The Pekin Police Department has announced the arrest of a suspect in the 2016 homicide of 13-year-old Robert Bee.
Pekin police chief Seth Ranney announced Keith Brackett was apprehended Wednesday morning. Bee was reported missing in November 2016, and his remains were found in a wooded area behind a home in rural Pekin in July 2017.
According to an affidavit, Brackett was maintaining the property on which Bee’s remains were found. Brackett is facing two counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealment of homicidal death.
Brackett was being held at the Tazewell County Jail as of Wednesday. Tazewell County State’s Attorney Kevin Johnson has petitioned to deny a pre-trial release.
Ranney said the Pekin Police Department received assistance during the investigation from multiple agencies, including the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police and the FBI.
“They showed great tenacity through the last decade to make sure that no stone was unturned and that every investigative technique that we had available to us at the time and since then was investigated,” he said. “That has ultimately led to today’s conclusion. I can say that this case in particular was the most manpower-intensive case that we’ve ever had in the history of the department.”
According to court documents, Bee’s mother, Lisa, reported him missing on Nov. 18, 2016, and he was last seen the day prior. Pekin police learned that Robert was friends with Brackett, despite their age differences. Bee visited Brackett when the teen skipped school and sometimes spent the night at Brackett’s residence.
Court documents state that Tazewell County detectives visited a Pekin residence where Brackett was living at the time and found rope outside the home and in the garage that appeared similar in color and composition to the ropes found in the area where Bee’s remains were discovered. Detectives also found duct tape, black electrical tape and numerous restraints commonly used in sexual acts.
Pekin police detectives asked Brackett what the best place would be for a body on the property where the remains were found. According to court documents, Brackett drew a map of the property and said carrying a person up the railroad tracks but parking next to a garage on the property, which was closer to where the remains were found, would be the best place.
During a May 2018 burglary investigation in which Brackett was a suspect, Pekin police detectives interviewed a confidential informant who claimed to have spoken with Brackett and said Brackett was planning to take a train to New York in hopes of gaining asylum. A search warrant for GPS access showed Brackett living in a homeless encampment in Bangor, Maine. According to Bangor police, Brackett left Illinois to escape theft charges and wanted to start a new life in Ireland.
A 2019 examination of Brackett’s Google account showed Brackett was in the area where the remains were found a number of times between November 2016 and July 2017. On one occasion, Brackett’s cell phone was placed about 30 feet from where Bee’s remains were found. In an examination of a Google voice search, Brackett reportedly asked how long DNA stays on ropes and what one can do if they are a suspect in a murder.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Pekin homicide case: Keith Brackett charged in death of Robert Bee
Reporting by Mike Kramer, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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