A Florida couple has been accused of using an online dating app to lure, torture, and kill a teenage girl. The couple allegedly used dating app Grindr to lure 16-year-old Miranda Corsette to their home in St. Petersburg for a meetup in late February. After torturing and murdering the girl, the St. Petersburg Police Department says, the couple discarded her dismembered remains in a dumpster.
According to the authorities, 35-year-old Stephen Gress used Grindr, a dating app that’s predominantly used by the LGBTQ community, to lure the unsuspecting teen to his house on February 4th. Corsette went back home after the first meeting with Gress and returned to his home, located around 20 miles Southwest of Tampa, on February 15th, police say.
Authorities believe that Corsette, a frequent runaway who also had an 11-month-old baby, stayed with Gress and his spouse 37-year-old Michelle Brandes. The teen’s grandmother, her primary caregiver, filed a missing person’s report at the Gulfport Police on February 24th, 10 days after she first met the couple.
Acting Police Chief for the city of Gulfport Commander Mary Farrand said in a press conference that Corsette’s grandmother didn’t usually report her missing every time she ran away as she always came back home. However, when the teen didn’t return ‘in a timely manner’ her grandmother reported her missing.
The police allege that on February 20th, Corsette got into an argument with the couple about a missing ring that they claimed the teen had stolen. Court documents show that Gress and Brandes allegedly tortured Corsette for several days before suffocating her. St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway estimates that the couple beat and tortured the teen from the 20th to the 24th.
Once they murdered her, the couple allegedly transported Corsette’s body to Margo, Florida, where Brande’s mother owned a house. Evidence shows that the two dismembered Corsette’s body in this house before transporting the remains to Hillsborough County and dumping them in a dumpster. Authorities say they were tipped off by a witness who reported that a missing teen may have been involved in a kidnapping and homicide.
A statement from the St. Petersburg police department said that detectives had found the dumpster and were working to recover the teen’s remains. Gress, who is accused of luring Corsette to his house, was charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder on March 7. He was already in police custody for drug and weapon offenses when the authorities charged him. Brande turned herself in on March 8th and was charged with first-degree murder.
Enterprises like Momo Inc. (NASDAQ: MOMO) within the online dating space are likely to follow this case and see what lessons they can learn to proactively minimize such incidents from tainting their platforms.
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