Arson charge filed in case of body in car

Man found in burning vehicle on Christmas

A 41-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged with arson in the case of a burning car found with human remains inside on Christmas Day.

Mister N.P. Bratchett was arrested this month in connection with the car fire that contained the remains of 24-yearold Branden Blunt.

Initially, Milwaukee police said they were investigating Blunt’s death as a homicide, but the Milwaukee County medical examiner saw no wounds or trauma to his body other than those caused by the fire. Because there was no soot found in Blunt’s lungs, it appears the fire probably was started after Blunt was already deceased, court records show. The cause and manner of his death remain undetermined.

The black four-door Honda Civic was found burning about 7:30 a.m. Dec. 25 in a dead-end alley off Capitol Drive near N. 54th St.

Milwaukee police located the registered owner of the car, who said his granddaughter and her boyfriend, Blunt, often used the car.

The criminal complaint does not indicate how police identified Bratchett as someone to interview, but it does detail the contents of his cellphone, which was searched by police.

According to the complaint:

During an interview of Bratchett in his home Jan. 5, police examined his cellphone. A video on the phone showed Blunt, who was “clearly impaired,” about 3 a.m. Dec. 25 sitting in a chair with loud music playing in the background. Blunt’s eyes were closed and he was unable to remain sitting upright. At one point, a pistol falls from Blunt’s lap and he tries to retrieve it from the floor but is unable to do so.

Police recovered the phone’s location data and noted that the phone moved to a secluded park on the city’s northwest side and stayed there until about 6:25 a.m. The phone then pings its location at a gas station in the 7900 block of N. 76th St. before leaving that location at 6:36 a.m.

The phone was then located in the alley off W. Capitol Drive from 7:10 to 7:18 a.m. before it ended up at Bratchett’s home.

Investigators retrieved security footage from the gas station and saw a man exiting a black car about 6:30 a.m. The man can be seen buying a red plastic jug for gasoline and pumping fuel into the container before leaving. Police identified the man on video as Bratchett.

Police also found an exterior security camera pointed at the alley and footage showed the black car arriving and stopping where it is later discovered burning. The video of the car is mostly blocked by a garage, but police could see on the video a person exiting the car and walking around to the back of it.

“There is a powerful flash, and flames can be observed over the roof of the garage,” the complaint says. “The video shows a lone figure walking away from the burning car, southbound in the direction of the defendant’s residence.”

Bratchett was charged Jan. 11 with arson, a felony, and is expected in court Feb. 2 for a preliminary hearing. He is free on a $5,000 signature bond, meaning he signed a document promising to appear for future court dates and abide by the terms of his pretrial supervision with the understanding if he did not, he would be on the hook for the $5,000 bail.

Blunt’s death initially was considered a homicide, but given the information from the medical examiner, that has since changed and he likely will not be included in the homicides reported to the FBI under its Uniform Crime Reporting standards, according to a Milwaukee police spokesman.

That would mean police expect to report 141 homicides for 2016, based on preliminary information that could still fluctuate with ongoing death investigations. Another 13 killings were reported last year, but they were deemed self-defense or otherwise did not fall under the homicide definition used by the FBI.