IN IN - Brandie Peltz, 11, Argos, 11 December 1986

colette

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1986 Brandie was found in a bath tub sexually assaulted, strangled and her home was on fire. Did the "passerby" who found her really kill her? A new novel written about the case has prompted Indiana State Police to get involved.

"The Passerby", a novel is supposedly based on facts of the case... the names have been changed is the "fiction". The unsolved murder is finally getting another look. The town is divided, the "passerby" is supposedly a high school teacher in a small community, never charged. OR was it the men from England?

The victim was alone, home from school sick. She had called her mother and said she was getting harassing phone calls and was scared, hours later she was dead. Was the killer at the vacant home across the street? Did he have an affair with the mother? Do they have DNA? Supposedly they still have Brandie's finger nails, maybe she fought him.

I remember this terrible murder. There had been another unsolved murder of a mother just two miles from Brandie. Were the two cases connected? Three unsolved murders in a small rural area in a close time frame... still unsolved to this day.



http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/35996064.html Good article about the novel. Over 200 comments on this story.. some very interesting.


http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/37 Indiana State Police are now looking at case.

http://www.thepilotnews.com/content/view/83201/1/ Another story about the novel inspired by cold case.
 
Here is a review of the book "The Passerby" with many comments from local people after the article.
http://www.duffbert.com/duffbert/blog.nsf/d6plinks/TADF-7L92JM

The other unsolved murder 2 miles from Brandie was of a mother; Darlene Hulse, home with her three girls. Some unknown man came to the door and abducted the mother in front of the girls. She was later found murdered. One of the girls commented in the above article that she did not want her mother's case reopened. It would seem like she would want the case solved.

I remember at the time I thought some delivery man (such as UPS) might be the killer of both, because I thought the girls said he was a deliveryman.
I'm hoping both cases will be solved soon.
 
There has been a meeting in the town where Brandie lived and was murdered. They are putting up pink ribbons to bring awareness to her case.
Another meeting took place with the author of the book, he says since it was written many people have talked to him about the case. He has gathered more evidence, enough for a couple of new chapters.

From the latest article:
“A sickness” was going around that fall, Kariger said, and several of his students were absent, including 11-year-old Brandie Peltz.

Meanwhile the phone rang about 1 p.m. at the Peltz home, where Brandie was home alone. On the other end, the caller breathed heavily into the receiver but said nothing. It was the second time that week such a phone call had been placed to the home, and Brandie called her mother at work.

It was the last time Roxie Peltz spoke to her daughter.......

2 hours later the house was on fire and Brandie was found.


http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/38764487.html

http://www.thepilotnews.com/content/view/93567/1/
 
I think it's great a book led to the case being reopened!
From Colette's link:

"Holmes said county police long ago identified a suspect in the case, but were never able to charge the person. “They just kind of ran into a dead end on it,” he said. Crowel is hopeful the new investigation will lead to an arrest. He said he has been contacted by state police and plans to share what he knows.
“I have great optimism that the state police are going to be able to (solve the murder),” Crowel said.
Smith, the state police spokesman, said investigators are reviewing the evidence, after which they plan to conduct a thorough investigation.
“Times and technologies and things have obviously changed in the past 20 years,” he said. “DNA samples and things were collected along the way, and basically what the agency is going to do ... is we will be putting fresh eyes on the case. We’re going to start from square one and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb.”
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/38764487.html

I wonder if they'll be able to charge the original suspect that they had back then, being the advancement with DNA now..

Does anyone know if the other murder cases around there had involved people getting a phone call and the heavy breathing prior to be murdered?
 
I'm hoping they have DNA evidence properly stored that can lead to an arrest. The Indiana State Police have the case now, it shouldn't take that long to rule on the "passerby's" involvement.

According to some who have read the book... the timeline spells "guilty" for the "passerby".

On the Hulse case I don't remember hearing about any heavy breathing phone calls. That could have been held back to the public. The phone call before Brandie's murder was widely reported and very creepy.
 
This is really fascinating. Thank you so much for posting it!
 
The latest on the case....

Crowell (the author of the book ) concludes Marshall County Police bungled the investigation and overlooked the key suspect -- the man who reported the fire, the passerby.

“When he reported the fire, the fireman was already there,” says Crowell. “The fireman was guarding the door.”

The book caught the Marshall County Prosecutor's attention, who put Indiana State Police Detective Tom Littlefield in charge of the case.

“I think the book caused a stir, or kind of brought the case to light again,” says Det. Littlefield. “The book is one part that's kept this thing going, but I think your station really has a lot to do with it.”

“We've gotten tips and the tips have been very useful in documenting the timeline,” Littlefield says.

Brandie Peltz Tips
Detective Tom Littlefield
Indiana State Police, Bremen Post
1-800-552-2959

http://www.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/51937792.html

I am still waiting for the DNA evidence, wonder what happened with that. Maybe they botched that too.
 
In 1986 DNA wasn't known very well, they just started using it in the 80's. So how to store it and preserve it wasn't commonly known. Maybe they can use it and maybe it will be too degraded.
 
Thanks for posting this story Colette, haven't read all the stories in the links you provided yet, be back here tomorrow to read them all. I think from the face of it this case has a good chance for being solved.
 
I hope so Knox. I'm afraid there might not be enough evidence to have a conviction.
 
Any info on the passerby? Where is he now? Any brushes with the law since then?
 
Does anyone know the name of the mother who was murdered before Brandi was?
 
The name of the mother killed shortly before Brandie was Darlene Hulse. I have a little about this in my second post at top of page.

The "Passerby" has supposedly been a high school Ag teacher for the past several years. I don't believe he has had any brushes with the law.
 
The name of the mother killed shortly before Brandie was Darlene Hulse. I have a little about this in my second post at top of page.

The "Passerby" has supposedly been a high school Ag teacher for the past several years. I don't believe he has had any brushes with the law.


Oh, okay - I was thinking Darlene and the murdered mother were two different people. Thanks for the clarification.
 
I'm from Rochester Indiana (10 miles from Argos) I remember this case very well!! I have always hoped this case would be solved. My Mom is reading the book now. Isn't the suspect still teaching at a high school? Maybe Lakeville or something?
 
My Uncle was sherrif at the time and he helped with the Hulse case. I'll have to ask him if he knows any more details. He told my Mom some things when it happened.
 
Never mind I read those comments and it says Triton schools.
 
Wow I'm wading through all of those comments from the blog that I believe Colette posted. I really hope this case gets some attention! 2 years ago I thought about this case and I did a lot of google searches but couldn't find anything! So glad this book was written.
 

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