‘Career criminal' arrested in decades-old murder of a Florida real estate broker based on overlooked fingerpirnt evidence
Jeffrey Taylor, 64, has been arrested for the murder of Shirley Brant, a 49-year-old mother and owner of Brant Realty Corporation, who was shot and killed in her office during an attempted robbery on June 13, 1986, North Miami Beach police announced Friday, according to CBS News.
Taylor was identified and arrested after a fingerprint that previously didn't meet the criteria for evidence was recovered from the crime scene, North Miami Beach Police Chief Juan Pinillos said.
Advertisement
4 Jeffrey Taylor was arrested Thursday for the nearly 40-year-old cold case murder of real estate broker Shirley Brant.
NBC6
The fingerprint was run through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System during a 2023 cold case review of one of the city's longest unsolved murders, cops said.
It came through as a match for Taylor, cops said, calling him a 'career criminal.'
Advertisement
A coworker of Brant's saw two men enter the office on the day of her murder — and then heard her scream, 'Don't shoot!'
4 Police were able to solve Shirley Brant's murder after running old fingerprints that didn't previously meet evidence criteria through an information database.
Ben Brant
Taylor was the one to pull the trigger, cops now allege. He was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree murder with a firearm.
Two retired sergeants, Pam Denham and Yvette Darden, returned to work on the case, one of the city's longest unsolved murders, cops said.
Advertisement
Brant's family expressed gratitude toward detectives for 'all the hours they tirelessly worked to solve this case,' at a news conference Friday afternoon.
4 Jeffrey Taylor allegedly pulled the trigger on Brant, cops said.
Ben Brant
'It affected everyone, I was working with her at the time,' her son, Ben Brant, told the press conference, the outlet reported.
'She was ahead of her time… breaking the glass ceiling, and she gave her money to philanthropy,' he said.
Advertisement
4 'It affected everyone, I was working with her at the time,' her son, Ben Brant, told reporters of his mother's murder.
NBC6
Brant's husband died before Taylor could be caught, according to the outlet.
'He missed my mom terribly, terribly. He hired a private eye to look over things and to see that everything was done,' their son told People.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
34 minutes ago
- CBS News
Crime down in every category in 2024, FBI report says
Crime decreased in every category in 2024, including murder, violent crime and motor vehicle thefts, according to data released by the FBI on Tuesday. It reflects a trend experts have been tracking as reported numbers of violent crimes continue to drop from a spike immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic. While the report included good news, a violent crime still occurred on average every 25.9 seconds in the United States last year, according to the FBI's annual Unified Crime Report, which compiles crime statistics submitted by law enforcement agencies across the country. This year's report used data submitted by 16,675 different agencies, which the FBI said covers a combined population of more than 325 million people, or about 95.6% of U.S. residents. The FBI's report did not venture to say why the violent crime stats decreased. "It's difficult if not impossible for us to say why, and each reporting agency would have a different reason why," an FBI official said Tuesday in response to a question from CBS News during a briefing. The FBI did note it has seen an increase in the number of officers shot in the line of duty. "Between 2021 and 2024, we saw 258 law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty," the FBI official said. Violent crime, which the FBI defines as murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, was down an estimated 4.5% in 2024 compared to 2023, with each subcategory also seeing a decrease. The murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate decreased 14.9% year over year. Robbery dropped by 8.9%. Rape saw an estimated 5.2% decrease and aggravated assault was down 3%, the report found The murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate dropped for a second straight year, after dropping from 6.5 to 5.7 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. In 2024, the rate dropped again, to 5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Over the last 20 years, the high mark in the murder rate was recorded in 2020, with 6.7 per 100,000 residents, while the lowest recorded was in 2014, with 4.4 cases per 100,000 people. Analysis from Jeff Asher, a criminal justice data expert and co-founder of consulting firm AH Datalytics, noted that while murder, rape and robberies have fallen to below pre-COVID levels following a large spike during the pandemic, aggravated assaults, while decreasing, remain "stubbornly high." In a shift from previous years, both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office contributed data to the FBI report. LAPD Chief of Detectives Alan S. Hamilton credited community and violence intervention programs in Los Angeles for contributing to the drop in crime there. "We made an investment in the future and I think these are the dividends," he told CBS News in a phone call Monday night. Rodney Harrison, former police commissioner of New York's Suffolk County and a CBS News law enforcement contributor, said some of the drops in violent crime could be attributed to criminals shifting their efforts to online crimes like identity theft. "If they don't have to go out on the street and run drugs and can make money sitting at the computer, some criminals will do that, which presents a new challenge to police," Harrison told CBS News. Property crime also saw a considerable decrease of 8.1% in 2024, the FBI report found, following a 2.4% drop in 2023. Of note, motor vehicle thefts decreased by 18.6% from 2023 to 2024 following several years of increases. It's the largest one-year drop ever recorded in that category, although the overall rate of car thefts is still higher than it was in 2019, according to Asher. Other subcategories of property crime include burglary, down 8.6%, and larceny-theft, down 5.5%. The overall property crime rate in 2024 was the lowest recorded since 1961, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. While the FBI's report is focused on 2024, statistics for the current year are available and show a continuing downward trend, according to analysis from the Council on Criminal Justice. The homicide rate continued to decline in the first half of 2025, lowering the rate in the U.S. to a level it hasn't seen in a decade, the CCJ said. Although the group noted that while the overall numbers are going down, many cities are still seeing higher homicide rates than they did in the first half of 2019. "These numbers are promising but not surprising," Ernesto Lopez, senior research specialist at the CCJ, told CBS News. "After significant increases in violent crime starting in 2020, the decline in all major crime types across all sizes of jurisdictions is promising. These trends are closely aligned with our own findings, which show crime falling last year and continuing to fall in the first six months of 2025." The council also noted the limitations of the FBI's data, which doesn't cover the entire U.S. population and only measures crimes that are reported to law enforcement. Advocates for victims of sexual assault, for example, often note that many rapes go unreported. "The police data is critical, but it's also important to remember that most crimes are not reported to police, so the overall volume is much higher than what's represented here," the CCJ told CBS News. Jacob Rosen contributed to this report.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
NJ state trooper kills ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend in murder-suicide after months of stalking her: ‘She deserved so much better'
A New Jersey State Trooper — once entrusted with protecting the governor — gunned down his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend before killing himself, following months of stalking after their breakup. Franklin Township police rushed to a Pittstown home on Saturday around 12:20 p.m. after receiving a report of an unconscious woman, Hunterdon County prosecutors revealed Monday. Inside, officers found Lauren Semanchik, 33, and Tyler Webb, 29, dead from gunshot wounds in what prosecutors called a 'targeted attack.' Advertisement 6 Lauren Semanchik was killed by her ex-boyfriend at her home in New Jersey. Facebook / Lauren Semanchik Detectives quickly identified Semanchik's ex-boyfriend, New Jersey State Trooper Lt. Ricardo Santos, 45, as a possible suspect and began searching for him. Soon after the search began, Santos was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his 2008 white Mercedes in Piscataway, about 50 miles away, prosecutors said. A semiautomatic handgun, believed to be the murder weapon, was found beside Santos. Advertisement Investigators later learned that Franklin Township police officers responded to a 911 call in the area of Semanchik's residence the night before — where 'audible gunshots and screaming' were heard by the operator — but were never able to pinpoint where the noises came from. Police also learned that Semanchik, a veterinarian, had installed cameras in her car after reporting that Santos was stalking her. Footage captured her vehicle leaving her veterinary office in Long Valley Friday at 5:25 p.m. Advertisement 6 Tyler Webb (pictured), Semanchik's new boyfriend, was also killed. Facebook / Tyler Webb The rear camera recorded Santos' Mercedes closely following Semanchik from her workplace to her home. Semanchik arrived home just before 6 p.m. Ten minutes later, someone emerged from the woods bordering her driveway. Nearly half an hour later, Webb's vehicle arrives at the home and parks next to Semanchik's vehicle, prosecutors said. Advertisement 6 Semanchik and Webb's bodies were found inside her home on Saturday. Semanchik's family told CBS News her father was the one who discovered his daughters and Webb's body on Saturday, and it appeared that 'she was running away' when she was killed. 'She was shot in the back,' Semanchik's sister, Deanna, said. 'She gave so much of her life to other people and she deserved so much better.' The family recounted the chilling series of events that began after Semanchik ended her relationship with Santos in September 2024. Semanchik and Santos had only been dating for three months when she ended the relationship, and soon after began being stalked and 'harassed' by the trooper. 'She tried to block him many times and he continued to call her from restricted numbers. He showed up at her work, that's where the car was keyed,' Deanna Semanchik told the outlet. 6 Semanchik was a beloved veterinarian at Long Valley Animal Hospital. GoFundMe 6 Semanchik earned her undergraduate and veterinary degrees from the University of Wisconsin. GoFundMe Advertisement 'He put recording devices in her home, water in her gas tank. He harassed her left and right.' The victim's mother, Jeannine Semanchik, said her daughter tried to make law enforcement aware of her crazy ex, but nothing was ever done to protect her. 'A lot of agencies failed her. She tried to get restraining orders. Nobody called her back,' Jeannine Semanchik said. Santos previously worked as a supervisor on Gov. Phil Murphy's protection detail, CBS News reported. Advertisement 'We are shocked and devastated by this horrific tragedy,' a spokesperson for his office said. 'Due to the law enforcement investigation currently underway, we will refrain from further comment at this time.' 6 Webb was a member of the Pinewald Pioneer Volunteer Fire Company. Pinewald Pioneer Fire Co. Semanchik earned her undergraduate and veterinary degrees from the University of Wisconsin and was a beloved veterinarian at Long Valley Animal Hospital, whose passion for helping animals was unmatched. 'Not only was Lauren a phenomenal veterinarian, she was one of the kindest souls you could ever encounter and a friend to us all,' according to a GoFundMe page launched by her co-workers to help with funeral expenses and to honor her memory through charitable donations. Advertisement 'She was gentle, never judgmental, and gave hugs and hand-holding to families that needed support the most during their most difficult moments.' Webb was a member of the Pinewald Pioneer Volunteer Fire Company, who 'served our department with dedication and honor,' the fire company wrote on Facebook. 'He held the positions of Chief Engineer, Past Lieutenant, and Past Trustee during his time with the company. His contributions to our company and community will never be forgotten.' Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson confirmed the case was being investigated as an act of domestic violence and a targeted double homicide.
CBS News
5 hours ago
- CBS News
4 NYPD officers hurt in crash while responding to call in Queens
Two NYPD vehicles collided late Monday night in Queens, sending four officers to the hospital. Police say the officers were responding to a 911 call at the time. The crash happened just after 10 p.m. on Beach 34th Street and Seagirt Boulevard in Edgemere. From the aftermath, it appeared to be a serious crash. Two police vehicles were badly damaged from the collision. The mangled mess has since been towed away. The four officers -- two from each vehicle -- were rushed to the hospital where they were said to be recovering from non-life-threatening injuries. CBS News New York asked police for more information about the call the officers were responding to, but all we have been told is they were "responding to a crime in progress." Check back for the latest updates on this developing story.
