Suspect indicted in fatal shooting of mother in front of child

DAYTON — A man accused of fatally shooting a Middletown woman in front of her infant child was indicted Thursday on several charges stemming from her murder.

• Brandon Carr, 35, is accused of killing 29-year-old Brittany Russell who was shot in the head on February 10, 2016, and left in her running car with her 6-month-old daughter in the back seat.
• Car was indicted on three counts of murder; one count of aggravated murder; three counts of kidnapping; two counts of tampering with evidence; two counts of  felonious assault; one count of endangering children and one count of having weapons under disability.
• Carr is in Butler County Jail and will be arraigned April 6 in Montgomery County.

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Events leading up to the shooting

The arrest warrant issued for Brandon Carr’s arrest sheds new light on the events that led to Brittany Russell being shot in the head Feb. 10, 2016, and left in her running car with her baby daughter in the back seat.

According to Dayton police, Russell was involved in using and selling drugs and was accused of setting up a robbery of Burdette who sold drugs for Carr.

“Witnesses state that Carr and Burdette were aggressively seeking Russell,” the warrant says. “Cell records were reviewed which confirm this.”

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The warrant also says witnesses identified Carr as the person who shot Russell in the head. The investigation led to the recovery of a .45-caliber handgun which has been confirmed as the murder weapon, police said.

Burdette, who was previously charged with aggravated murder was issued new charges just recently, according to a bill of information filed March 3.

He has not entered a plea to that bill of information.

The suspects

Carr was arrested last February immediately after Russell’s death, but a panel of Montgomery County prosecutors declined to approve charges against him. He was taken into custody on the new warrant without incident and is being held in the Butler County Jail pending an initial court appearance this afternoon. Russell was found shot to death inside her car at an address on Free Pike in Dayton. Her infant daughter was in the backseat, unharmed.

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Another man, Curtis Howard Burdette, was initially charged with aggravated murder and other counts related to Russell’s death. He’s now being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1 million bond on charges of involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Burdette’s next court date is scheduled for August.