Left: Jonathan Christy (Kokomo Police Department); Right: Brandi Bradley (Facebook).
An Indiana woman is missing and presumed murdered — after posting an eerily prescient video on social media in which she predicted her own death. In that same post, she called out her alleged killer by name.
“If you find my dismembered body laying all over Kokomo — John Christy,” Brandi Bradley, 44, warned on TikTok on Dec. 19, 2023.
“Help me!” the video ends.
But nothing like help, or at least not enough, was in the offing.
Bradley was last seen alive on Jan. 20 on North Jay Street in Kokomo — a medium-sized city roughly an hour due north of Indianapolis. Family members say they heard from the missing woman the day before, on Jan. 19. A missing persons report was filed weeks later, on Feb. 11.
The investigation into Bradley’s disappearance eventually led law enforcement to Jonathan Christy, 39, according to Howard County court documents obtained by Indianapolis-based Fox affiliate WXIN.
Several witnesses told police Christy had been abusive to Bradley by, among other things, choking her. Bradley documented some of that alleged abuse in social media posts. In one such TikTok, Bradley complains about being told to leave the house with 30 minutes’ notice by “my landlord” despite paying the rent.
After the woman’s disappearance, witnesses said, Christy repainted his truck and started asking around to use “burn piles,” police allege.
On Tuesday, Christy was arrested and charged with murder, according to a press release issued by the Kokomo Police Department. On Wednesday, the defendant was formally charged with one count of knowing or intentional murder by prosecutors, court records show.
The defendant has been appointed a public defender, court records show. A pretrial hearing in the case is currently slated for May 1.
Tracing some of Christy’s steps, investigators discovered a dumpster in nearby Kempton — a tiny town located roughly 30 minutes south of Kokomo. Christy allegedly threw out debris from a construction job site there, police say. But the dumpster also contained burned bones.
A team of anthropologists later inspected those remains and identified them as arm, finger, and rib bones, according to local NBC affiliate WTHR. The team concluded “with high confidence” that the bones were human, pending additional tests to confirm.
Investigators also found burned pieces of a necklace, a belt, and a tarp in the dumpster. In a police interview, Christy allegedly said he burned items there that once belonged to his wife, who died in July 2023.
On Feb. 26, however, law enforcement caught a break when someone contacted them — allegedly worried about their own complicity in Bradley’s disappearance — and offered key pieces of evidence.
The witness told police they were contacted by Christy about a $500 job offer — which they accepted because they believed it was construction-related work. Upon arriving at the defendant’s residence, Christy allegedly told the witness: “It’s done.”
Inside the house, the witness said, Bradley was dead on the ground with a bag around her head and a belt around her neck.
Christy allegedly explained the gruesome scene to the other man by saying that Bradley had made a mess of his house, which caused him to lose control and beat her until she lost consciousness. And, then, when she woke up, the defendant used a wrench to beat the woman — who was his tenant — in the head until she died, the witness told police.
The other man said he balked at being asked to dispose of a body but was allegedly threatened by the defendant into helping, police say.
The witness described going to a large dumpster located on the same road where police, days earlier, found the melted personal items and likely human remains. According to the witness, he helped load Bradley’s body into his truck and took her to the burn site.
“I have to burn it,” Christy allegedly told the witness.
Then, Christy allegedly lit the flame.
In a different TikTok video posted Dec. 19, 2023, Bradley addressed the camera in obvious dismay and said: “Now, I’m getting questioned and being told, pretty much, it’s bulls––– that I’m posting this s––– on public media. Now, why the f––– wouldn’t I? That’s what I want to know. Do you have somebody threatening to murder you?”
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