An arrest has been made within the death of 13-year-old Robert Bee, whose skeletal stays were discovered in a rural Illinois area months after he disappeared nearly 10 years ago, in line with authorities.
Keith A. Brackett, who was known to have frolicked with Bee before he went missing, is accused of strangling the boy to death and concealing his body within the woods near a property in Tazewell County, authorities said, WMBD-TV reported.
Brackett, 46, was arrested Wednesday, April 8, on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealment of a homicide in relation to Bee’s death, officials announced at a news conference that very same day, in line with WCBU.
Pekin Police Chief Seth Ranney said that Brackett used to live in Pekin and indicated he was currently detained on the Tazewell County Jail, the radio station reported.
It was not immediately clear whether Brackett had an attorney or had entered a plea.
On the news conference, Ranney said investigators “showed great tenacity through the last decade to be certain that that no stone was unturned, and that each investigative technique that we had available to us on the time and since then was investigated.”
In response to a probable cause statement obtained by WMBD-TV, Bee and Brackett were considered friends. Bee was said to go to Brackett’s home when he would skip school.
On November 18, 2026, Bee’s mother reported her son was missing, in line with court filings viewed by the Peoria Journal Star.
Months later, in July 2017, Bee’s stays were discovered behind a house situated on a property that Brackett had been maintaining, in line with authorities, the newspaper reported.
During an investigation, detectives discovered rope at a residence where Brackett had been living that had an identical appearance to ropes situated near the location of Bee’s stays, court documents say, in line with the Peoria Journal Star.
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Google account data linked to Brackett’s phone revealed Brackett had repeatedly been in the identical area of where Bee was found dead within the months that the boy was considered missing, in line with authorities, the newspaper reported.
When police interviewed Brackett days after Bee’s disappearance, Brackett claimed that the last time he saw Bee was on November 15 or 16 of 2016, in line with the probable cause statement, WMBD-TV reported.
Brackett claimed that Bee and others were “partying” at his residence on November 16, 2016, when he said he was not home, authorities said, in line with the TV station.
Ahead of Brackett’s arrest, Brackett was reportedly in Maine and had intended to go away the U.S., WEEK-TV reported. He was detained in Maine ahead of his extradition to Illinois.