Dragonfly: Brett Cantor Murder Mystery · Casefile Presents

Episode 8: DNA Investigation

·34 min·2 clips

DNA linked Brett Cantor’s living-room blood to a man later described as a temporary housekeeper.

1. Dragonfly: Brett Cantor Murder Mystery Episode 8 centers on DNA testing in Brett Cantor’s 1993 Los Angeles murder case. 2. Rose McGowan, Detective Jackson, Pat Tapia, and Paul Delhauer matter because they connect the old LAPD investigation to the new forensic review. 3. The episode asks whether late-2000s DNA work can move Brett Cantor’s cold case past suspicion and into prosecution. 4. Rose McGowan says she pushed LAPD chief Bill Bratton to revisit Brett’s case after meeting him in New York at Elaine’s. 5. Detective Jackson says Bratton asked him in May 2006 to look again at Brett Cantor’s file after Rose raised the case. 6. Jackson says the department submitted evidence after forensics improved, and he reports a DNA match to someone connected with the apartment building. 7. The same DNA lead did not produce an arrest because investigators were given alibi information that could explain the sample’s presence. 8. Another test found blood in Brett’s living room that detectives attributed to a temporary housekeeper Brett hired the week before his death. 9. Rose says the housekeeper story felt “bizarre,” and she notes that Brett’s usual housekeeper was a woman. 10. Pat Tapia says Brett was clutching a strand of blonde hair when police found him dead. 11. Detectives interviewed a blonde woman and contacted Interpol about former Hollywood club promoters in the UK and Scandinavia. 12. Those leads did not produce a match, and the blonde-hair clue remained unresolved. 13. The episode says Brett’s friends split between people willing to help and people who were too afraid to talk. 14. A source says Brett had upset several men by dating their ex-girlfriends, but that jealousy did not seem to be the main motive. 15. The investigation also points to Brett’s problems with an unnamed underground club partner and his talk about leaving music promotion. 16. Pat Tapia and Paul Delhauer say they believe there were at least two attackers, two knives, and possibly a third person who helped them get into Brett’s apartment. 17. The tone stays investigative and interview-driven, with Rose McGowan, detective recollections, and cold-case analysis mixed together. 18. The episode also uses quoted emails, witness statements, and procedural detail to build pressure without showing the final resolution. 19. People interested in cold-case forensics, Rose McGowan, and Hollywood crime history. 20. Listeners wanting a light celebrity recap or a closed-case ending. 21. Rose McGowan says Brett’s murder still feels like an “ache” that never really goes away. 22. She also says writing about Brett in Brave was a way of honoring him and saying that he “existed.”

As heard by us

A DNA-led case study where nightclub history, witness memory, and Brett's unsolved murder stay in frame.

The DNA angle gives this case its clearest frame, but the real weight comes from the way the story widens into the people and places around Dragonfly. It moves from DNA to nightclub history, reward-led tips, and witness accounts that the LAPD had not reached before.

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Why you'd press play

Follow the DNA trail through a Dragonfly cold case built from overlooked witnesses and club-world tension.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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