Latest news with #AFIS
American Military News
05-05-2025
- American Military News
40 years after a North Miami Beach woman's murder, police say they found her killer
In June 1986, Shirley Brant was in her North Miami Beach office working as a real estate broker when she was shot in the face and killed. Now, nearly four decades after her murder, police say they have finally found her killer. Jeffrey Taylor, 64, was jailed Friday in connection with Brant's death. Authorities say new fingerprint technology helped them match Taylor's prints to evidence collected at the scene, according to his arrest warrant. On June 13, 1986, Brant was working at Brant Realty Corporation on Northeast 18th Avenue. She was talking on the phone with a friend while a coworker was nearby, entering data into a computer, according to police. Police say two men walked into the second-story office. One of them, later identified as Taylor, demanded that Brant hang up the phone in what police called an attempted robbery. When Brant refused and began to scream, Taylor shot her in the face. Brant's last words were 'don't shoot,' according to a Miami Herald story at the time. Police say Taylor pulled the phone receiver from the base of the landline and left it lying on the floor under Brant. Both men then fled. Brant was taken to Parkway Regional Hospital but later died from her injuries. An autopsy confirmed she was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. At the time, investigators collected fingerprints from the scene, including from a phone found under Brant's desk. However, for still unclear reasons, the prints were never entered into a fingerprint database, known as AFIS. Brant's family issued a $25,000 reward at the time for information leading to the arrest of the man who shot Brant with a small-caliber weapon, according to a 1986 Miami Herald story. The case went cold until January 2023, when the North Miami Beach Police Department formed a Cold Case Unit to reopen unsolved murders. Investigators found the old fingerprints and submitted them for new testing. In March 2025, they got a match: Jeffrey Taylor. Taylor is charged with second-degree murder with a firearm. Jail records show he is locked up at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was denied bond. Brant's death haunted her family, who remember her as a loving mother, wife and member of the community whose funeral was attended by 600 people. 'She was ahead of her time… breaking the glass ceiling, and she gave her money to philanthropy,' her son Ben Brant told reporters at a news conference outside the North Miami Beach Police headquarters on Friday. Weeks after her death, her husband, Lawrence Brant, who ran a successful dental practice in North Miami Beach, started a fund to help stop handgun crime: The Shirley Brant Memorial Fund Against Handgun Crime. 'People have been calling up and saying, 'What can I do?' What they can do is they can vote for elected officials who want to do something about gun control,' Lawrence Brant told The Miami Herald in 1986. That same year he also told the Herald: 'Guns don't kill people — people with guns kill people,' responding to the NRA's slogan, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' Lawrence Brant died in 2016. 'This arrest is a testament to the power of collaboration, determination, and never giving up,' North Miami Beach Police Chief Juan Pinillos said in a statement on Friday. ___ © 2025 Miami Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Miami Herald
26-04-2025
- Miami Herald
40 years after a North Miami Beach woman's murder, police say they found her killer
In June 1986, Shirley Brant was in her North Miami Beach office working as a real estate broker when she was shot in the face and killed. Now, nearly four decades after her murder, police say they have finally found her killer. Jeffrey Taylor, 64, was jailed Friday in connection with Brant's death. Authorities say new fingerprint technology helped them match Taylor's prints to evidence collected at the scene, according to his arrest warrant. On June 13, 1986, Brant was working at Brant Realty Corporation on Northeast 18th Avenue. She was talking on the phone with a friend while a coworker was nearby, entering data into a computer, according to police. Police say two men walked into the second-story office. One of them, later identified as Taylor, demanded that Brant hang up the phone in what police called an attempted robbery. When Brant refused and began to scream, Taylor shot her in the face. Brant's last words were 'don't shoot,' according to a Miami Herald story at the time. Police say Taylor pulled the phone receiver from the base of the landline and left it lying on the floor under Brant. Both men then fled. Brant was taken to Parkway Regional Hospital but later died from her injuries. An autopsy confirmed she was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. At the time, investigators collected fingerprints from the scene, including from a phone found under Brant's desk. However, for still unclear reasons, the prints were never entered into a fingerprint database, known as AFIS. Brant's family issued a $25,000 reward at the time for information leading to the arrest of the man who shot Brant with a small-caliber weapon, according to a 1986 Miami Herald story. The case went cold until January 2023, when the North Miami Beach Police Department formed a Cold Case Unit to reopen unsolved murders. Investigators found the old fingerprints and submitted them for new testing. In March 2025, they got a match: Jeffrey Taylor. Taylor is charged with second-degree murder with a firearm. Jail records show he is locked up at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was denied bond. Brant's death haunted her family, who remember her as a loving mother, wife and member of the community whose funeral was attended by 600 people. 'She was ahead of her time... breaking the glass ceiling, and she gave her money to philanthropy,' her son Ben Brant told reporters at a press conference outside the North Miami Beach Police headquarters on Friday. Weeks after her death, her husband, Lawrence Brant, who ran a successful dental practice in North Miami Beach, started a fund to help stop handgun crime: The Shirley Brant Memorial Fund Against Handgun Crime. 'People have been calling up and saying, 'What can I do?' What they can do is they can vote for elected officials who want to do something about gun control,' Lawrence Brant told the Herald in 1986. That same year he also told the Herald: 'Guns don't kill people — people with guns kill people,' responding to the NRA's slogan, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' Lawrence Brant died in 2016. 'This arrest is a testament to the power of collaboration, determination, and never giving up,' North Miami Beach Police Chief Juan Pinillos said in a statement on Friday.
CBS News
25-04-2025
- CBS News
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.
Axios
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
The forensic tool on Seattle's ballot
Seattle voters have a single issue on the special election ballot next Tuesday: whether to renew a levy that pays for a fingerprinting system that police use to solve crimes. Why it matters: The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is used by all King County cities and unincorporated areas, storing nearly 3 million records that can be matched to incoming or unidentified prints. The program pays for terminals that record fingerprints and palm prints at police stations, mobile devices that officers can use to identify people in the field, and staff who help process crime scene evidence, among other services. By the numbers: The renewed levy would last seven years, costing 2.75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2026, the first year that it would be in effect. For a home assessed at $850,000 — roughly the median assessed value in King County — the owners would pay about $23 for the levy next year. What they're saying: In the county voter pamphlet, the committee urging a "yes" vote on the measure — a group that includes King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall — says that AFIS is an "essential forensic tool" that "has been instrumental in solving everything from violent offenses to burglaries." "Your yes vote continues the ability to provide closure for victims and their families," the statement adds. No statement opposing the ballot measure was submitted to King County Elections for inclusion in the voter pamphlet.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Yahoo
Gadsden County Sheriff's Office identifies 'monster' who shot five people and killed two
Authorities have identified the man who shot five people, killing two and injuring a deputy, in a horrific incident last week that spanned several counties in North Florida and led to a massive manhunt by police. Gadsden County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Morris Young identified the killer as Dominic Caroway, a 44-year-old man from Avondale, Arizona. 'Dominic appears to have committed his heinous crimes as a 'lone wolf' (criminal acting alone and independent of others with no known affiliations),' the Sheriff's Office said in a Monday Facebook post. The Sheriff's Office said his identity was confirmed through biometric identification, AFIS, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, facial recognition technology and state of Arizona motor vehicle databases. 'Sheriff Young stated that the monster got what he deserved after taking the lives of innocent people and injuring three others,' the Sheriff's Office said in the post. He added that 'this type of criminal behavior has to stop' and with the help of federal, state and local law enforcement, it 'will be stopped.' 'Sheriff Young stated that criminal behavior of this nature can send shock waves of fear into a small community like Gadsden,' the Sheriff's Office said.. Lastly, Sheriff Young stated that no one should or will have to live in fear while living, visiting or working in Gadsden!!" The man robbed the Mobil Gas Station and Food Mart on Friday afternoon, shooting four people, killing the cashier, Laura Darley, and a beer distributor, Julian Green of Tallahassee, and injuring two customers outside. He fled the scene, prompting a multi-agency manhunt by state and local law enforcement agencies. After fleeing the scene, he led deputies, state troopers and other agencies on a chase early Saturday that ended with a crash in Suwannee County. After shooting and injuring a deputy and running away, he was killed in a confrontation with Live Oak police. Little is known about Caroway, who appears to have a low profile online. "We call him the mystery man, because we really don't know who he is," Young said Monday during a visit to Suwannee County. Law enforcement officials, including Young, and state officials gathered Monday at the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office to honor Deputy Justin Dalton, who was shot in the foot during the incident. Dalton, who was using crutches to walk, was presented with the U.S. flag that was flying over the state Capitol at the time of the shooting. State Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, and state Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, both participated in the ceremony. Simon urged people not to forget about the victims in Gadsden County who "won't get a chance to hug their loved ones again." He and Shoaf both praised law enforcement. "As a father, I think about it, my kids could have been at that gas station or they could have been on the interstate or they could have been at the place where it ended," Shoaf said. "Everybody else runs away. You run toward it. So thank you." Dalton thanked fellow officers who responded to the incident and officials who attended the ceremony. "Thank you all for everybody coming today," Dalton said. "I appreciate it. It means a lot to me and my family." Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@ or 850-599-2180. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gadsden County sheriff IDs 'monster' who shot 5 people and killed 2
