THE DOUBLE LIFE OF CHARLIE BRANDT: A KILLER’S HIDDEN PAST

In this chilling episode of Midwest Murder, hosts Dawn Palumbo and Jonah Lantto travel back to 1971 to uncover the shocking true story of 13-year-old Charlie Brandt—then known as Carl—from Fort Wayne, Indiana. After returning home from a family vacation, Carl took his father’s 9mm pistol and opened fire, shooting his father three times while he was shaving, then turning the gun on his pregnant mother as she bathed. Though gravely injured, his father survived and called for help. When Carl’s gun jammed as he tried to shoot his sister, he attempted to strangle her before suddenly snapping out of his trance. His sister managed to escape, alerting neighbors and saving her own life.
Despite the brutality of the attack, a grand jury ruled that young Carl could not be held criminally responsible due to mental illness. His files were sealed, and he spent a year in a state hospital before quietly reentering society. Decades later, under the name Charlie Brandt, he would resurface in Florida, where a series of gruesome murders—marked by precision and brutality—claimed the lives of multiple women. His final victim in 2004 would also be his last, as Brandt took his own life before authorities could confront him, leaving behind a trail of horror that began in his childhood home.