A girl is found dead floating in a bathtub In the small, rural town of Argos, Indiana, the community was shattered by the violent death of 11-year-old Brandie Peltz on December 11, 1986. A fifth-grade student at Argos Elementary School, Brandie had been home sick from school on that fateful Thursday. Her mother, Roxie, had checked on her during her lunch break from her job as a clerk at a local hardware store.
Later that afternoon, around 3:09 p.m., a neighbor driving by the Peltz residence on South Michigan Road noticed smoke coming from the second story of the house.
The neighbor, Michael Emenaker, went to a nearby home to have the fire department called before returning to the Peltz house. After getting the family dog out, he went back inside and made a horrific discovery. He found Brandie's body in a bathtub filled with water in the downstairs bathroom. An autopsy would later reveal that the young girl had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death, with bruises found on her neck. The fire, which was started in an upstairs bedroom, was believed to have been intentionally set to conceal the murder. In the days leading up to her death, the family had reportedly received several harassing phone calls where the caller would only breathe heavily before hanging up.
Despite an investigation by the Marshall County police, the case quickly grew cold, leaving a cloud of suspicion and unanswered questions hanging over the small community. No arrests have ever been made in connection with Brandie Peltz's murder. Over the years, theories and rumors have circulated, with suspicion falling on various individuals, but no definitive suspect has been officially named by law enforcement.
The unsolved case gained renewed attention with the 2008 publication of a fictionalized true-crime novel titled 'The Passerby' by author Thomas Crowel. Crowel's investigation, which he details in the book, points to the passerby who discovered Brandie's body as a potential suspect. This led to the Indiana State Police taking a fresh look at the case. Some investigators have also considered a possible link between Brandie's murder and the 1984 unsolved murder of Darlene Hulse, which occurred just a few miles away. However, decades later, the brutal death of Brandie Peltz remains an unsolved homicide, a painful memory for her family and the community of Argos.
