quarter till is? They're like, no. There's a lot of people that don't. I'm like, oh my gosh, okay, I'll see you at whatever time. Yeah, 545. Yeah.

Sometimes I'll just say, you know, half past the crack of your ass or something like that. Maybe that might get a, might be more descriptive. I don't know. Couldn't be any less for some people. Yeah. her school principal Patricia Zell recalled at her funeral is quoted by the Miami Herald. She was sweet. She was beautiful.

She was blossoming. Just wanting to learn. She was a freaking kitten gardener. I mean, they're so innocent. So innocent. Like, what could anybody ever be upset with somebody to kindergarten?

And one of the things that came shining through in all of the research was that, you know, Quatisha came from a family who really loved her. Shandelle said about her daughter, she was a beautiful little girl. Everything I did was for her. I just wanted a better life for her. I loved her with all my heart, and I know she loved me. I get that, you know. We both have kids, and I think when my kids were born, it changed everything.

Yeah, me too. On how I looked at what I wanted to do in my life and what was more, what was more valuable. You know, was it, I still want to go do all this stuff I did as a, as a, you know, a guy that didn't have kids.

Yeah, like streaking through the quad or, you know, that was you. Ultimately ending up at KFC, I don't know. But I do think, you know, most good parents,

they strive to want to provide a better life for their children. Sure. You know, it's that old saying, right? You want to give your kids a better life. life than you had. Maybe it's not always possible. Maybe you had a great life. And maybe you can't duplicate

what your parents were able to do for you. But I think for a lot of people, that's what they're striving for. I think so. In the late spring of 1998, Shandelle met Harold Brady and his wife, Ceteria, through their church group. Harold was a father of four. He and his wife befriended Chandell. and Harold offered to help her when she needed. He specifically told her, I'm here if you need me. Just like that, I am here. It's always nice to hear. Sounds like a great guy, right?

Goes to church, father, a four, husband. Okay. Does that mean you can trust everybody like that? No. But he also doesn't sound like the stereotypical loner who's sitting in his basement, you know, writing down. names of people that he wants to hurt. Shandelle initially thought Harold was a nice person, and she would accept, you know, his offers to help her here and there. But at one point,

he made it clear he was interested in a romantic relationship. But according to Shandale, I always told him, I don't see you and me. But all of a sudden, he started coming by, asking, do you need anything done? I said, yes, he'd take me to the laundromat, grocery store, pick quatisha up from daycare. I mean, these are all things that she needed done. Right. She, you know, was a single parent. Here you have somebody offering an unbelievable amount of support. That would go a long way.

But she also made it clear that this was supposed to just be friends. But does it change your mindset a little bit about this person, right? You go from thinking, oh, here's just a guy being nice. Yeah. He's married. A father of four, he goes to my church to now, well, he's got an agenda. Yeah. He's doing all these nice things, but is it because he wants to pursue this romantic relationship with me?

I mean, it definitely would give you some questions. It would. There's no doubt about it. Harold began showing up at Shandell's home alone unannounced and stayed for short periods of time with seemingly no purpose. So to me, that's a little alarming, right? Because now you're just coming out to hang out with me. You have a wife.

Yeah. You know, I said I'm not interested, but still you're showing up and just wanting to sit around and chill with me. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, you come every week, right, to my house. it's because we tape a number of podcast episodes. If you just showed up at dinner time and said, hey, what's everybody doing?

Yeah. You might be a little less welcome. Probably. I don't know. I mean, maybe the first time, be like, he just got the wrong day. Yeah, that could be. But at a certain point, it's like, hmm, somehow he knows how to win dinner is. He knows when to show up.

Or I just don't leave after tonight. I just kick my shoes off and put my feet up on the house. Just lay down on the couch and taking that. What kind of snacks you got in that fridge over there? Harold once inappropriately placed his hand between Shandell's legs. Okay. That's a big no-no. It is.

When she became angry and threatened him with a knife, he left her apartment and apologized for his actions later. He never made a sexual advance towards her again. You get a knife pushed up against you. You're probably going to think about twice before sliding that hand on something. someone's leg or in between. Yeah, which I think you should think about that before you do it. Sure. But it also sounded like she wasn't taking any crap and wasn't going to put up with it to the point where, you know, she threatened him with a knife that, you know, you touch me, you grab me. Things are not going to go well for you. That's right. I got this K bar here. And I don't blame her at all.

I mean, you've got to protect yourself. No one should violate your. your personal boundary and your safety. And the way to do that is a draw, very hard line, very quick. That's a hard line. Yes. Right? When you threaten somebody with a knife.

The issue is Gibbs, Shandelle had no idea that Harold had a violent past. And he also had a pretty lengthy criminal record. In 1984, he shot the woman he was having an affair with and left her for dead. But she survived. Okay. So this is wanting to be with other women.

It's not something new to him. No. Sounds like that he had a history with as well. Yeah. I don't know there wasn't a ton of information about it, but I don't know if she tried to end it or what happened. Luckily, she did survive. He was charged with attempted murder in Miami-Dade County.

in August of 1984, he attended court and was denied bail. On the way to a holding cell, he overpowered Officer Jose Bermudez. He beat Bermudez, choked him with a belt until he was unconscious and locked him in a cell before escaping. So this is not a good guy. No, and it also sounds like he's a very dangerous individual.

11 days later, he was arrested in Hollywood, Florida for breaking into an electronic store. He was bitten by a police dog and taken to the hospital for treatment. He attacked the officers watching him and escaped from the ER. At this point, I don't feel sorry for him because he's doing, he's causing, you know, all this himself. Oh, he is. I'm just wondering at what point, how many escapes does it take before maybe we, uh,

We keep a really close eye on this. Yeah. Now, I get it, it might be a little bit tougher in the hospital, but you could always cuff somebody to the bed, I believe. I guess. I love the, I love the fact that the dog bit him, you know. Well, it happened three days later when he was caught from this escape. Oh. A police dog bit him again.

Good. And he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. Yeah. Now, here's the thing, right? I watch a lot of body cams, videos. it's no secret. There are a lot of people who ask to be taken to the hospital. Yeah.

Even when they have no visible, visible injuries, a lot of times I think it's because they don't want to go to jail. Right. Trying to delay. And sometimes if they go to the hospital, they can just be released from the hospital. You can.

It, people even talk about how it happened. Yeah. But I also think maybe there's, There's a thing here where he knows it's easier to escape from the hospital. So maybe that's why he's wanting to go that route. Right. You know, every time he's caught.

Maybe it's maybe he allows the dog to bite him knowing it's going to get him on the ride to the hospital. You can't put it past these people that they'd be willing to do anything. Even to let a dog bite you as bad as that might hurt. That's kind of one of those things I try to. steer away from dog bites specifically letting dogs bite me if if your dogs bit you i would laugh yeah i mean one of them's got like four teeth yeah she's older and tiny and even the one that has all the teeth they're super small i mean an eight pound maltese not going to do too much damage no no but man

they bark like they're badass oh man yeah they think they're something they do so then he got to the hospital again, right? He's just a hospital every time. Harold asked to use the bathroom. When his chains were unlocked, he lunged at the officer and grabbed the officer's gun. When another officer came into the room,

somehow he managed to get a hold of that officer's gun too and forced both officers into the bathroom. And then he again escaped from the hospital. I would think there should be like, like something when you pull up to his name in the system. it says, hey, he will trick you at the hospital. Yeah.

You know, do not let them out of the chain. Well, and I, you know, I don't want to laugh about it, but I have a feeling when these two guys got back, if they were guys, it just said officers, but whoever. When these two officers got back to the station at a certain point, you know they were going to be made fun of. Oh, for sure. So just let me get this right. This guy stole your gun. Yeah. And then you come in and he steals your gun.

Yeah. Okay. What are we doing, guys? Yeah. Can we not keep a firm grip on the gun or? I feel like it's a scenario from that movie. Is it the other guys or? Oh, yeah, with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell.

Yeah, I feel like it would be something like that where the rock comes in. You've been fun of those guys. You never done a desktop? Yeah. Harold broke into the home of Joseph and Lorraine Colt, an elderly couple who lived in an affluent neighborhood. He hid in their closet for six hours. That's a long time to hang out in the closet.

It is. So Lorraine heard some scratching coming from the closet. So she called for her husband. Harold jumped out with a gun and told the terrified couple, he just wanted to get away. He stole their car and fled the area. See, you know, he's really tough with these police and escaping, but here he's afraid and hangs out in the closet for six hours and then, you know. Well, thankfully, he didn't shoot and kill anyone.

Oh, I'm glad he didn't. A few days later, he stole a car from a 22-year-old in Hyaliyah. On October 14th, 1984, Harold was pulled over in Georgia with the stolen car. He was almost let go, but the officer realized, he had a fake driver's license when he gave the officer the wrong birthday. See, that's the key. When you have a fake ID,

you have to memorize what it says on the front. You're like your name, your address, your birthday. You got to know all the details. Yeah. Right? You can't just put McLeaven on your driver's license with a fake date and then not know any of the details. It's like some of the first things we learn in Spycraft, you know?

I mean, memorize. who you are going to tell people you are. Yeah. Well, when you're like Jason Bourne and you go to your bank deposit box and you pull out 23 different passports and various names, you got to keep all that stuff straight. Not easy, unless you're part of Mentsa. In 1985, prosecutors dropped the attempted murder charge for Harold's girlfriend, and he pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of the jail guard,

as well as kidnapping, armed robbery, and burglary. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. And I feel like, okay, that's a pretty fair sentence. Yeah, for what he did. You know, attempted murder, armed robbery, kidnapping. I could make a case that maybe they shouldn't have dropped the attempted murder charge on his girlfriend, but at the time of sentencing, Harold told the judge, per the Miami Herald, I don't feel like I'm a threat to society.

I don't consider myself a criminal. What do you consider yourself? You're doing criminal action. But that's the thing, right? You have these criminals who are caught. They just pretty much do whatever they want. And then when they're get in front of the judge, you're like, you know, I'm not a threat to anybody. I know I tried to kill my girlfriend.

I stole, you know, officers guns. I kidnapped them. I forced them into another room. I couldn't, you know, held a elderly couple at gunpoint, stole their car, stole another person's car using a gun. But I'm really not a threat to society. I really wasn't going to ever use the gun. But here's the problem, right?

I said 30 years seems to me like a pretty fair sense. Yeah. Here's the problem that always comes up. In 1997, he was released after serving just 13 years. See, that's a bunch of malarkey. Malarkey. Wash your mouth out with lava, young man. Yes.

It is, right? 30 years is fair. 13 years is too low. Now, I get it. People don't do their whole time, but this is less than half. It's barely a third. You're right. I mean, technically.

I don't want to, you know, jump over you as a genius, but... Yeah. It's actually closer to half than it is to being a third. But, you know, who's... Not to split hairs, but... You. But apparently he was one of hundreds of inmates who earned early release due to what was called gain time. He was exempt from a state law passed in 1995, requiring inmates.

to serve at least 85% of their sense. And this was a big problem. And we've talked about it in other cases as well. You know, this, whether you call it gain time or time off for good behavior or whatever it is, there have been states and at times where you could almost gain like two for one. Yeah. As long as you were good and you, weren't causing trouble, your sentence would be reduced dramatically. Now, 85%, okay, I'm a little better with that.

You know, 85% would be like 25 years. Yeah, or something. Somewhere around there, yeah. I'd be fine with that. As long as you're a model inmate, you go through some programs, you do what you're supposed to do, I'd be okay with that. But 13 years, I'm ticked off. Yeah, that's not right. I don't agree with that. all. Let me ask you a question. What are you looking for in a bank? Are you looking for a stuffy bank that is said in the past doing things the way things have always been done? What if you could get banking the way you wanted it? That's where Chime comes in. No more ridiculous fees. They have the option to get your paycheck early. Chime is a bank that's on your side, changing the way people bank. They offer the most rewarding fee-free banking. They don't charge you overdraft and not. You

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slash disclosures. So Shandel meets Harold, right? We talked about that. She had no idea that he was a violent criminal when, you know, he befriended her. She thought, you know, here's a guy. He's respectable guy. Yeah. Married father. He's involved in the, the church community. I think when you're looking at people where, you know, you're asking the question, do I, how high do I have to have my guard up? Right. There are some people who rightly or wrongly, it could be completely incorrect, but you view them as less of a risk than other people. You know, he's a dad. And he looks like he's good with his kids.

There's a notch up, you know. Oh, he's married. They seem happy. Another notch up. And he goes to the same church. Right. He's got to be a good person. Another notch up.

I'm right with you, right? He just doesn't seem like on the surface. And everything for us is right on the surface because, Nobody really knows what's under the surface all the time. On November 6, 1998, Harold picked Chandell up from work and drove her home. He left her apartment at about 5.30 p.m. She began making calls looking for a ride to pick up Quatisha, who was being watched by a family member. She hadn't found a ride by 10 p.m.

At that time, Harold returned to her apartment in a car he rented earlier that day. He told Shandelle they needed to talk, but first he agreed to drive her to pick up her daughter. And, you know, this is a tough position for Shandelle to be in. Sure it is. You don't have a car, but you got to go pick your daughter up. You're calling around. You're calling around. No one can help you out.

You might have to agree to let this Kai help you. Somebody that you don't really want to be alone in a car with, maybe. but this time you're like, yeah, I'll do what I have to. Well, at the very least, I think her, her thoughts had changed to some degree from the time she first met him. He wasn't exactly who she thought he was. So they picked up Quatisha and returned to Shandelle's apartment. Harold again told her they needed to talk. Shandelle agreed, but then the phone rang.

So she answered the phone, had a brief conversation. and after hanging up told Harold he needed to leave because she was expecting someone. Now this was a lie, but she wanted him to leave because it was late and she was tired. Yeah, I mean, I get it. She just wanted him to go but didn't want to really hurt his feelings.

Yeah, because he had already said, right, we need to talk. Yeah. A certain point, you get tired. You're like,

I don't want to sit and talk for an hour or whatever it's going to be. But Harold immediately attacked. her and choked chandel until she lost consciousness she woke up and then harold choked her again until she passed out so i mean you talk about you know going from it might not be zero because i think she had her suspicions yeah but really you know driving to help you pick your daughter up it kind of is zero to 60 it really is i mean and you think about the whole relationship I mean, at one point, she trusted him enough just to go get his, get her daughter without her. Yeah.

You know, I mean, that's a lot of trust. It is. And now all of a sudden, you know, this guy is choking you, making you pass out multiple times. Multiple times. In November 1998, Shandelle did an interview with the Miami Herald, recounting her harrowing experience. She said about the attack, he just jumped me. He was choking me. I was fighting him. I fell to the floor. That's when I fell out. I woke up in his car. My daughter was in the

front seat. So undoubtedly, an extremely scary situation for Shando. Yeah. And I would think for Quatisha, too, because how much of this is she witnessing? She's got to be nervous. I mean, even at a, you know, kindergarten's age, it's got to be scary. Yeah, I would think so. Absolutely. Shandale's landlord who occupied the house that her apartment was attached to. Later testified that he heard shouting coming from the apartment. When he looked outside a short time later, he saw Harold standing at the driver's side door of a car.

And Quatisha standing by the passenger door, he did not see Shandale. As Shandelle recounted, when she woke up the second time, she was in the backseat of Harold's vehicle, parked in the driveway. Quatisha was in the front seat and Harold was in the driver's seat. He began driving towards the Everglades. Okay. You know, let's talk about it, right? Florida.

Yeah. The Everglades, I'm sure there's a lot of things you can do. Right. In and around the Everglades. Yeah. But the alligators just scare me to no end. Yeah. I am deathly afraid of alligators.

I mean, I don't know if it's still that way. day, but back in the day, if you wanted to go from east coast to west coast down in south part of Florida, you would go across Alligator Alley, right? And then both sides of you, and I call them the berms, whatever you want to call in the ditches, there was always, you know, the backish water that had the alligators in it. So if you wanted a... Did you call it Backish water? Is it Backish or Blackish water? I think it's brackish. Brackish, that's what it is. Blackish? It's nasty water.

You're going to get, just keep replacing the second letter. Yeah, I'll eventually get there. Another consonant, you'll get there eventually. But it's that water where the sea water, ocean water mixes with the river water. And it's just. Well, we're going to talk about alligator alley. Are we? Yeah, factors into this case.

Oh, interesting. So you probably didn't see that part. Well, you know me. I'm just thinking ahead. And remember days of being down in Florida. And that was always a scary. trip to take from one coast to the other coast. I don't do alligators at all.

As Harold was driving, Shandelle told Quatisha they were going to jump out. Harold warned her not to jump, but still pulled Quatisha into the back seat, and she opened the door. When Harold saw they were about to jump, he accelerated and turned a corner, causing them to fall out of the car. He stopped, and he put Shandelle in the trunk. and Quatisha in the backseat, Chandel remained in the trunk for 30 to 45 minutes while Harold continued driving. You've been stuck on a trunk before? I have not.

Yeah. Why it would be. Not fun. No. I can imagine it's not fun in Florida, especially. Oh, no. With the sun beating down on you. So, I mean, this situation continues to get worse and worse.

Yeah. I think, you know, if you're Shandelle, okay, you're looking to escape this situation by jumping out of the car with your daughter. It's not a bad idea. Doing anything at this point that you can. Yeah, because we don't know where this is going, but it doesn't seem like it's going to end well. No. But now she's in the trunk. And I can only imagine, you know, the thoughts that were running through her mind.

when the car stopped, Harold pulled her out of the trunk, threw her to the ground, and choked her until she lost consciousness. He threatened to kill her and accused her of using him. Well, I mean, he offered up his services. Yeah, I mean, technically, she did use him. Yeah. But it was because he offered to help her out. Absolutely.

And who, what single mother is going to turn down that? kind of unbelievable help from a guy she thought was a stand-up person. Right. And then she made it clear, I can't offer you, you know, what you. The other part. The other part. The romantic part. Yeah, but, you know, if you want to help out, I could use the help and thank you. Yeah. So she was pleading for her life saying, why are you doing this? I know you're not this type of person. You don't need to do this. He just kept repeating. You used me. And he said, I know I'm going to jail for the rest of of my life anyway. And if I heard those words, those would, that would scare me.

That would. Because that sounds like a person who doesn't, is not worried about the consequences because to them, they're already thinking they're going to jail for the rest of their life. Yeah. That's a hard place to de-escalate them from. If they already, if they're already there, how do you back them out of that saying, no, no, you're not going to go away for the rest of your life. you know.

I'm not going to tell anybody we'll just sweep this under the rug. It's going to be hard. After Shandell lost consciousness, Harold left her in a remote area along US-27 near the Broward Palm Beach County line, likely thinking he had killed her. He returned home between 1.30 and 2.30 a.m. On November 7th, his wife,

Ceteria, testified that he woke her up when he returned. She went to the door to meet him and saw him wiping him, and saw him wiping down the interior of his car with a claw. The washing machine was running. And when she looked inside, she saw the clothes he had been wearing earlier. Not a good sign. Well,

I mean, come on now. You know, every wife, girlfriend listening to this, if that's the scene that you woke up to, I mean, what are you thinking?

It's troublesome. First of all, your man's washing his clothes. That should be red flag number one. Well, that's true. You know, and he's only washing the clothes that he had on that day. Right. Okay.

And you're wiping down the interior of your car. Not to say that people don't wash their clothes, don't clean their car. It's also like 2.30 in the morning. Yeah, this is more like Pulp Fiction wiped down. Yes. Something has happened and I don't want to talk about it. Yeah. You know.

So Shandelle did. did regain consciousness, but when she did, it was daylight. And she was in a remote area surrounded by foliage. Her daughter was nowhere to be found. It's a scary moment right then. Yeah, just panic, right? Number one, this guy has essentially tried to kill you like three or four times. He's choked you to the point where you lost consciousness.

At one point, this last time, he might have even thought he killed her. Yeah. She managed to get to the side of the road and tried to flag down a passing driver. She said about 10 to 20 cars passed by before two men stopped to help her. She could hardly walk without falling. She was barefoot, weak, and bleeding from her injuries. I'm surprised that a dozen plus cars went by her. Like, does nobody want to help anybody anymore?

Or did they that scared? Yeah, I mean, you and I talk about it, right? the difference between wanting to stop and help people, but the notion that, okay, this could be a trick. This doesn't sound like that to me. You have a woman who is obviously in distress.

She's bleeding. She can hardly walk. Not to say that it couldn't be a ruse to get you to stop. And then a guy jumps out of the woods. We don't know. But it doesn't seem the same here to me. I would have a hard time passing this person. and not stopping because they obviously appear to be in need.

Yeah, yeah. She told the Miami Herald, I was staggering, so people probably thought I was drunk, but I don't drink. If it wasn't for them, the two men, I don't know what would have happened. Yeah, well, thank goodness they stopped. So police obtained a statement from Shandelle at the hospital, and detectives went to Harold's home to determine Quatisha's whereabouts. And again, going back to Shandelle, yeah, you're a mess, right?

You went through a lot of stuff, but I can guarantee you the biggest thing on her mind is where is my five-year-old daughter? Absolutely. It's the only thing she cares about. Yeah. Shortly after the detectives arrived, Harold drove all. They followed him to a gas station. They approached him. When they asked him about Quatisha, he seemed calm and denied having any knowledge of the situation.

when detectives informed him that Shandale was alive and had implicated him in her daughter's disappearance, he went pale and began to sweat, shake, and cry. Yeah, because he's that type of person. Well, it's also kind of a dead giveaway that you are involved. Yeah. You know, hey, I didn't have anything to do with that. You find out one piece of information and then you're sweating, shaking, and crying. He thought he was going to be free and clear of any problems.

Yeah, well, I think he thought Chandell was dead. He was taken to the police department and his car was sent for processing. Harold was read his rights and consented to provide DNA samples and to have his car search, although he hesitated before signing the consent form. I'm sure he was like, if I don't sign it, they know something's up. If I do sign it, it's probably going to be the end of me. Yeah, he's probably maybe also thinking, and how well did I wipe down the interior of the car.

Shandelle Maycock's blood was later found on the liner of the trunk of the car. And that's we always go back and say, right? You can be a whiz at cleaning stuff up. Yeah. But to get rid of every single drop of blood, I think in a lot of situations is very, very tough. Yeah. That's why you burn the car.

Okay. But don't do that. We want you to get caught. Yeah. You're just saying, you burn cars. I burn cars. Okay. During his interview, Harold gave no information regarding Quatisha's whereabouts.

As the interview continued, the detectives accused him of line. Harold said, per brady versus state, I can't tell you. Even if I'm found innocent, my family will not talk to me again. And I feel like that's a bad, bad omen. It is. Because you are hinting at the fact that. that you've done something so horrific that your family will never speak to you.

Yeah. The interview lasted into the early morning hours of November 8th. At one point, detectives lied to Harold and told him his mother suffered a heart attack. He said he was tired of talking. And if they didn't believe him, they could take him to jail. Now, he was visibly upset about this remark about his mother.

Yeah. But even that didn't cause him to give up any information about Quatisha. He was basically sticking to a story and saying, hey, you don't believe me, take me to jail. I got nothing to say. He was holding strong on that. Yeah, he was. The interview ended, but Harold remained in the interview room. A few hours later, detectives returned to bring him breakfast.

They found him standing on a chair in the corner of the room with his shoes off. and Harold said, I'll take you to where I left her. Okay. Detectives drove north from Miami-Dade County on U.S. Highway 27 through Broward County and into Palm Beach County to the site where Shandell was found. Other officers were already at this site conducting a search. Detectives drove with Harold along dirt roads and threw fields off the highway for about three hours but found no trace of what. Tisha. Probably felt like they were on a... While goose chase?

Yes. Yeah. I knew that's probably what you were thinking of. After Harold had led them in a vain search for several hours, a detective pulled him out of the car, pinned him against the side of the vehicle by placing a forearm across his throat. The detective held this position for about 15 seconds and demanded to know where Harold left Quatisha. But Harold didn't respond.

You know what? I can see myself getting frustrated like that. Yeah. Like, look, I've been driving you around for three hours. You have just been wasting our time. Where is this little girl at? Where is she? Well, you know, how many police body cam videos I watch. Yeah.

I don't think I have the patience to be any type of law enforcement officer. No. The shit that they have to deal with. Yeah. I have a feeling I would say. snap on somebody. Yeah, it'd be difficult for sure to remain orderly. Professional during, you know, all the type of verbal and abuse that they take. Because there are people that will try to goat you into doing something. Absolutely. You know, so. And they know they can get away

with saying certain stuff. Absolutely. Because of freedom of speech. But, you know, a person can only take so much of that. I mean, yeah. And when your job's on the line. Yeah, you got to take it. But I don't know if I'd be able to be like, I could always get another job. Yeah. So, you know, yeah, I get it. They have to be, you know, upset about this or getting p-oed at him.

After this incident, the foot search continued. At one point during the search, Harold asked out how long it would take a body in the water to surface, speculating that although Quatisha was alive when he left, after she might have fallen into the water. At 4 p.m., Harold admitted he left Quatisha in a different location. He directed detectives to a section of Interstate 75 in Broward County, known as Alligator Alley. He claimed he left Quatisha alive on the other side of the road at a bridge crossing over a canal.

Either way, it's a really shitty thing to do. Well, it is because we're talking about a five-year-old here in alligator alley. You know, what is the survival rate for a five-year-old that's left anywhere? Yeah. In any type of remote area, it's probably not great. But now we add in vicious alligators. Yeah. It's not good at all.

So he directed detectives to three bridges. in the area because he wasn't sure exactly where he left her. He gave different reasons for leaving the child on the side of the road in the Everglades in the middle of the night. He was angry with Shandelle and he was worried that Quatisha would tell others what he did. He admitted that when he left her, he knew she would probably die. No crap. In the Everglades in the middle of the night, it's pitch black.

Yeah. I can't. A five-year-old. I don't even know how an adult person would make it through the night and some stretches of alligator alley, at least back in the day when I would drive through there. There's no way I would want to walk that stretch because they're everywhere. Yeah, let alone a five-year-old, man. Yeah. So the search continued until dark.

Harold was escorted back to the police department and taken back to the interrogation room, which had not been. been touched since he was in it that morning. Upon entering the room, detectives noticed the metal ceiling rate in the corner of the room was bent on both ends. They suspected he was trying to escape. That's why he was up on the chair. So again, to your point, do you not check this guy's record and see that he's escaped multiple times? You would think. No wonder he's like, he knew he was going to get caught. So he's shifted immediately saying, I'll tell you where she's at. you know, to get out of there.

Buying time for something. He was questioned again, but never admitted to killing Quatisha. On the morning of November 9th, two fishermen found Quatisha's floating body in a canal running parallel to alligator alley. At first, the fisherman thought the body was a pajama-clad doll.

I bet. So tiny. And we've heard that a lot, right? Whether somebody says, I thought it was a mannequin, in this case, you know, she's smaller. So they think maybe it's a doll. She was found about 15 miles from where officers focused their search efforts.

A medical examiner determined that she suffered alligator bites to her torso and head while she was still a lot. Oh, my God. There were teeth marks deep in her skull. Her left arm was bitten off after death. I can't even fathom of what that little girl went through to be. and still remain alive for however long. No. And knowing the fear of knowing what was about to come.

Well, and there's more. They determined that the fall from the car caused her to suffer a broken skull, a damaged liver, and other blunt trauma. But it is possible she could have survived with treatment. Yeah. So for me, that goes back to his saying, I knew she would probably die. Yeah.

Well, first of all, she was badly injured. And second of all, you're leaving her in alligator alley in the middle of the night. Purposely, is what I would believe, right? Because he was hoping that there would be no evidence left. I believe so. Because of these injuries, she was likely not conscious at the time she was bitten by alligators. And you hope that's true. You hope that's the case.

She also suffered brushburn injuries while she was alive, consistent with her having grazed a hard flat surface from falling out of a car and sliding on the road. And that stuff hurts. I've done that. When I was younger, I was on a moped. And I went off the road and came back on and it caught the lip. And I went sliding down the road, just my shorts on. Yeah, they called it brushburn. We've always called it road rash.

Road rash, yeah. I think it's pretty much the same thing. She suffered several injuries after she died or while she was close to death, including more brush burns and alligator bites and injuries to her lips consistent with fish feeding on her remain. Poor girl, man. It's just, I'm heartbroken for her. It was determined that Quatisha's death was primarily caused by blunt force trauma to the left

side of her head consistent with her either having fallen from a great distance or having been thrown onto a prominent protruding object such as the jutting rocks along the canal where her body was found yeah that's true well if that's the case though does it change your way of thinking in regards to his story and i just left her out there even though i knew she was probably going to die versus maybe he had even more of a hand in it than he was willing to admit. Yeah, I mean, to me, none of this would have happened if he wouldn't have kidnapped him. Yeah, well, either way, however it went down, in my view, he's responsible for her death. Oh, yeah, 100%.

100%. Shandelle was released from the hospital on the day that her daughter's body was found. Oh, man. How rough on her. Shandell's brother Michael Washington told the Miami Herald that she was still shocked and confused. He said from the way Shandell explained it to me, she said she never expected he was that kind of man. He was in with the church. He was helping our people, that kind of stuff.

Like we said earlier, you know, I mean, why would you think anything different? He was, you know, showing the good card, right? Like, look at me. I'm a good father, good husband, a good church-going guy. and I'm going to be here to help you out because that's just who I am. Yeah. On November 10th, 1998, Harold was charged with first degree murder and felony child neglect. He was already being held on kidnapping, burglary, attempted first degree murder, and attempted escape charges.

Yeah. His murder trial didn't start until July 9, 2007. Wow. That's nine years. That's a heck of a delay. Almost nine years after he was charged. The prosecutor described the horrific details of Quatisha's last moments. And Shandelle bravely testified about surviving the attack and losing her daughter.

And you would have to call that brave. Oh, for sure. First of all, it would be very difficult to get up on the stand and talk about that. But you also want this guy to go away. You do. In their closing argument, the defense tried to blame Shandelle for Quatisha's death, saying, Quatisha Maycock suffered an injury and died as a result of flying out of a car and hitting her head.

It's up to you to decide whether Mr. Brady is responsible for that. They were in the car because they were kidnapped. Yeah. And he wouldn't let them out of the car. And middle of the Everglades, they had no other choice but tried to get out of the car. I get it, right? You know, Shandell is the one who tried to. you know to get them to jump out ultimately did jump out but it's the reason behind it right that's

important it's not because she wanted to hurt her daughter it's because she thought this guy was going to kill him both yeah and he did speed up knowing they were trying to jump out yeah and driving a radical early in the closing argument the prosecution asked the jury how desperate would you have to be to jump out of a moving car with your child. Pretty desperate. Yeah, I think so. And I think a jury would see it that way as well. On July 17th, Harold was found guilty of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, burglary of a structure with an assault or battery therein, child neglect causing great bodily harm and attempted escape. On August 31st, the jury voted for the death penalty 11 to 1. And it was during the

penalty phase that the jury got to hear about his very long criminal history. Yeah. And we detailed out a lot of it. In October, the judge upheld the death penalty and told Harold, as quoted by the Miami Harold, the defendant caused this five-year-old to die alone in the wilderness and to be mutilated by monsters of the swamp. Adults are supposed to protect children from monsters. They're not supposed to be the monsters themselves.

self. Spot on there, you know, and this guy deserves what he's going to get. Yeah, I think it's

very well said by the judge. In 2017, a decade after his conviction, Harold's death sentence was overturned after the Supreme

Court found Florida's death penalty law to be unconstitutional. He was granted a new penalty phase before a jury.

So Florida changed the law in 2023. Now, a jury can recommend death by a majority of eight to four. But the final sentence is determined by a judge.

Harold's resentencing trial began on January 20th, 2000, 26. So just this year, prosecutor Ab Rifkin told the jurors that Quatisha was smart. She was loving. She was sweet like candy. Harold and avid hunter drove to a remote part of the Everglades, known as Alligator Alley,

and left Quatisha to be eaten. alive by alligators. He knew what he was doing. He absolutely knew it. He did. Prosecutors still aren't fully sure whether he abandoned her on the side of the road or threw her into the water. Yeah.

I think he probably tossed her in the water. I think so too. And maybe even onto the rocks, which caused, you know, some of the head injuries. His motive for murdering the child was that he didn't want her to be able to identify him after he brutally attacked her mother. Once again, jurors heard testimony from Quatisha's mother, Shandelle Maycock. She said, every day I wake up and I remember what happened to Quatisha. There's no justice that can bring her back, but I have to speak for her now because she cannot.

Prosecutors argued that Harold's history of violence, his calculated actions, and his lack of remorse, warranted the harshest penalty. This is the guy that thought he wasn't even a criminal. Yeah, I'm not a criminal. I'm not dangerous. State attorney Rifkin in closing statement said a child at the beginning of her life is dead because Harold Brady wanted her dead. This is the fate he chose for a child whose only crime was having witnessed what he had done. The defense presented mitigating evidence such as Harold's troubled upbringing in a segregated neighborhood in Miami, his mental health problems, and his attempts at rehabilitation.

while incarcerated. Before he was incarcerated in 1998, he was a church leader and a loving father who was affected by the loss of several close family members. Harold and his wife were still married, and he was a model prisoner with only two disciplinary reports. And that's great, but it doesn't change what you did. No. I understand. They're trying to mitigate. Right. And, you know, it's up to the judge or the jury or whoever to make of that evidence, you know, what they, what they will. But to me, I just don't put a lot into it.

Oh, you don't get a pass because you did something bad, but because you're going to say the reason you did something bad was because of things in your past. No, you're an adult. You know what you're doing is wrong. Don't do it. Well, and also how you've acted in prison, sent you. you've been incarcerated. That doesn't, that doesn't mean anything to me because you shouldn't be allowed to get away

with anything in prison. That's, you're in prison. Yeah, exactly. You don't have a lot of choices. He's dealt with throat cancer and brain damage after being attacked by inmates in 2019. Well, you know, you chose to do what you did. That puts you in prison. So that's unfortunate, but that's what happens in some prisons, you know.

And I do wonder how much of that had to do. do with him hurting a child because we know from other cases that inmates don't look kindly on people who hurt kids. They don't. They could have killed 20 people, but they think you're the scum of the earth because you hurt or killed a child. Yeah. The defense argued that Harold would be punished by dying behind bars, but the question was whether he would die of natural causes or be executed on January 30th, 2006. After four hours of deliberations,

the jury recommended life in prison. Outside the courthouse, Shandale Maycock said to reporters, she was my world. This isn't just about one family. It's about protecting other children about making sure monsters like this are never free again. So Harold is currently 76 years old,

meaning I don't think there's any doubt. He is going to die behind bars. Yes. And he should. Maybe natural causes or maybe somebody will take him out. Whatever. Either way. He's never going to see freedom.

No. Again. And some people could argue that, okay, he should have been executed. I don't really have a preference either way. My big thing is I just don't want these people back out on the street. No. You know, if you're a guy like this who has such a long criminal history of doing really terrible things, you just can't be trusted in society. No.

You don't. Look, they could do the method, you know, go down the pike and execute them. I'm fine. I don't have a problem with that. Yeah. I'm fine with it too. But the fact is that if he has to wake up in a small cell every day, whether without a roommate, depends on the, where he's located and he doesn't have all the freedoms and he's not going to be looked upon

as a good person and even in prison no right i mean he'll be watching his back every place he goes in there yeah um i'm good with that too because you know what he did was un excusable it was absolutely but um he's just a terrible guy he is i mean you've already you know kind of shown the world and the courts that, okay, you got off early. Right. It let you go 13 years into a 30-year sentence. Yeah. And all you did was commit crime after crime after crime.

And tried to escape. It just proved that that was a mistake. It was. He let him out early. He should have stayed in the whole freaking time. Yeah. Now, it's easy to see it, you know, in hindsight. But if you get caught again, I think all that should be factored in.

It should be. The other thing is, it just goes to show you that you can't trust meeting anybody, right? What they display on the outside might not be who they really are. It's really tough, which makes it hard to date. For those of you out in the dating world, I feel bad for you in a way because I don't know if I could do it now. I'm glad that I found someone and I've been married 30 years. Yeah. Because I have a lot less trust in people, which I hate to say.

But I think podcasting true crime will do that to you. Sure will. Yeah. It is hard to keep the same level of trust in people when you're doing these types of stories day in and day out. But I can see people dating today going, all right, I need a blood sample to run some DNA test on you. I need to run a few background checks. Need your fingerprints. And I guess while you're at,

I'll go ahead and get your credit check. Genetic genealogy. Just to make sure there's no big time serial killers in your family. But that's it for our episode on Quatisha Maycock. It's a sad one because she was so young. What happened to her was absolutely horrific. she never got to really start living her life. Those are always tough.

It is. No doubt about it. But that's it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.