Family of slain Gulfport teen sues Grindr

Yahoo

2 days ago

A family member of a Gulfport teen who police say was tortured, killed and dismembered by a man she met on Grindr is suing the owner of the platform, alleging that its features and lack of safeguards for minors contributed to the girl's death.
The lawsuit, filed last month in federal court against Grindr LLC by a representative of Miranda Corsette's estate, alleges that the 35-year-old man who killed the teen was able to target her through Grindr's app due to its 'lax age verification and hyper-precise geolocation.'
'The trauma inflicted upon M.C. (Miranda) and the irreparable harm to her family are direct consequences of Grindr's reckless disregard for the safety of minor children who are routinely preyed upon by adult predators who use Grindr's platform and design as a trap,' the suit states.
The plaintiff is identified in court filings by the initials D.W. and listed as an executor of Miranda's estate. Lorne Kaiser, a South Florida attorney for the plaintiff, declined in an interview to identify the plaintiff or the plaintiff's relationship to Miranda because he didn't have permission from his client to do so.
Grindr LLC has not yet filed a response to the suit. The West Hollywood-based company's press office did not respond to two emails from the Tampa Bay Times seeking comment for this story.
Launched in 2009, Grindr markets itself as the world's largest social networking apps for LGBTQ+ people, but it attracts a 'sexually diverse' userbase that include people looking to prey on minors, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint includes many of the details that have come to light about the investigation that led to the arrest of Steven Gress, 35, and Michelle Brandes, 37, on first-degree murder and other charges.
Authorities say that Miranda met Gress on Grindr on or about Feb. 14. Gress went to pick up the teen at or near the Gulfport home where she lived with her grandmother and brought her back to the apartment he shared with Brandes on 27th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. Gress told detectives that he was told she was 21 but later learned she was 16, according to an arrest affidavit.
Gress took Miranda back to Gulfport and at some point she returned to the St. Petersburg apartment. Gress said he became convinced Miranda had stolen his ring and, for the better part of a week, 'lumped her up,' the affidavit states. It ended Feb. 23. A witness said Brandes wrapped the girl's head in plastic. Gress told her not to cover her nose, but Brandes did, the witness said. Miranda suffocated.
Gress described Brandes shoving a billiard ball into Miranda's throat and covering her face in plastic wrap. He said he couldn't get to her quickly enough to poke holes in the plastic so she could breathe, according to the affidavit.
After Miranda died, they drove to Brandes' mother's house in Largo, where Gress used a chainsaw to dismember Miranda's body, according to police. They put the remains in trash bags and the next day left them in a dumpster in Ruskin. Police learned the contents of the dumpster likely went to the county's incinerator.
Police said there is no evidence Miranda took the ring, and Brandes later claimed to have found it in Gress's car.
Gress and Brandes have pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty if they are convicted.
'Long before February 14, 2025, it was clear to Grindr that it was only a matter of time before its app, as Grindr marketed it and designed it, would cause the torture, rape, and murder of a child,' the lawsuit states.
The complaint says that the app requires only a self-reported birthdate to confirm users are at least 18, with no cross-checking against official documentation or third-party verification at sign-up.
Miranda's death 'exposes the platform's gross negligence in relying on a farcical self-reported age verification system,' the suit states. 'This performative gesture, as absurd as a bar or strip club asking teenagers to state their age without checking ID, allowed a minor to access an adult-oriented platform with foreseeable catastrophic consequences.'
The company could institute measures such as government-issued identification verification or facial age estimation system but has not done so, according to the complaint.
'The company had the means to keep minors off its platform, but it withheld them to preserve easy onboarding and avoid disrupting user growth, even when the cost is the safety of children,' the suit states.
The app's geolocation services 'deliver hyper-precise, real-time geolocation tracking — accurate to within a few feet — designed to facilitate immediate sexual encounters,' the suit states. 'As such, Grindr arranges user profiles based on their distance from other users for instant and spontaneous sexual hookups creating a uniquely hazardous environment for minors.'
The lawsuit, which notes that Miranda had a son, alleges nine counts including wrongful death, negligence, infliction of emotional distress, participating in a sex trafficking venture and deceptive and unfair trade practices. It seeks a jury trial and compensatory and punitive damages.
The complaint also asks the court to order Grindr to implement more robust age verification measures and to cease what the lawsuit alleges are misleading claims about the app's safety.
Kaiser said the lawsuit is meant to hold Grindr accountable for its role in Miranda's death just as prosecutors are holding Gress and Brandes accountable through the criminal justice process.
'Without Grindr, we believe that Miranda would have never met this Steven Gress character, and she'd still be alive,' Kaiser said. 'This was a completely foreseeable event. Grinder has been warned for years and years about children and minors getting on this platform, and it's obviously a dangerous platform for children.'