A Florida man smiled in court while explaining why he wants to receive the death penalty for his role in the killing of a teenage girl.
“I would prefer the death penalty,” Steven Gress said as he addressed a Pinellas County judge with a grin. “Life or death is a lose-lose. If I went to trial, I believed that I would be convicted. I wouldn’t want to waste the court’s time…this is what I want to do.”
Gress, 37, entered guilty pleas to charges connected to the kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Miranda Corsette, while maintaining that he did not personally cause her death.
“I did not kill Miranda,” Gress said, according to CourtTV. “But I was involved in certain things that led to her death.”
The case dates back to Feb. 15, 2025, when Corsette went to Gress’ home in St. Petersburg after the two connected on the dating app Grindr.
Gress told detectives that he believed Corsette had taken his ring and then subjected her to a 24-hour interrogation, according to a sworn witness affidavit obtained by Oxygen. He said that after she did not return the ring and mocked him, he contacted his roommate, Michelle Brandes, for assistance.
Investigators said Gress and Brandes kept Corsette captive for several days, during which she was repeatedly beaten and tortured, according to the affidavit.
After Corsette died, Gress and Brandes each blamed the other for her death.
“This was never supposed to happen,” Gress told police, according to the affidavit. Although he admitted sexually assaulting and beating Corsette, he claimed he made regular CVS trips to get her medication, including sore throat spray after Brandes allegedly “choked her out.”
Gress said Brandes put a billiard ball inside a sock, forced it down Corsette’s throat and then covered her face with plastic wrap. He told investigators he instructed Brandes not to cover Corsette’s nose, but said she did so anyway. Corsette died before he could make holes in the plastic, he claimed.
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Gress said he then placed Corsette’s body in the trunk of his car and he, Brandes and a friend drove to a home in Largo, where Gress said he used a chainsaw to cut off Corsette’s head and extremities. Brandes, he claimed, placed the body parts in white trash bags.
The friend later told police that the trio bought fried chicken at Popeyes and played putt-putt golf in Clearwater before driving to Ruskin, where Corsette’s remains were placed in a dumpster.
Corsette was reported missing on Feb. 24, but Gress wasn’t arrested until March 5 on separate charges. While in custody, he was charged with kidnapping and murder.
Brandes, who turned herself in on March 8, had a different story.
She told police in the affidavit that “she was a victim and had no choice but to do whatever Gress told her to do” for fear of being beaten herself. Brandes alleged that Gress wrapped the plastic around Corsette’s face while forcing Brandes to hold her down. Brandes admitted to bagging Corsette’s remains after Gress dismembered the body, the affidavit noted.
Brandes was charged with first-degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty, court records show.
According to the friend, Brandes said she later found Gress’ ring in the car but was too afraid to return it. As the affidavit noted, “The friend felt Brandes had the ring all along.”
Police later identified the dumpster, but Corsette’s remains have not been located.
Gress will next appear in court Nov. 4, court records show. Oxygen could not verify Brandes’ next court date. Attorneys for Gress and Brandes did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Oxygen.