North Miami Beach police use fingerprints to solve 39-year-old murder case, arrest made
An arrest has been made in the murder of a North Miami Beach real estate broker nearly 40 years ago.
Police said two years ago, a significant breakthrough was made in the 1986 unsolved murder of Shirley Brant, owner of Brant Realty Corporation.
On Thursday, 64-year-old Jeffrey Taylor was arrested in connection to her murder, investigators said.
On June 13, 1986, Brant was fatally shot in her office at NE 163 Street and NE 18th Avenue while talking on the phone with a client.
Shirley Brant
North Miami Beach Police
A temporary employee said two men came into the office and demanded that Brant hang up the phone. She said she then heard Brant scream. As she turned around, she saw that one of the men was attempting to take the phone away from her. Then, the witness heard her say, 'Don't shoot!' immediately before hearing a gunshot.
Police said the two men stole cash and credit cards before leaving.
Brant was taken to Parkway Regional Hospital where she died.
Reviving the cold case
Over the years, North Miami Beach and Miami-Dade police tried to figure out who shot her to no avail
In Jan. 2023, North Miami Beach dedicated the Cold Case Unit to reinvestigate unsolved murder cases. During a review of the Brant case, previously collected fingerprints were located in the Miami-Dade Police Archives.
Police said these prints were lifted from Brant's office after the shooting but were never entered into the AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System), due to not meeting certain criteria at the time.
Cold Case detectives submitted the fingerprints for analysis and on March 21, 2025, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office crime lab matched the prints to Taylor.
On Thursday, April 24, Taylor was taken into custody and has been charged with second-degree murder with a firearm in connection to Brant's death.
"We hope this arrest brings a measure of closure to the Brant family and all who knew her," North Miami Beach police Chief Juan Pinillos said in a statement.
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