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A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt
A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt
A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt In 2004, Hurricane Ivan forced Teri Helfrich and her husband, Charles Brandt, to s…
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Jan. 16, 2025

A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt

A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt

A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan forced Teri Helfrich and her husband, Charles Brandt, to seek shelter at a family member’s home in Orlando. But the storm outside paled in comparison to the darkness that...

A Family Torn Apart: The Dark Secrets of Charles Brandt

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan forced Teri Helfrich and her husband, Charles Brandt, to seek shelter at a family member’s home in Orlando. But the storm outside paled in comparison to the darkness that emerged within those walls. What seemed like an ordinary family gathering turned into a harrowing discovery that unraveled decades of secrets, revealing the horrifying truth about Charles’ past. In this episode, we dive into the tragic events that shook a family, explore the hidden life of a man capable of unimaginable violence, and connect the dots to unsolved cases spanning years. This is a story of love, betrayal, and the quiet danger of the people we think we know.

#TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMysteries #CharlesBrandtCase #FamilySecrets #TrueCrimeAddict #MurderMystery #BigPineKeyMurders


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Transcript
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(upbeat music)

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What happens when a hurricane isn't the worst thing

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to hit your house.

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In 2004, Terry Helfrich and her husband, Charles Brandt

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evacuated their beachside home

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to stay with family in Orlando.

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A little forced family bonding, a few too many drinks,

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it could have been an awkward anecdote for the next reunion.

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Instead, it unraveled into something far darker.

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By the end of the week, three people were dead

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and police uncovered a past that Charles

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had spent decades hiding.

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A past that made everything make sense

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in the worst possible way.

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This isn't just a story about what happened.

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It's about what no one wanted to believe could happen.

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But before we get into that story,

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if you like your true crime brief and bingeable,

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you found the right podcast.

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Tap the follow button now for access

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to at least two episodes per week.

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Welcome to 10 Minute Murder.

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Let's get into it.

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(dramatic music)

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(dramatic music)

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In 1986, Terry Helfrich found what many

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had spent a lifetime searching for.

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A love that felt like home.

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Terry was that cliche, the kind of person

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who lit up every room she entered.

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A free spirit with a knack for making friends.

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Her warmth was magnetic.

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When she crossed paths with Charles Brandt

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or Charlie as he preferred, her world shifted.

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Charlie was her opposite in so many ways,

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reserved, bookish, and steady.

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Where Terry brought vibrancy and spontaneity,

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Charlie added structure and calm.

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Their differences weren't obstacles,

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they were puzzle pieces, fitting together

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in a way that just made sense.

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Friends and family marveled at their connection.

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It wasn't just the way they looked at each other.

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It was the way they lived for one another.

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Whether it was Charlie learning to love Terry's zest

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for life or Terry respecting Charlie's quiet demeanor,

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they met in the middle with ease.

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Their wedding was intimate, just a handful of witnesses

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and an exchange of vows that needed no embellishment.

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Shortly after, a couple settled into a dreamy beach house

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on Big Pine Key, Florida.

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Life was golden, warm breezes, sandy beaches,

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and a future as bright as the Florida sun.

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At least, that is how it seemed.

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Life on Big Pine Key was idyllic for Terry and Charles

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until September 2004 when Hurricane Ivan

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loomed large on the horizon.

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The fierce storm didn't just threaten their charming beach

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side home.

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It cast a shadow of danger over their lives.

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Enter Michelle Jones, Terry's 37-year-old niece,

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a successful TV executive living alone in Orlando.

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Michelle wasn't just family, she was the glue

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that kept everyone connected.

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Daily phone calls and close-knit bonds

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defined her relationships.

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So when she heard about the hurricane

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barreling toward her aunt and uncle's home,

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Michelle didn't hesitate.

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She opened her door and her heart,

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inviting them in to ride out the storm safely with her.

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Terry and Charles arrived in early September,

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grateful for Michelle's generosity.

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Ever the hostess, Michelle turned what

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could have been a harrowing evacuation

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into something almost celebratory.

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She called up friends and family, transforming her home

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into a hub of warmth and connection.

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For a while, it seemed as if the storm's disruption

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had brought everyone closer.

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But by the evening of September 13, the mood shifted.

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The vibes were off.

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With the storm behind them, Terry and Charles

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were technically free to return home.

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Still, Charles wanted to stay one more night.

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Dinner was fish he'd cooked himself,

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paired with enough drinks to blur

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the lines of their usual dynamic.

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When Michelle's friend, Lisa Emmons,

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called to check in and propose a visit, Michelle waved her off.

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Charles and Terry, she explained, weren't themselves.

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A couple typically loving and grounded,

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had begun fighting, something entirely

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out of character for them.

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Michelle told Lisa it wasn't the right time for company

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and decided to head to bed, leaving the evening

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and its tensions unresolved.

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Lisa took Michelle's advice, and the night continued

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with howder, which should have been

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the end of an ordinary evening marked the beginning

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of something unimaginable.

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When Michelle Jones stopped answering her phone,

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her family's unease quickly turned to alarm.

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For Michelle's mother, Mary Lou,

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communication was the cornerstone of their bond.

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Living in North Carolina, those near daily calls

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kept the distance between them bearable.

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Quote, we called Monday night and Tuesday night.

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Each time it went straight to voicemail.

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By Wednesday, the eerie silence was too much to ignore.

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The term into uncover what was wrong, Mary Lou reached out

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to Debbie Knight, one of Michelle's other close friends,

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and asked her to check in on Michelle.

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Debbie wasted no time.

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When she arrived at Michelle's Orlando home,

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something felt off immediately.

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The house was quiet.

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Too quiet.

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The front door was locked, so Debbie made her way

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around to the garage.

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Through the distorted glass of the garage door,

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she spotted something that made her stomach drop.

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Pushing the door open, she was met with a gruesome sight.

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A body hanging from the rafters, decomposing

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in the floor to heat.

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It was Charles.

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Debbie fled in terror, dialing 911 as she ran.

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When the police arrived, the scene inside

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was just as devastating.

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Lead investigator Rob Himmerts later described it,

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it was just a nice home.

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It had that feminine kind of feel to it.

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All those nice decorations in the aroma of her home

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was masked by death, the smell of death.

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In the living room, Terry's body was found on the couch.

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She had been stabbed multiple times in the chest.

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The attack was brutal, but swift.

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Death came quickly for Terry.

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Michelle's bedroom told a far darker story.

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The violence she endured defied comprehension.

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She had been decapitated and disembowed.

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Her heart had been removed, and her head

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was deliberately placed beside her body.

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A macabre arrangement that suggested something deeply

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personal, even ritualistic.

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The evidence painted a grim picture.

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Charles had turned on Terry first,

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stabbing her multiple times in a sudden act of violence.

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He then attacked Michelle, inflicting horrors

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beyond the scope of mere rage.

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Finally, consumed by whatever drove him to commit such acts,

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Charles tied bed sheets to the rafters in the garage

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and took his own life.

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The home, once a place of safety and family,

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now stood as a haunting reminder of the unspeakable.

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Yet the question remained.

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Why?

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What could have driven Charles to such brutality?

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This was only the beginning of a story

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that would reveal even darker truths.

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At first glance, the sequence of events in Michelle Jones's home

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seemed tragically straightforward.

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Charles Brant had first turned on his wife, Terry,

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stabbing her to death.

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Then he attacked Michelle with violence

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before taking his own life in the garage.

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The why, however, was far less clear.

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The answer would come from his older sister, Angela,

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whose revelations would not only explain the events of that night,

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but expose a dark truth about Charles' past.

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In a police interview, Angela recounted a night

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in 1968 that changed her family forever.

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Charles was just 13 when he unleashed a wave of violence

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in their Texas home.

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The family had just returned from a two-week vacation,

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and the evening seemed routine.

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Their father, Herbert, was shaving in the bathroom

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while their mother Lisa, heavily pregnant,

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soaked in the tub.

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Without warning, Charles burst into the bathroom

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armed with a hunting rifle.

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Angela recalled her father shouting, "Charlie, stop."

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Before a deafening bang silenced him.

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Herbert was critically wounded, leaving him defenseless

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as Charles turned the gun on Lisa.

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He shot her multiple times, killing both her

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and the unborn child.

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Next, Charles turned this weapon on Angela,

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but when he pulled the trigger, the gun misfired.

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In that split second, Angela fought back,

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physically grappling with her younger brother

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while trying to calm him.

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She later described Charles as being in a trance.

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His eyes glassy and detached, as if it weren't fully present.

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Gradually, as she pleaded with him,

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she saw the trance break, and Charles stopped fighting.

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Angela managed to escape to a neighbor's house,

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but before she could get help, Charles himself arrived

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at the neighbor's door.

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Calmly, he confessed, "I just shot my mom and dad."

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Herbert survived the attack and identified Charles

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as the perpetrator.

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A Texas law at the time didn't allow for a child of Charles's age

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to be tried for murder.

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Instead, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital for just one year

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before being released back into his father's custody.

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The family never spoke of the incident again.

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Herbert moved them to Florida, remarried,

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and told Charles his younger siblings, who were too young

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to remember that their mother had died in a car accident.

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For decades, the truth lay buried, only resurfacing

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after Charles's violent rampage in 2004.

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With this chilling history in hand, investigators

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began to suspect that the events at Michelle's home

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weren't isolated.

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A search of Charles and Terry's big pine

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key residents revealed a disturbing cache of snuff films

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suggesting a fascination with violence

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that went far beyond the ordinary.

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Not that a fascination with violence is ordinary.

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Their suspicions deepened as they revisited cold cases

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in the area, ultimately uncovering a shocking connection.

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In 1989, the body of 38-year-old Sherry Perisho

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was found floating near Charles's home.

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Her throat had been slashed, her head nearly severed,

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and her heart removed.

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Details eerily similar to Michelle's murder.

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Charles's wife, Terry, had harbored her own suspicions

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about him.

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She once confided to her brother-in-law

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that Charles had come home one night, covered, and blood.

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He claimed it was from gutting fish,

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but Terry was not convinced, especially

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after Sherry's mutilated body was discovered so close

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to their home.

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Years later, in 2006, investigators

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confirmed what Terry had feared.

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Charles had murdered Sherry, but this wasn't an isolated act.

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The investigation revealed connections

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between Charles' brand and several unsolved cases,

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like the 1978's Murder of Carol Sullivan.

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The 12-year-old was abducted while waiting for her school bus.

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Her school was later found in a bucket,

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but her body was never recovered.

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In 1988's Lisa Saunders, at just 20 years old,

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Lisa was brutally murdered in a case

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with striking similarities to Sherry's death.

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A 1995 darling toller, a sex worker

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found wrapped in a blanket along a highway.

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Her throat had been slashed in a manner

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consistent with Charles' known methods.

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Each case bore hallmarks to Charles' signature brutality,

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extreme violence, deliberate mutilation,

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and an unsettling focus on the removal of vital organs.

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With Sherry's murder confirmed and strong circumstantial

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evidence linking him to the others,

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investigators began to see Charles brand

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for what he truly was, a serial killer hiding in plain sight.

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His crimes spanned decades, targeting vulnerable women

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and leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.

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For those who knew him, the revelations were almost

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impossible to reconcile with the quiet, bookish man

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they thought they understood.

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Yet the truth of Charles' brand life

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was far darker and more monstrous

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than anyone could have imagined.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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That's 10 Minute Murder for Today.

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Brief and binge a bull true crime.

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I'm Joe.

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I'm the host, and thank you for taking the time to listen.

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Subscribe if you are new here.

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Subscribe if you are new here.

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of the episodes, if not all of them--

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and some of you, by the way, have made it

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through all of them multiple times.

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You've emailed to tell me about it.

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And I'm impressed, first of all, but I

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don't know how you find the time to do that.

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Yes, I do, because I do the same thing.

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I binge through so many different documentaries and TV

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shows.

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By the way, I've watched the first episode only at this point

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of Dexter, the new Dexter.

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And it seems to be very good.

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But yeah, I do the same thing.

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Goodbye.

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