DAYTON, Ohio – The man who police said was arrested in connection to the death of a Middletown mom has not been charged in the case, the Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.
Brandon Charles Carr, 34, was going to be charged with murder, Sgt. Richard Blommel said previously. Officers arrested him without incident on South Holloway Avenue.
The case was referred back to Dayton detectives for more investigation, prosecutors said. Carr will remain in jail on another federal charge.
Brittany Russell, 29, was found dead in a car parked behind an apartment complex in Dayton on Feb. 10. Russell's body was discovered just hours after she was reported missing and police began a search for her and her 6-month-old baby, who was also found in the car, unharmed.
Chris Edwards, the baby's father, said he got a phone call from Carr while he was talking to police that morning two weeks ago. At the time, police were still looking for Russell and the child.
Edwards said he doesn't know Carr, but some of Russell's friends said she'd gone to Dayton the night before to meet Carr's brother.
"He actually called me when the detective was standing right there," Edwards said. "He was like 'What do you want? I got a missed call from this number.' I said, 'Where's Brittany at? Where's my kid?' I said, 'I know you know that she's up there because she came to talk to your brother.' I said, 'Where's my kid at?' And he's like, 'Ah, I don't even know Brittany, leave my name out of your mouth.' And he hung up. Detective is standing right there next to me."
Russell had been shot dead, but police did not suspect a robbery, they said at the time.
The baby was later reunited with Edwards the day she was found.
"I was worried the shot might have busted her ear drums, so I took her up there, had them check her ears, check her eyes, check her respiratory, all that," Edwards said. "She's top notch."
Russell's father, Billy Russell Sr., said he wants the death penalty used in the case.
"That's a brutal crime, to unload a gun in somebody's head," Russell Sr. said. "That's awful."
Friday, he said he was surprised by the news that the prosecutor hadn't approved a murder charge for Carr. He was he wants Dayton officials to give the family more information.
“It’s a roller coaster, [I] don’t know whether to hold my gut or throw my hands up in the air,” he said. “It’s just downright not fair not fair not knowing anything, they could have at least called me.”
