Robert Bee’s alleged killer arrested more than 9 years after the 13-year-old’s death
When he ran away from home and skipped school in November 2016, Robert “Bonzai” Bee, Jr. went to the home of the man who would kill him.
That’s the allegations against Keith A. Brackett, 46, who was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with strangling and then hiding the 13-year-old’s body.
The charges allege that Brackett asphyxiated the boy and then hid his remains in a wooded area of property he was maintaining.
Brackett, who was recently paroled from the Illinois Department of Corrections, was arrested Wednesday morning and served with the warrants.
The first-degree murder charges carry a possible 20 to 60-year prison term. The concealment of a homicide carries a possible 10-year prison term.
During a press conference, Raney said the investigation into Bee’s death was the most intensive case in terms of manpower in the history of the police department.
State Attorney Kevin Johnson said there is limited information they can release at this time.
The 13-year-old reportedly ran from a truancy officer on Nov. 16, 2016. At the time, his mother said he spent the night at a friend’s house. The next morning, he didn’t get on the school bus.
Days turned into weeks without any sighting of Bee. Thousands of tips poured into the Pekin Police Department. His skeletal remains
were found by another man who was mowing his lawn on a rural patch of land off Illinois Route 29 in Tazewell County.
Brackett and Bee, known as “Banzai,” were friends despite the age difference, according to a probable cause statement filed in Tazewell County Circuit Court. Bee was known to hang out there when he skipped school. On that fateful Nov. 16, Bee had run away from a truancy officer and wound up at Brackett’s house, according to the statement.
Ten days later, police talked to Brackett, who said he last saw the boy on Nov. 15 or 16. He said he had been out of town and wasn’t home when Bee vanished. He told police he “opened the door to the house and yelled for Bee, but there was no answer.”
He also said many people, including Bee, had been “partying” at his house on Nov. 16, 2016. But he said he had left the area to look for a job. However, a phone download showed his cell phone was still in the area on the day Bee disappeared.
When the boy’s body was found, officers found two different types of rope as well as a wad of duct tape and black electrical tape. The property where Bee’s body was found was maintained by Brackett, who is related to the owner.
When officers searched his home in 2017, they found ropes that appeared to match the type found with Bee’s remains, as well as restraints commonly used in sexual acts.
Days after the body was found, detectives again talked to Brackett, asking him what the best place would be to hide a body on the property, but he said he had not been in the area where the body was found for a few years.
Bracket did admit he was into certain types of sexual activity, often considered erotic and would travel to clubs in Chicago and Champaign.
Later, police talked to a woman who lived with Brackett, who said he was attracted to younger children. She said she also believed she saw Brackett inappropriately touch Bee.
An informant told police in 2018 that he had heard that Brackett was seeking “asylum” and was headed to New York to go to an embassy. Later, the informant told police that Brackett was in Maine, where he was tracked to a homeless encampment. He was seen at a playground watching younger children, according to the complaint.
He was arrested by Bangor, Maine, police and allegedly told them he had fled Illinois to start a new life in Ireland. He also said he had a pending theft charge.
A year later, in 2019, search warrants on his phone allegedly revealed the device was found to be in the area where Bee’s body was found several times between Nov. 18, 2016, and July 24, 2017, when the remains were found.
The information in the charging document says one ping from his phone put him 30 feet from where the body was, according to the complaint.
Before police were able to talk to him in 2017 — after Bee’s body was found — Brackett was reportedly searching on his phone “how long does DNA last on ropes?” and “what do you do if you are a suspect in murder.”
Officials wouldn’t comment on the timing of the arrest, saying only that “it was time.” However, the fact that Brackett was paroled after serving seven years in prison for burglary and theft charges could have played a role in it.
Sometimes, a police agency will wait to build a case if a person is in custody under the theory that the suspect isn’t going anywhere. Again, it is not known whether that was the case here.
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