Florida couple accused of stuffing billiard ball in tortured teen mom's mouth, suffocating her, ditching her dismembered body



A Florida couple allegedly kidnapped, tortured, and murdered a teen mom, according to authorities.

Miranda Corsette — a 16-year-old mother to an 11-month-old baby — allegedly met 35-year-old Steven Gress on a dating app, then went to his St. Petersburg residence on Valentine's Day.

Gress and Brandes 'held the victim against her will for more than seven days and tortured her by repeatedly beating the victim and eventually stuffing a billiard ball into her mouth and wrapping her face with plastic wrap, causing her to suffocate.'

Corsette is said to have returned to her grandmother's home in Gulfport the next day — but soon after that day went back to Gress' house. Police said Corsette remained there for days with Gress and his domestic partner, 37-year-old Michelle Brandes.

Corsette's grandmother on Feb. 24 reported her missing to the Gulfport Police Department. Corsette was homeschooled and lived with her grandmother because Corsette's parents are deceased, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway stated during a press conference.

"We are very familiar with Miranda," said Commander Mary Farrand, who is also Gulfport's acting police chief. "She is a frequent runaway, and she has a history of mental health issues as well as drug abuse. The grandmother is her primary caregiver at this time."

Farrand explained that the grandmother — who didn't report Corsette missing for several days — said her granddaughter "normally comes home," and the grandmother said "she doesn’t report her missing every time she leaves. She just didn’t come back in a timely manner this time."

On March 6, a witness contacted police with a tip about a possible kidnapping and murder of a missing teen, and detectives determined Corsette was the missing teen referred to in the tip.

On Feb. 20, Brandes and Gress accused the teen mother of stealing a ring, according to the arrest affidavit.

Chief Holloway said the couple beat and tortured Corsette because they couldn't find the ring.

The Tampa Bay Times, citing the affidavit, reported that Gress and Brandes "held the victim against her will for more than seven days and tortured her by repeatedly beating the victim and eventually stuffing a billiard ball into her mouth and wrapping her face with plastic wrap, causing her to suffocate."

The St. Petersburg Police Department said of Corsette in a statement, "Sometime between February 20th and February 24th, she was killed."

Police said Gress put Corsette’s body in his car and drove to a home in nearby Largo; detectives found evidence that Corsette was dismembered there.

Chief Holloway said Brandes' mother owns the Largo home .

Police said Gress and Brandes drove about 50 miles to ditch the body in a dumpster in Ruskin.

Detectives located the dumpster but have yet to find the teen girl's remains. On Friday, police said they believe her remains likely are in a landfill.

Gress already was in jail for unrelated charges when the accusations about Corsette came to light.

On March 6, Gress was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana, records show. Police said Gress pointed a harpoon at Brandes.

In the missing teen case, Gress was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

Gress was being held at the Pinellas County Jail without bail.

An assistant public defender has been appointed to represent him and has entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf, according to court records.

Brandes turned herself in to police Saturday morning. She is charged with first-degree murder in connection with Corsette's death.

The St. Petersburg Police Department noted, "This is still a very active investigation, and more charges are expected."

Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact the St. Petersburg Police Department at 727-893-7780.

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Male tortured girlfriend for days, tattooed 'degrading words' on her chest before murdering her on Christmas Eve: Officials



A California man was convicted Tuesday of nine felony counts in connection with the 2021 murder and torture of his girlfriend.

A jury found Saul C. Nava, 24, guilty of first-degree murder, torture, kidnapping, aggravated mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting corporal injury to current/former spouse/cohabitant/fiancé, and possession of child pornography.

'I'm scared. I'm really scared. I'm terrified.'

Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell stated, "Although this result cannot erase the immeasurable pain the defendant inflicted on the victims and their families, we hope that this brings some measure of closure to see him held accountable for his horrific crimes."

Officials said Nava tortured his girlfriend for days and murdered her on Christmas Eve. Then he called 911.

Police responded to the call and found a gruesome crime scene at Nava's studio apartment in Thousand Oaks.

Nava tortured Alisen Takacs-Escobar, 24, for days, she and had injuries over her entire body. She suffered from extensive bruising and the top of her head also showed a large laceration.

The Ventura County District Attorney's Office said "degrading words" were newly tattooed on the center of her chest.

Police said Nava had used tattoo equipment, baseball bats, a hammer, a belt, and a screwdriver to torture his girlfriend.

Nava’s cellphone was found in the apartment. In the hours leading up to her death, Nava had recorded videos with the phone that showed him "taunting her and displaying no concern for her worsening condition."

The Ventura County Star reported that there were four videos on Nava's phone that showed blood streaming across a large portion of Takacs-Escobar's face.

"Express yourself," a male voice is heard saying in one of the videos.

Takacs-Escobar replies: "I'm scared. I'm really scared. I'm terrified."

The male asks, "Is what you did worth it?" She answers no.

Nava was arrested at the apartment.

Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office found that Takacs-Escobar died of blunt force injuries and ruled her death a homicide.

The fatal attack purportedly occurred a few weeks after Nava noticed a phone message between Takacs-Escobar and a former boyfriend.

A police witness described the message as "flirtatious" and had discussed their former sexual relations.

The prosecution said they were not having a sexual relationship at the time.

Nava indicated he was aware that the pair were not having physical contact but said he considered flirting to be cheating.

An ex-girlfriend of Nava's told authorities he had physically abused her and confined her in a closet when they were teenagers.

At one point in the relationship, the ex-girlfriend said she attempted to flee, but Nava allegedly found her and threatened her with a knife until she got into his vehicle.

The ex-girlfriend got pregnant when she was 17 and said Nava punched her in the stomach and forced her to get an abortion. She said Nava punched her in the face, choked her, and secretly filmed their sex life.

Sophia Nuno, a high school friend of Takacs-Escobar, testified that her friend “was super friendly, bubbly, happy and outgoing” before she started dating Nava and that her behavior changed after she started dating him.

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Biden Suddenly Admires Dick Cheney After Calling Him ‘Most Dangerous’ VP In ‘History’
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Biden Suddenly Admires Dick Cheney After Calling Him ‘Most Dangerous’ VP In ‘History’

Joe Biden says he's 'always admired' former Vice President Dick Cheney after spending a career trashing his predecessor.

UFC's Sean Strickland posts video of himself getting waterboarded: 'It can't be that bad'



UFC fighter Sean Strickland posted a video of himself on X getting tortured by waterboard, expressing that he simply wanted to know what it felt like.

Middleweight contender Strickland put his money where his mouth is and accepted a wager from ... seemingly himself when he posted the video and stated that since he was a kid he didn't think the form of torture could be "that bad."

Waterboarding is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as a "form of torture ... in which a person is held facing upward while water is poured in large quantities over their face. This gives the person the feeling that they are drowning," with the idea that they are "unable to breathe and dying."

"When I was a kid I thought 'I wanna know what water boarding feels like, it can't be that bad,'" Strickland wrote on X. "I can tell you it was one of the most f***ed up things I've experienced lol."

Attached was a 12-second video of Strickland shirtless on a floor next to an oven. The arm of an unknown person used what seemed to be a garden hose nozzle to spray Strickland — who had a T-shirt over his head — in the face, with the fighter's hands confined in makeshift handcuffs.

The would-be torturer ensured that he was spraying Strickland in the face and controlled his head with a hand around the 185-pound fighter's neck.

Be advised that the video could be seen as disturbing and is age-restricted on X.

Strickland stuck around on his account to answer a couple of fan questions after posting the video, the first of which came in just a minute after the footage was put online.

'When you see these youtubers like Steven crowder doing it saying "it's [not] that bad" [it's] because you weren't.'

"Sean why did you do this? This is tough," one viewer asked.

"You think 'I can just breathe lightly and take a big breath when the water stops' nope you are 100 percent drowning.........." Strickland replied.

You think "I can just breathe lightly and take a big breath when the water stops" nope you are 100 percent drowning..........
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) June 12, 2024

"What if you just hold your breath for a minute?" another viewer asked.

"You're going to have to breathe at some point lol," Strickland answered.

After another viewer stated that after the "cloth is wet you basically can't breathe through it without taking in water," Strickland called out YouTubers, specifically Steven Crowder, saying they clearly haven't been waterboarded properly.

"Yeah man.... no [matter what] you do you can't breathe.. it's f***ed... When you see these youtubers like Steven crowder doing it saying 'it's [not] that bad' [it's] because you weren't f**king water boarded lol."

Yeah man.... no mater water you do you can't breathe.. it's fucked... When you see these youtubers like Steven crowder doing it saying "it's no that bad" because you weren't fucking water boarded lol
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) June 12, 2024

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Colombian had images on phone of 'people being tortured': US Border Patrol chief



U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens reported that authorities arrested an individual trying to unlawfully enter the country and that they found images on the man's phone of "people being tortured."

"3/14: USBP in El Paso, TX arrested a Colombian attempting to enter the country illegally. Agents searched the subject & found photos of people being tortured on his phone. He also had specific tattoos indicative of gang membership (Clan del Golfo)," the tweet states.

Bill Melugin of Fox News shared the post, writing, "Sounds like a lovely guy."

"Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden's catch-and-release schemes have emboldened criminals like this to cross our Southwest border. It's terrifying to think how many more dangerous gang members are crossing undetected," GOP Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee said in a tweet.

— (@)

More than three dozen House Republicans have signed onto a letter urging colleagues to leverage the power of the purse to fight for border security and against the "radical politicization" of the Pentagon.

"Is there a point at which we will refuse to let this happen on our watch, or is there no threshold of harm to our nation for which we would refuse to fund the government perpetrating the invasion?" the letter states. "The House must put forth an appropriations measure that forces the inclusion of the core elements of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, ends funding of trafficking, and prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, otherwise Republicans will be actively funding Biden's 'open borders' policies," the letter notes.

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