Brandon Cartellone ////// 777 | Forensic Files

n [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is an optimist because while the US is burning to the ground he
says you need not worry because the Browns have started training camp here is the captain get your massage tables
out it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a
[Music] friend today we are very excited to be featuring Strange Magic by the creative
folks over at Fatheads Brewery Strange Magic is an American IPA the magic is in the masterful combination of hops that
create this India Pale Ale this is good hop flavor maybe a little light on the Hops with a good citrus finish ABV 6.5%
garage grade three and 3/4 bottle caps out of five and here's some of our magical friends that we would like to
thank for helping us fill up the old garage fridge for this week's show first up a shout out to Juliet in Detroit
Michigan and a big we like your CHP goes out to Lauren in Richmond Virginia next
up a long distance cheers to Vicky in London UK and a what's up buttercup to Mary Anne in Springfield Virginia and
last but certainly not least we have Julie from peat Lakes Minnesota everyone we just mentioned they went to tr crime
garage.com and helped us out with this week's Beer Run yeah BW R you Inn beer run for more True Crime garage make sure
you sign up on patreon or apple subscription and we love you thanks for keeping the lights on and that's enough
of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
crime now at 11 this is something every parent fears getting the news their child has been killed for one Northeast
Ohio mother that unimaginable grief is made even worse by a lack of news or updates in the police investigation into
the crime now she's lived without her son for nearly 10 years now and it was July 26th of 2011 that he was killed in
his Cleveland apartment this mother tells news5 Jesse Schultz she's doubtful the killer will ever see the inside of a
prison cell for ly calone July 26th 2011 is a date she'll never forget my son's name is Brandon Michael calone it's the
day her world stop turning this is an event that changes you forever the day her creative and loving son Brandon
died it was a horrific crime 21-year-old Brandon was brutally beaten and strangled in his Treemont apartment a
crime so violent in a neighborhood so vibrant Lynn was confident that Justice would be swift we thought how important
those first few hours were we thought the police were on it I wish I would have known then what I know now but this
isn't about what happened to Brandon that night it's about what happened after the weeks turned into months that
turned into years with no answers or updates from detectives you feel alone in the process you feel abandoned what
is Justice and while Lynn's world stopped turning once Brandon was no longer in it the outside world kept
going it's been almost 10 years since she buried her son and she believes his case File is also buried as newer
investigations continue to pile up I've given up calling and trying to speak with someone because they refuse
to talk to me since 2011 Cleveland saw more than 1,000 criminal homicides 76 this year alone and as violent crime
continues to rise the city's homicide unit is underst staffed budgeted for 25 detectives but police Union president
Jeff Fulmer estimates there's only about 15 detectives that they start a homicide
one day and then within 24 hours of getting another one you got to you got to jump around last year the US
Department of Justice said in order to keep up with the growing case load Cleveland needed at least 38 detectives
it's been almost 10 years since she buried her son that news clip that you heard in
today's trailer is from the good hardworking folks over at news5 Cleveland you can check out their good
workor at news5 cleveland.com and in that news clip you heard the frustration of our victim's mother her
name is Lynn she has had this frustration for many years her son's case has remained unsolved all of these
years later and she is expressing her frustration with the Cleveland Police Department with what she believes is
their lack of Competency and effort into her son's case you hear the rebuttal from Cleveland Police Department saying
we are underfunded we are underst staffed and that certainly is a problem that many large cities are facing today
well let's dive into the case details on July 26 2011 Brandon cleone was murdered his
body was found in his apartment at approximately 1:00 a.m. on July 27th Brandon was a 21-year-old industrial
design student at the Cleveland Institute of Art he was was in his junior year and was top of his class by
all accounts Brandon was a hardworking talented funloving young man with a large circle of friends he had been
working at a pizza shop and doing side design work and had a paid internship at a business called a peace of
Cleveland today's case just like last week and the week before these are all rough and difficult cases he was found
bound and strangled to death slumped not over but sort of half on half off of his
couch in the living room of a small second floor apartment this is in the neighborhood of Treemont which is just
minutes from downtown Cleveland Ohio Treemont is an otherwise great vibrant Urban Village Brandon lived in a second
floor apartment by himself there were four apartments on that second floor at the time this was above a bakery and
an art gallery unfortunately I think what we have here is some kind of what would typically be referred to as a
pushin crime or a home invasion he was found bound at the wrist and ankles badly beaten and manually strangled to
death I think we are dealing with a clear motive here as well maybe a touch foggy but a greed murder murder for
profit situation and I think that it is quite possible that the victim here this
dude was set up to be robbed likely because of someone he knew and even possibly by someone he thought that he
could trust persons in Northeast Ohio who know this case and have followed this case know from the news reports
Brandon had also been selling weed leading up to this there has been a lot of focus on that small part of his life
but I'm not going to gloss over any of that because it would appear to me that there is little question that that small
part of his life didn't play a big role in his death we're going to go through a
timeline here starting with July 26 2011 and then the early morning hours of July
27th when Brandon is found this is a Tuesday and a Wednesday just for reference this is what we know about the
timeline of his day on 726 July 26 in the morning hours Brandon was working at the internship with a
piece of Cleveland this is a Woodworking and very cool design shop they design tables Furniture custom work and he's an
art guy and he's a design guy so this is a perfect fit for him and this is a paid
internship for Brandon around 300 p.m. that day Brandon met with his buddy Alex for coffee Brandon asked to use the
phone at the coffee shop while he was there this should stand out to investigators and his family as odd
because Brandon had a cell phone all right it's 2011 so we're going back in time here a little bit it wouldn't be
completely out of the realm of possibility that he simply forgot his phone or did not have his phone on his
person asked to use the phone at the coffee shop that he had frequented but to me knowing what's going on and as
we go through this timeline I think that people are going to want to put a big question mark and circle this detail in
the timeline why did he use the coffee Shop's phone when there were or should have been other options yeah did he not
want the person he was calling to know it was him or did he not want them to have his phone number now he and his
friend after coffee rode around town on their scooters for approximately 2 to 3 hours that day after words Brandon went
back to his apartment this is at 2173 Professor Street he's in apartment number one on the second floor it's
above two businesses as we said I believe there was also a fifth apartment that was at ground level but the way to
access his apartment there was for my understanding Captain a front entrance and a rear entrance to the building
where it was simply a locked door a door that would automatically lock tenants would use their key to get into that
door go up a set of steps and then there was a hallway that would lead to the doors of each of those four Apartments
did they have an intercom system where he could Buzz somebody in no and some have cited that that might be why some
of the details in this case are as such the key here that I really want to point
out to individuals listening to this case you hear the Cleveland Police Department
they will site and when they spoke with Brandon's mom and other persons about this case they they constantly bring up
the obstacles and the problems with this case but the thing that I want to point
out is that if I'm a detective and I'm looking at this case at least I'm going into it going okay the potential for
Witnesses eyewitnesses and ear Witnesses is very likely here I should be able to
build something on this case so a quick description here as said you would go up
a flight of stairs whether you entered this building from the front from the street side or from the rear you would
go up a set of stairs and then you would have the hallway four doors each one going to individual apartments from my
understanding here Captain once you entered Brandon's apartment you were it was a small apartment but these These
are Rel relatively nice apartments in a in a very cool area of town so you walk walk in and you're immediately in the
kitchen of this apartment and from the kitchen there's two walkways some have described them as
doors but I don't I don't think they were actual doors I think it was just you you could walk from the kitchen into
one room which would be the living room and then you could walk another Direction out of that kitchen and you
are in the bedroom remember Brandon was found in the living room okay so I got a
little sidetracked there but now we are at approximately 5:30 6:00 on July 26th and Brandon is back at
his apartment at 2173 Professor Street you are going to hear us use the term friend several times throughout this
timeline but truly that is for a lack of understanding on our part and others part as to the exact nature of these
relationships so we have a person we have a friend of Brandon's his name name is David he came to Brandon's apartment
around 6: or 700 p.m. that day with the purpose of purchasing marijuana from Brandon then we have a friend named Matt
who claimed to have hung out with Brandon at the apartment that evening between the hours of 7 and 8:00 p.m.
after this we have Rachel another friend was there at the apartment around 8:00 p.m. she is there for the purpose of
purchasing marijuana from Brandon she says that she hung out there at the apartment for approximately 30 to maybe
45 minutes now we know that Brandon was on his phone okay that cell phone that we referenced earlier he's on his phone
with a friend named Meg and this call takes place just before 900 p.m. I have here in my notes that the call ends
sometime before 9:30 question mark question mark so that is what has been provided to me I've not been able to
confirm and back up what time that phone call ended and the the end of that phone
call whatever time that call ended may be incredibly important to this case because according to Meg and her
statement and from the activity on Brandon's phone it would appear that at that time 9:00 to whenever that phone
call ended he's alive he's well he doesn't feel threatened he doesn't he's not distressed there's nothing crazy
going on everything's as it should be yeah it seems like everything is hunky dory now another friend of his this is
also a man that he a young man that he worked with at some point his name is Deonte he texts Brandon at
9:28 p.m. but phone records do not show Brandon using his phone after the call with Meg ends so his friend Deontay
texts him and his friend is saying he's texting him saying hey I'm coming over but what we know is that Brandon never
responds to this he doesn't call Deontay he doesn't text Deontay back so if we are starting to look for flags of where
there should be concern of where things start to go wrong it might be sometime between 9 and 10 p.m. likely around the
time of reing this text just prior or a little bit after yeah it seems like this
is the first red flag we have Brandon's girlfriend she calls him all right so she's on her cell phone she is nearby
and as The Story Goes she's driving in the neighborhood she looks up she sees the light to Brandon's apartment on and
she gives her boyfriend a call this is at 10: p.m. approximately she says that Brandon's phone cell phone picks up she
hears some voices when the call is answered but the phone the call they quickly hang up the
call quickly ends she calls back and gets no answer now later she would tell police she's
trying to describe this because again this is a pivotal point in our timeline here well when you call your boyfriend
you're expecting him to pick up when you hear voices that maybe you don't recognize or just commotion that's going
to lead you to be concerned that when the phone picked up when when she thought Brandon her her boyfriend were
was answering the phone and she heard the voices she could not discern if it was actual voices in his apartment
people talking or or doing something in her his apartment or if it was just noise from the TV yeah that would make
sense the call was that quick the pickup hang up it's that quick she calls back Brandon doesn't answer
well it would be nice if this was a good investigation but it wasn't just fact of
the matter because when you have this short call could it be a conversation that he was having was there people over
at his apartment was he out at a bar was it just the sound of the TV we don't know and what would tell us that cell
phone ping technology but guess what we don't have that or if we do have it in this case it hasn't been released to the
public yeah and I don't want to harp on this for too much in today's episode because we got a lot to get through but
it would appear right our our view from 10,000 ft it would appear that this investigation early on was not conducted
in the best manner maybe not the most thorough of Investigations at times I would even question the efforts of the
detectives and I hate to do that because I love the city of Cleveland but today when you look at the
and you try to get some information on this case we're simply told hey look we got to keep some of this information
close to the vest and it it it gets you look at it and you go well is that because the guys early on didn't do a
great job and so you don't have any of that information and you don't want that to be public that that you are limited
on your knowledge of the case or is it you have been able to go back and clean up their mess collect proper information
and fill out gaps in the timeline and add details to your time frame and now you know those details are important and
we cannot release those to the public but this call from Brandon's girlfriend is not just important because it it
fills in our timeline here I am of the belief and would be working this case unless something told me otherwise that
Brandon was in his apartment when the the girlfriend attempted to call him at approximately 10: p.m. that night I'm
basing that off of the light being on I'm basing that off of Prior activity of people coming and going from the
apartment and that he's going to be found just a couple of hours later murdered in that same apartment so
unless something is telling me otherwise I believe he was in that apartment from
the time that that we said when he would return between 5: and 6:00 p.m. that night and he was there and never left
that apartment un unfortunately because it will end up being the same person who
attempted to call him at 10: p.m. the girlfriend that would find Brandon dead she says that she grew concerned when
she attempted to reach out to him and never heard back from him it wasn't like him they stayed in contact this was a
long-term relationship and so at some point she decided you know what I should I'm just going to head over there knock
on the door they did have some not so concrete plans for that evening right to hang out that was the purpose of her 10
p.m. call well he's a college student when you're a college student and you got an internship and you're working on
all these different things and look he's selling weed on the side this guy has a
lot going on it's hard to make solid plans yeah you're you're 21 you require about 4 hours sleep or at least that's
how I was or 4 minutes she comes over to the apartment and this is really unfortunate because I
this plays in my opinion and and until anybody can prove otherwise this plays a major role in this case Brandon had the
Habit not trying to victim blame here had the bad habit of the captain asked earlier was there an intercom system
could he Buzz people in no there was not this is an old school building so he had
the habit of using a brick to prop open the door to to keep it open just enough for a person to open the door on their
own the door's not locked it locked automatically behind the person when when people would come and go but he
would put the brick in especially if he knew someone was coming over right like deante who had textt him earlier to say
hey buddy I'm coming over Deontay says he never hears back from him if he heard from somebody if he heard from his
girlfriend she says hey I'm coming over I'll be over in 5 minutes 10 minutes Brandon might run down there and put the
brick in the door and so the person could just make their way up walk into the hallway knock on
his door which I'm sure this habit annoyed his neighbors as well I was going to point that out like yeah I know
we do a true crime show so we are hypervigilant about our personal security but if if I lived in a building
like that and and I'm guessing he probably wasn't the only one in the building that had that habit but that
would annoy me beyond belief well I'm the dumbest boy in school and left my garage door door open all last night she
gets to the apartment she goes up the stairs to the building to the second floor walks to Brandon's door knocks I'm
a little unclear if the door was just a touch open but what is perfectly clear is the door was not locked because
girlfriend did not have a key and she says that she entered the apartment she walked in she's now in the kitchen she
turns looks through one of those walkways to the living room and she says that she spotted brenan's
knees and it's difficult for me to describe the way that he was positioned he's kind of half on half off of the
couch his his wrists and ankles have been bound with belts and his arms his hands are up over
his head a cord wrapped around his neck now he was manually strangled and it's been suggested to me by more than one
person that that cord wrapped around his neck is not what what strangled him I maybe it was an attempt to strangle him
with that cord and unsuccessful but that's been the statements to me so what you're saying is somebody tried to
strangle him with his cord but was unsuccessful so they probably used their hands I've reviewed the autopsy and it's
it's difficult for me to say you know the the the cord wrapped around his neck would be the obvious answer to me but
again not a doctor do we have marks around his wrist and where he was bound was he putting up a fight he's most
certainly put up a fight so he's found in his one description indicates that he's wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts
and another description says that he's wearing boxer shorts but it doesn't say he's not wearing a shirt it just doesn't
say anything about a t-shirt right well this isn't one killer you're exactly right thank you for saying that this one
we we there are certain cases where you can take a look and it screams multiple persons
involved and I feel like here this is one that you do not have to be Sherlock Holmes to take a look at the the the
brief details The Limited details of this case and go you know what this is a two-man job at least at least then it
makes you wonder why don't we have eyewitnesses why don't we have ear Witnesses we do and we'll Circle back to
that but at the scene here's what what we're talking about he's got a good amount of injuries to the face area the
head the neck shoulders all which would be indicative of him putting up a fight or them trying to maybe beat something
out of him beat some information out of him once he was already bound and tied up there is duct tape across his
mouth uh so they were attempting to silence him this is just very bizarre though because we got this young college
student you know he's getting pretty good grades he's he has an internship paid internship okay so he's selling a little
bit of weed whatever I think he was selling a lot of weed and there is nothing anywhere to suggest that he was
selling anything else in fact there are persons that knew him well that said he strongly was against that I'm just
saying that you've known guys that sold pot and almost all those guys could get you something else if they wanted to
right but I'm having a trouble making a connection here I'm I'm going to go to this guy's apartment this pot dealer's
apartment and try to beat it out of them where I can get something stronger those
those types can find people to get something stronger no I understand that but what I'm saying is there could have
been assumptions by people possibly look again not to to sound like someone who's
victim blaming this is a big part of the case so if you think I'm being rude sorry but I think this was a half-baked
plan by an otherwise very smart hardworking individual that figured out hey I'm a college student in an area
with a whole bunch of friends who probably all of my friends have a whole bunch of friends too and through my
several workplaces college and my big Social Circle of Friends I can move a good deal of marijuana and make a whole
lot of money doing it and he's doing it out of his apartment that takes the risk
level from about a four to about a nine now you're inviting persons in who you may not fully know what they're up to
you may not know what they do after you sell them a a bag of weed or an ounce of pot or or a quarter pound or
however much you're moving with some of these individuals one one thing I believe is going on here too which I've
been told no we don't think that that's what was happening and I say uh uh no like these circles I've moved Within
These circles I know how these things work within these circles if you got one dude he's buying from a guy that's
moving way more than he's moving then Brandon's moving a lot in my opinion that means
that there are persons under him that are buying from Brandon that are also moving product as well what I think that
we're seeing here is a guy that got thought that he would do something that was casual harmless and make some good
money wouldn't hurt anybody and he could profit from it and unfortunately his apartment became a
Target he became a Target persons were going in and out of that apartment with ease and all it takes is somebody that
he knows somebody that he's regularly selling to to either set his ass up to be robbed and this whole thing went
horribly wrong or for somebody that frequents his apartment to buy that tells that accidentally tells
the wrong person or persons where they get their weed from who they get it from what the protocol is or like you said
he's selling a bunch of weed making a bunch of money and not paying the people that he's supposed to pay it's not like
we have bus I don't think that's going on at all I do not think that's going on at all because we're not talking about
we're not talking about Philadelphia uh New York City 1980s where we're fronting
junkies product and then coming and killing them when they don't pay us later no we're talking this is
Suburban College kid movement here this is you want this amount of weed to sell within the course of the
next week or two cool it costs this much and if you ain't got it we'll sell you a
little bit less that's how that works and he had a regular supplier and we know that based off of several persons
close to this case and I think he had a pretty pretty casual setup here where he
is the his main supplier is showing up to his apartment and it's a quick it's a quick
deal this is how much you want this is how much you cost cool here's the money here's the product boom
[Music] this message is sponsored by Greenlight summertime is supposed to be an opportunity to slow down but sometimes
you can't help but notice that actually time is moving fast your kids are starting a new grade soon maybe even a
new school and they're getting older to help continue learning and build Independence over the summer and stay
connected as they start spending more time out of the house check out Greenlight Greenlight is a debit card
and money app for families where parents can keep an eye on kids spending and money habits while kids learn how to
save invest and spend wisely with greenl infinity teens can check in without needing to actually check in thanks to
the family location sharing no matter which features make the most sense for your household green light is the easy
convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and for families to navigate life together they do not
teach responsible spending to our kids at school they probably never will it is a parents job to make sure that we raise
financially smart kids and Greenlight is a great tool for you to do so sign up for Greenlight today and get your first
month free when you go to greenlight.com garage that's greenlight.com garage to try Greenlight for free greenlight.com
garage laundry on spin cycle give gold nugget online casino a spin with hundreds of
exciting games Golden Nugget lets you live it up in your downtime discover good fortune on games like fortune coin
available anywhere Golden Nugget online casino is instead of letting boredom hit
may your slots hit instead right now new players can get $50 instantly in Casino
credits with just a $5 deposit and and all players can play for a share of over 1 million in weekly rewards sign up with
code garage and make any moment golden gambling problem call 1800 Gambler or in West Virginia visit
www.1 1800g gambler. net please play responsibly 21 plus physically present in Michigan New Jersey Pennsylvania and
West Virginia only void in Ontario one per new customer minimum $5 deposit Max $50 issued in non-withdrawable Casino
credits that expire in 168 hours see goldennugget casino.com welcome for eligibility terms and responsible gaming
Resources with big Wireless providers what you see is never what you get somewhere between the store and your
first month's bill the price magically skyrockets with mintmobile you'll never have to worry about es again when
mintmobile says 15 bucks a month when you purchase a three-month plan they mean it I do not like to do business
with anyone or any entity that provides me with complicated bills upcharges and is constantly increasing their monthly
fees it's dishonest it's bad business practices mintmobile is not that all mintmobile plans come with high-speed
data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G Network you can use your own phone your
own phone number and all of your existing contacts ditch overpriced Wireless with mint Mobile's deal and get
three months of Premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month to get this new customer offer and your new three-month
premium Wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month go to mintmobile.com TCG that's mintmobile.com
TCG cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com /cg $45 upfront payment required
equivalent to $15 per month new customers on first thre Monon plan only speed slower above 40 gigabyt on
Unlimited Plan additional taxes fees and restrictions apply see mint mobile for details
all right we are back talk hands in the air cheers to you car cheers to you and cheers to the people in the mosh pit
have good mosh pitting with this case here we have Brandon's girlfriend who she's the one that finds him and again
there's no interaction between the time period of 10 p.m. and approximately 1:00
a.m. when she goes to the apartment to check on her boyfriend so that that would appear that in our timeline we
have about 3 hours approximately of Silence from our victim we don't know what's going on with inside of those
four walls during that time we know approximately the start of it and we know the end result she arrives she
calls 911 First Responders get to the scene we actually have paramedics arrive before police one thing that we get a
statement from both paramedics and from the the girlfriend is that when they were in the apartment when they arrived
at the apartment the the place have been tossed clearly somebody was was looking
for something and we know that our victim was tied up bound it it appears that that beaten but I I think a lot of
those injuries Captain are probably due to the struggle this is a 21-year old man he I don't think that he's just
going to willingly allow you to bind his wrist and ankles and put duck tape over
his mouth I think that's going to require a little bit of force uh maybe a lot of force on someone's part we also
have a situation where one thing that that a few people that have seen the autopsy note as a question mark there is
a small puncture wound and the the way that it's described in the autopsy report it would seem that it is uh on
one of his hips now it's very small but people wondered what this could mean I I
don't want to get hung up on a small detail like this because I think I think there was a a large a good deal of a
scuffle let's say right between Brandon and some others and I think that if he's
just wearing boxer shorts it's late at night there it's conceivable that he simply answered the
door in a t-shirt and boxers at 9:30 10:00 10:30 at night with if he wasn't playing it on going
anywhere that makes sense to me so I don't think that we have a situation where he's confronted by some people and
they're like all right strip down tie them up right I think that there I think that he he answers the door because
while the brick might be holding the door open at the bottom of the stairs his door is closed to his
apartment he likely had to answer that door and we have an eyewitness one of his neighbors says
that when she left her apartment she saw Brandon he's his door is slightly open and he's talking to two
individuals and this neighbor said in her opinion that Brandon looked like he was nervous maybe even scared well
there's your Killers startled now here's here's one thing that's missing from our timeline and
from are details about this casee the witness claims to have seen Brandon holding like protecting the door
preventing it from being open further by having his foot holding it tight with his foot my
question here was when when we've had people who've looked at this case and they they get very concerned about what
he was wearing and what he was not wearing when he was found if the eyewitness if the neighbor walks by and
there's two people try try to put yourself in the shoes of the eyewitness here Captain cuz what I hate about this
case is a lot of the statements out there they just don't make any damn sense and sometimes it's just bad it's
just bad reporting sometimes it's just bad recordkeeping by the person taking the
statement or other times I wonder if you're giving a statement that doesn't make sense what are you withholding from
that statement or what do you know that you're not telling us or are you making this up because if I'm walking down a
hallway I see a neighbor who's blocking the door with their foot talking to two individuals and you've described it as
such that you were close enough to observe the look on his face of distress to to observe the foot holding the door
closed and where's the description of what Brandon's wearing I I just want to make sure that I'm understanding this ey
would report she's saying that the two individuals she saw are they're in the hallway correct he has his door cracked
open but is blocking it from going completely open with his foot or with his body correct and so she can the door
is open enough where she can see his facial expression correct we should have a pretty good description of these
individuals at least roughly how tall they were roughly what they're wearing What ethnicity are they well and that's
where you you question like the record keeping with the statements or the statement given right like if so with
with some of this you you want to go well did you see his foot blocking the door from preventing the door from being
opened further or was that just an assumption you made right you know briefly observing and walking by so the
neighbor is an older woman and I'm going to purposely leave her name out of it if
you dig deep enough you might be able to find it I don't know but this is an older woman that lived on the second
floor in another apartment here's what she describes this this is directly from my notes she says that she saw two
well-dressed darkskinned guys at Brandon's door the night of the murder they were arguing with him and when she
walked past they stopped talking she told Brandon's mother Lynn that Brandon had a look of Terror on his face and had
the door propped open only a little bit with his foot against it so it could not
be opened more she walked to the corner grocery store and they were still there still arguing when she came back she
said they did leave but returned 30 minutes later I I that part of the statement I have a hard time wrapping my
head around she said they did leave but returned 30 minutes later that one of them had something in his hand and they
both went and inside the problem with this eyewitness statement too that that that I get hung up on is what time was
this right what time did she first see these guys yeah arguing with with our victim what
time did did they come back well I'm going to be nice to police because maybe we have a lot more details on this and
this is look I'm not a I'm not a mind Hunter but if you have two guys arguing at his door
and then they come back and then enter the apartment during the time frame in which we believe and again we don't have
the statement from the eyewitness but we can just assume that this is within the
time frame of when he was murdered oh yeah so these are your Killers so I believe so too so you have to probably
hold back some of this information and and I have no reason to believe that this eyewitness is just making crap up
because also anybody that's lived in an apartment complex if your neighbors arguing with somebody you're checking
out your window you're looking you you're I become a nosy Parker very quickly well and this is an older woman
I'm guessing that is why she didn't intervene I didn't know Brandon okay I didn't have the privilege of knowing him
but from everything that's described to me about him and the persons that I've talked to I believe that I had friends
that were that I grew up with that were very much like him remember we were looking at pictures of him before we hit
record and both of us are like don't you get the feeling like you kind of know this guy like he looks familiar yes and
so if he's the guy that's described to me he was probably friendly with his neighbor he's a smiling face he's a joy
and I this is where you just you wish and you wish you could have a a Marty McFly Doc Brown moment go back in time
and and and replace this older woman neighbor with with a with a male neighbor or or a garage neighbor that
goes Brandon is everything okay man is everything all right here yeah because or or a gun carrying neighbor I'm not me
too I'm not a mine hunter but I play one on the radio yeah a little a little better than this Joker
and here's the thing what been told by the experts who are mind Hunters are that you profile everything you don't
just profile the offender you profile the victim you profile the location you profile the city you profile the
scenario and the situation but I get we know the situation we can profile the situation very well very easy based off
of The Limited information we have from that timeline we have persons coming and
going freely from his apartment that night and a lot of them are buying marijuana from Brandon what do we have
here in this scenario that is very different from every one of those scenarios leading up to this this moment
he's not letting these people into his apartment right he does he either doesn't know them or he knows them and
he's afraid of them and he knows that they're bad guys he's not letting them come willy-nilly into his apartment like
everybody else that night he does not want these guys in his apartment he has a look of Terror on his face he does not
want to be talking to these guys and then we have a situation where the crime scene and the way that the victim is
found tells us 100% this is a Twan or more job and guess what you got two guys standing at his apartment door well I
get so tired too because just take out the weed equation which I'm sure the weed equation has something to do with
his death but 100% I'm sorry to say that but it does but it's a fact okay and but
we have this young goodlooking uh hardworking college student guy has an internship very talented he's
artist Champion artist we all we need more artists in this world and so he's selling some drugs on the side marijuana
big freaking deal but but that's what's so sad is to probably make his ends meet
or maybe to try to get a little ahead or live a little more comfortably he decided to do this and that was his
fatal flaw he he was a everybody told me that he was a saver he was really good at saving money and I kind of believe
that he had uh the entrepreneur bug and I think that he saw that he he analyzed the situation his he's 21 he's a dude
he's a young dude he's got a bunch of friends he's got he's at College he's living in his own apartment he's working
like three jobs some of them are internships and whatnot but think about how many people he has access to and how
many of those persons are probably 19 20 21 22 but that's the problem there's a lot of pot smokers in that group and so
he's probably able to move a whole lot of stuff and guess what happens when that gets out on the street that this
dude has a whole bunch of marijuana in his apartment oh he's got a bunch of money up there too cuz he's cuz he's
making money you don't even have to know that he's a good saver to know that there's probably a bunch of money in
that apartment when when somebody that's coming and going from his apartment knows that observes that sees that going
on that person can set him up to be robbed or tells the wrong person or wrong persons and they see an
opportunity there's a reason why the old cliche loose lips sink ships Still Remains to this day because
it's true and what happens here is we get people that show up at this dude's door this is my opinion show up at his
door with the intent of taking all of his product that they can sell themselves and taking whatever cash that
he has in the apartment because guess what happens after you rob that dude what's he going to do call the
police and say hey guys you got to come over here somebody came in here and stole my drugs and my drug money you
can't you can't phone that in you can't oh no and that and that's and I think that's the the issue
here and I think it's possibly that it's his loose lips because he could have found himself in a situation this is
just hypothetical but I'm just saying he could have found himself in a situation
where he feels well I've sold pot to this guy for the last year he's my buddy and the guy goes man you're selling a
lot of pot and you're working this extra job and you're doing all this stuff man
you must have uh a lot of money because you're in a small apartment unless he has like 10 TVs unless he's driving some
fancy car you're like where's this money going and all he has to say is to the wrong person oh you know I'm actually
been saving a bunch of money I I and then they go well but you can't save it in the bank oh no no I just I just save
it here and just casually says to somebody and and that's all it takes then some idiots at a party going hey I
I know where we could get a bunch of money so inside of his apartment one of the items that police found and and here
here's a few things that that are difficult so it's been reported we got two we got multiple I to
say two would be a very big understatement multiple reports that come out that all vary they all have
variables within them so and I'll keep it short and sweet here but at the apartment whether what was
found or what wasn't found the reports are this he had a very expensive camera the we know he had a cell phone
so the cell phone goes bye-bye it's that every report says the cell phone was not
in his apartment when Brennan was found the expensive camera there's conflicting reports that
the police collected it as evidence and they still have it or it was stolen it's
to me those reports are inconclusive his computer was still there and retrieved and confiscated by
police likely they probably thought that they could find some interaction with somebody that might lead present a good
lead to them what this is curious though what else was found and this is 100% was
found it's just the amount of money is in question so there was an envelope that was found inside his
apartment kind of just sitting out in plain sight the envelope was labeled car and remember he was said by all to be
great at saving money so he likely was saving up money for a car he had a car uh his car was found parked in its usual
spot and police processed that car but that envelope depending on what report you read contained anywhere from $6,000
cash to $8,000 cash now it is believed by most people that take a look at this case that this
envelope would have been taken by The Killers but it was just simply overlooked that the they they toss the
place looking for I believe hidden marijuana a hidden stash of marijuana and a stash of cash
that would have been hidden and so because they're looking for something hidden at haste they
overlooked an envelope that just happens to be sitting there in plain sight and what one thing that is believed to have
been missing and again this is different reports some Reports say that a the people that bought weed from him say
that Brandon would typically use a large shoe box and in that shoe box he may keep
product but at the very least he was keeping a stash of cash that he made from selling weed some Reports say that
that shoe box was missing some Reports say that the shoe box was found open with nothing in it right either way it
looks like whatever The Killers went there looking for they believed that they got it and they got
out of there now one thing I do want to point out too that I found strange people point to that that puncture wound
it was such a small puncture wound I think that that's a little bit happen stance I think that these three guys
were probably fighting and happened in the struggle yes and that that he he sustained some kind of injury during the
course of that unfortunately Brandon was not a a large dude um he was about 5 foot 6 or seven and
about 165 lbs I don't that's the other thing that's missing from the description from the neighbor right that
H H how big were these guys right again I think that's information that law enforcement is probably keeping back and
then I wonder too like do we have surveillance footage from around that area well that's great and I tell you
what I you are absolutely right I have to believe that I would wager here we go Captain going to wager Franklin that the
captain is right and here's why because the statements are that the same witness
the neighbor says that at a later date the detectives showed her a picture oh here
we go okay and so the way that this has been described is that this was a picture with a lot of dudes in it like a
big group of dudes it's been recorded that she points to two guys in that picture and says these are the guys that
I believe believe that I saw there that night yeah now here's the thing do we have DNA we don't know that correct but
if we do then we can collect that DNA why aren't they working this case harder it just doesn't make a lot of sense to
me it seems like we have some pieces of the puzzle but we can't complete it damn
Killers got lucky again here right well I think these stupid ass moose knuckles are going they're going to talk they're
going to tell somebody this is too horrendous of a situation to have these guys not tell somebody the problem is
the people they probably told are piles of [ __ ] themselves and so maybe they'll
get busted for something and go hey uh I can tell you information about this other case if you give me a deal I I
think that there was somebody that was going to be there that night or was there that night that set him up and
here's why I say this I think that Brandon was you already talked about how busy he would have been right with all
that movement and he's he's a very he lives an active outdoor lifestyle as well he was big into skateboarding we
know that he rode a scooter with a friend for two to three hours that day this is a busy guy but I think to keep
he's at the top of his class at school he is successful with these internships their paid internships he's he has a job
and he's and he's got this side hustle going on too that you're only successful in all of those Realms if you maintain a
calendar and I have a feeling here that unfortunately Brandon probably had a a routine and I think that people that
bought from him were aware of that routine hey he he usually he's good to go if you contact him on a Tuesday or
Wednesday why can we profile that we see a lot of people coming on that Tuesday night to to buy weed he's good to go on
a Tuesday or Wednesday that means he's holding and that's when you want to show up if you're going to rob him you want
to show up and Rob him while he has cash and while he has product and one guy that we haven't got to yet is a man by
the name of Tony he's about Brandon's age and he approached Brandon's family after Brandon was killed and says he's
he's he's heartbroken he appears to be heartbroken he's crying and he says he asks the family this is the very next
morning or next day a I apologize it could have been the evening time he said approaches the family says is it true is
it true I heard you know I heard he was killed Is it true and yes they tell him it's true and he says you know I was
supposed to be there last night but I was out of town I didn't get back until today and I heard the news uh he was my
friend sounds like he's setting up an alibi well and look is Tony a phony baloney well Tony's Egyptian and
described as always dressing well well there you go I don't want I'm not trying to say that Tony was one of the two guys
spotted by the neighbor but he might know them he might know them and may have sent them there so he doesn't
necessarily have to be back in town to be involved you know what pisses me off there's a lot of cases that we cover and
we go we just don't know we don't know X Y or Z we have suspects here we have them identified if they have a picture
of a group of people and they have the neighbor identify these two individuals out of that picture law enforcement
knows who these clowns are and then this Tony guy he he if identified correctly yes yeah if identified correctly if
you're walking past these guys in the hallway and you see a scared look on your neighbor's face you're you're going
to remember more so than if you just walked by and just seem and it seemed like they were having a friendly
conversation I want to avoid some rabbit holes here because I don't think that they hold a lot of water but it's
important to toss them out where where is the head of people looking into this case some some persons uh and these are
not people that seem to be very dialed into this case in my opinion but some persons have referenced a group called
the hippie Mafia uh that he may have been buying from other persons have referenced the Hell's Angels and then
some people say that the hippie Mafia and the Hell's Angels work together or were working together in that area and
quote run an incredibly organized system see again that it doesn't add up to me with weed and you can say what you will
but every guy that I've known that have sold that has sold a little pot has at some point stepped
out of bounds or out of the realm of comfort and sold something harder with Brandon's
case one thing that I found odd well there's a bunch of things obviously but yeah he's found tied up
and dead one thing that I found to be strange is I as said I reviewed the autopsy well
that autopsy included a toxicology report there's no drugs not even marijuana found in his system a certain
portion of the population you know this doesn't mean anything today because in many states it's it's recreational use
or medical use is is legal hell I'm high right now most people of a certain age a
small percentage of of persons of a certain age will tell you that it's customary that when a friend shows up or
to buy from a friend they regularly will share a joint or smoke a bowl together and we know we have people coming go and
going purchasing from him that night yet there's no marijuana found in Brandon's
system in the toxicology report that anybody that's seen Pineapple Express will tell you that it's customary to
hang out briefly and we know that we have people that have said you know I yeah I went over there for the purpose
of purchasing I was there for 45 minutes that day hanging out with with my cool friend Brandon so this case look we've
said it I've said it dozens of times The Killers get lucky unfortunately the victims never
do and in this case the detective that catches this case suffers a heart attack within 20 4 to 48 hours of catching the
case so they immediately have to transfer it to another detective so right there you have a a major speed
bump I think the other problem for this case is while we have some detailed information of that last day for Brandon
and and people coming and going and people that he interacted with we're sitting here looking at that
information 13 years later they at the time these people were conducting illegal activity themselves
so unless you love this guy dearly you're probably not very forthcoming with that information when you sit
across the table from a detective or he knocks on your door did you see Brandon yeah I saw him yesterday why what were
you doing what did you guys talk about what did you know what was the purpose of your visit where you had his
apartment details get mi get get stepped over and purposely left out of those conversations and statements because
there is illegal activity within those statements within those details so we don't know how much
of this information the detectives were privy to on day three or four or five of
their investigation so where do we go from here in this case well one thing that's great about this CA let let me
let me step back a second and and talk about something that's not so great you asked earlier about cell phone
technology and I am of the belief you know we live in the the thank God we live in the the day where we see DNA
it's almost every week every other week some 30 40 25 year old cases being closed out we're finally getting delayed
Justice for a victim in their family using DNA technology to connect it to the perpetrator I am of the belief that one
day and we might be very close maybe we're there now but cell phone technology will pass the numbers on
solving crime solving homicides Beyond DNA and so Lynn Brandon's mom was the person that was paying for his cell
phone and we talked about Brandon being a good saver there are people close to this
case that believe that he could have had anywhere between 20 to $80,000 between cash and product in that
house in his apartment $80,000 there are people out there that will do a lot of crazy dumb horrible
[ __ ] for $80,000 and with his cell phone Lynn his mother she because it was stolen because
it was not at the crime scene it was not found it was one of the items we know to
have been taken she continued to pay that cell phone bill every month she thought that that cell phone if they
could find the cell phone they could find the and so she went to the FBI to have them
ping the phone because she's like look I'm still paying on this phone and I'm still paying on it because somebody's
using this phone somebody's racking up the bills on this thing and so she had to go to the FBI to get it done the FBI
they ping it and they say that they have this is 2012 right months after the murder they
say we've pinged this phone we know it's General location we don't have jurisdiction here
the Cleveland Police Department homicide division has jurisdiction here in your son's case we are going to give them the
information we have and they can use it to find that cell phone this this will make you tear your
hair out so so sit on your hands for a second here everybody or your thumbs this information is given to the
Cleveland police department and they delay the the homicide detective that was air quotes
working Brandon's case said he was too busy to go to that location to look for the phone on multiple occasions
eventually telling Brandon's mom that oh I went to the location it was an apartment complex and because the amount
of people there and the amount of people living in the building and in the complex we couldn't locate the phone
congratulations Detective dickweed now I say all that to say this here's where there should be some
optimism for Brandon's case this case the investigation at some point was transferred from Cleveland Police
Department homicide division to the FBI to their local office good and there are
agents currently working this case I have spoke with the FBI about Brandon's case we didn't go into great
details about certain things but what I was told is that it is an active case and that there is reason to be
optimistic for the future of this investigation that it will not drag on forever that should be good news for
Brandon's case well he deserves Justice and his family deserves Justice thank you for listening to Brandon's
case information law enforcements still need your help with this case if you have any information regarding the
murder of Brandon cleone or any of the persons described in today's podcast that you can add further
detail please submit any information you have to the Cleveland FBI field office their phone number is
26522 1400 online tips can be sent to tips.fbi.gov or if you are uncomfortable speaking
with law enforcement you may reach out to True Crime garage go to our website truecrime garage.com and find our
contact information there thank you and we wish law enforcement and Brandon's family and friends the very best of luck
with this case want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage and sharing this show with your friends and
loved ones until next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brandon Cartellone ////// 777

Part 1 of 1

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

On July 26, 2011 - Brandon Cartellone was viciously killed. His body was found in his second floor apartment at approximately 1AM on July 27th. Brandon was just 21 years old. He was a successful Industrial Design student at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Brandon’s death continues to be an open wound that will not and cannot heal for the so many people who knew and loved him. The F.B.I. has taken over the case as it appears that the Cleveland Police Department either lacked the funding, the personnel, or both to conduct a thorough and proper murder investigation. Law Enforcement still needs your help. If you have any information regarding this investigation OR information about any of the persons described in this podcast please contact the Cleveland FBI office 216-522-1400. Online tips can be sent to tips.fbi.gov (http://tips.fbi.gov/)

Beer of the Week - Strange Magic by Fat Head’s Brewery

Garage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps

More True Crime Garage can be found on Patreon and Apple subscriptions with our show - Off The Record. Catch dozens of episodes of Off The Record plus a couple of Bonus episodes and our first 50 when you sign up today.

Follow the show on X and Insta @TrueCrimeGarage / Follow Nic on X @TCGNIC / Follow The Captain on X @TCGCaptain

Thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend. Be good, be kind, and don’t litter!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

The episode discusses Brandon Cleone's unsolved murder, police investigation issues, and eyewitness accounts from the night he was killed.

Key points

A Mother's Grief. A mother shares her unimaginable grief after losing her son to violence.
Justice Delayed. The mother questions the police's commitment to solving her son's case after nearly a decade.
Brandon's Last Day. A timeline of Brandon's final hours reveals unsettling details leading up to his murder.
Brandon's Mysterious Death. The investigation reveals conflicting details about Brandon's murder and the events leading up to it.
Eyewitness Account. A neighbor describes seeing Brandon in distress just before his murder, raising questions about the timeline.
The Fatal Flaw. A talented student turned to selling drugs to make ends meet, leading to tragedy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's been almost 10 years since she buried her son.

The passage of time since the murder.

5:06WatchJul 30, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.