When Ernest Brendel, his wife Alice, and their 8-year-old daughter Emily disappeared from their Barrington Rhode Island home, the FBI and state police suspected that they were victims of foul play. The family of three had just moved to Barrington from Providence about three years earlier, believing they had found a safe and happy place for Emily to grow up.

Join us at the quiet end for Trading in Murder. When Ernest Brendel filed a complaint against commodity trader Chris Hightower, Hightower’s life was in a tailspin. The deadline for responding to the complaint came and went, Hightower’s wife asked for a divorce, and he was served with a court order barring him from contact with his children. Exposed as a conman and a thief, Hightower stalked the Brendels and plotted to kidnap young Emily.

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Sources

Death of an Angel by Don Davis

Family of 3 Slain by Arrow, Strangling : Murder: Rhode Island family had been missing since Sept. 20. Autopsies on the mother and child point to asphyxiation, LA Times Archives, 11/17/1991