A teen, 16, who was kidnapped was brutally tortured and dismembered after she met up with a man more than twice her age for Valentine’s Day.
Miranda Corsette, from Florida is said to have met 35-year-old Steven Gress on a dating app, and the two got together to celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 15.
Gress picked Corsette up from her Gulfport home and took her to his house, spending the day together before Gress took her back home that evening, Holloway said, according to Fox 13.
But the next day, authorities say the teen returned to Gress’ home on her own.
By February 24, Corsette’s grandmother – who took care of and homeschooled the teen after her parents died – reported her missing.
‘We are very familiar with Miranda,’ Commander Mary Farrand, the acting police chief for the city of Gulfport said.
The commander said the the teen is also the mother of an 11-month-old baby.
‘She is a frequent runaway and she has a history of mental health issues as well as drug abuse,’ she said.
Police now say Corsette remained with Gress and his domestic partner, Michelle Brandes, 37, for several days.
Then, on February 20, the couple suspected Corsette stole a ring from them and they started to torture the girl, according to an affidavit obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.
Gress and Brandes ‘held the victim against her will for more than seven days and tortured her repeatedly, beating the victim and eventually stuffing a billiard ball into her mouth and wrapping her face with plastic wrap, causing her to suffocate,’ it says.
Once the teen was dead, police say Gress put Corsette’s body in a car and drove to Brandes’ mother’s home.
Evidence police obtained there indicated that Corsette’s body was dismembered, then driven to Hillsborough County where it was placed in a dumpster.
Detectives have since located the dumpster but have not yet located Corsette’s remains, which officers now believe are in a landfill somewhere.
Gress and Brandes are now both facing first-degree murder charges, with Gress facing an additional kidnapping charge.
