AI Summary
5 min readIn January 1971, 13-year-old Charlie Brandt walked into the bathroom where his parents were—his father shaving, his mother eight months pregnant in the bath—and shot his father three times in the back and his mother twice in the stomach. He then went to his 15-year-old sister Angela’s room, pointed the gun at her head, and pulled the trigger. The gun was empty. He beat and strangled her until, suddenly, the look in his eyes changed. He said, “Wait, what am I doing?” Angela promised not to leave him if he let her go. The second she was out of sight, she ran barefoot through the snow in her torn, blood-soaked nightgown, screaming for help. Charlie screamed after her: “You promised you wouldn’t leave me.”
The Family Secret
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **The Perfect Husband's Secret** - Introduction to Terry Brant's seemingly idyllic marriage and the revelation that her husband, Charlie, was a serial killer who began killing at age 13.
- 2 (02:09) **A Troubled Childhood** - Charlie Brandt's early life as the only son in a family that moved constantly, his isolation, and his difficult relationship with his father.
- 3 (04:57) **The Killing of the Dog** - The pivotal event: when Charlie was 13, his father shot and killed his beloved dog in front of him while hunting.
- 4 (06:50) **The Night of the First Murders** - A detailed, minute-by-minute account of the January 3, 1971, attack on Charlie's family.
- 5 (10:20) **The Aftermath and a Sister's Escape** - Angela's desperate escape, the discovery of the crime, and Charlie's immediate capture.
- 6 (11:10) **A Motive Without Explanation** - The lack of a clear motive for the attack, with analysis of Charlie's possible reasons.
- 7 (13:04) **The System's Failure** - How Charlie avoided a criminal record and was released after only one year in a psychiatric hospital.
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Show Notes
In this week's investigation Hot On The Case dives into the bizarre crimes of Charlie Brandt, a seemingly ordinary man whose actions left everyone who knew him completely shocked. As investigators began digging into this true crime case, they uncovered dark family secrets that had been hidden for decades. What they eventually discover about the man everyone thought was the perfect husband reveals a much more disturbing reality.
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