New search warrant applications add to story of Davenport's Jan. 15 double homicide (2024)

Newly released warrant applications shed more light on what Davenport Police detectives found as they sought those responsible for the deaths of Brian L. Goodwin and Amy M. Smith.

Investigators believe Goodwin and Smith were shot and killed between 4:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. Jan. 15 in the home Goodwin rented at 5210 N. Division St. The bodies of the 44-year-olds were discovered just before 4 a.m. Jan. 16 after the Davenport Fire Department responded to the report of a blaze at the residence.

Some of the newly released search warrants provided more details about Blake and Braet's alleged movements immediately after the fire and a suspected trip to Galesburg.

Before and after the killings

Goodwin first allowed Blake to move into the house at 5210 N. Division St. after she was evicted from her apartment in late September 2023. Braet was involved with Blake and stayed in the home with her in the days leading up to the killings.

Smith was staying in Goodwin's home at the time of their deaths.

Testimony from Davenport Police Detective Brandon Askew during the arraignment hearing for Blake and Braet, as well as a number of search-warrant applications, made it clear police believe the couple drove to Galesburg sometime after the Jan. 16 fire at 5210 N. Division St.

Askew testified that Blake and Braet stayed in a hotel in Galesburg and from recovered cell phones, investigators found photos of the couple posing with guns and dressed in body armor.

A video recovered from one of the phones showed Blake claiming "I shot both of them."

'An overwhelming odor of gasoline'

In an April 15 search-warrant request for Braet's Google email account, investigators provided the following narrative:

During the hours following the fire at 5210 N. Division St., investigators soon learned Blake and Braet were missing and were driving a black four-door Honda Accord. The pair left Galesburg, and information developed in the early days of the investigation indicated that the black Honda Accord broke down at the westbound Krisdala Baka Rest Area on Interstate 74 between Galesburg and the Quad-Cities.

Melisa Weber told investigators that Blake and Braet were at the rest area on Jan. 17 before coming to her residence at 1025 College Ave., on Jan. 18. Weber is charged with abuse of a corpse to hide a crime, second-degree arson and being an accessory after the fact.

Video surveillance footage was recovered from the rest area by detectives. In the warrant application they said video showed Blake removing a bag from the Accord and "place it over a snow bank hill" before Blake and Braet left the rest area in another vehicle.

That vehicle is not identified in the search-warrant application.

Detectives recovered the discarded bag from the rest area and noted: "This bag gave off an overwhelming odor of gasoline and inside we located a destroyed DVR for a surveillance system that was believed to belong to 5210 Division Street and a destroyed cell phone."

On Jan. 18 detectives located surveillance video of Blake and Braet in the Accord at the Pilot Truck Stop in Woodhull getting gas. The search warrant application states the time of the stop for gas was 8:38 p.m. but does not give the date of that sighting or say if Blake and Braet were traveling to or from the Quad-Cities.

Specter of the black Honda Accord

From multiple search-warrant applications, it is clear investigators think Blake and Braet spent a lot of time in the black Honda Accord.

According to a warrant application for the cell phone of a man not charged in the case, Blake and Braet took possession of the car sometime during the night of Jan. 15 at an apartment complex on East 35th Street.

On Jan. 19, Davenport police detectives wrote a search-warrant application for a black 2008 Honda Accord and offered a timeline of the vehicle's movements beginning late Jan. 15 and into the early morning hours of Jan. 16.

The black Honda Accord was later spotted on surveillance video leaving the East 35th Street apartment complex at 3:38 a.m. Jan. 16. In multiple warrants, detectives state they believe Blake, Braet and the man not charged in the case are in the vehicle. Detectives believe that same vehicle appears on surveillance video from the Casey's General Store on West 53rd Street, just across from the house at 5210 N. Division St.

At 3:45 a.m. on Jan. 16 the black Honda Accord arrives at the driveway 5210 N. Division St. "where subjects exit the vehicle." At 3:54 a.m. the vehicle leaves the driveway of the home and travels south on North Division Street. At 3:56 a.m., according to the warrant application, "smoke can be seen rising from the residence from the Casey's security camera."

Detectives said surveillance footage showed the black Honda Accord returned to the apartment complex on East 35th Street at 3:59 a.m. and the male not charged in the case left the back seat of the vehicle at 4 a.m. Four minutes later, at 4:04 a.m., the same man exits the apartment complex and waits in the driveway until the black Honda Accord pulls up.

The man, according to the warrant application " ... walks out to the black Honda Accord, opens the rear passenger driver's side door, bends in, comes out, shuts the door and goes back inside the apartment complex."

Missing cell phones

In the April 15 search-warrant application for Braet's Google email, investigators said four cell phones were recovered from 5210 N. Division St. after the Jan. 16 fire.

"All four of these were examined and found not to belong to either one of the victims," the search warrant application said.

One of Goodwin's relatives confirmed he had at least two cell phones.

The search for the cell phones of Goodwin and Smith led investigators to the Davenport residence of one of Braet's relatives, thanks to Blake's ankle monitor.

Both Blake and Braet were required to wear GPS ankle monitors as a condition of their release agreements. Blake was monitored through the 7th Judicial District Department of Corrections. Data obtained from that ankle monitor showed that from 1:12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 15, the GPS put Blake at the house.

On Jan. 26 Braet's relative was interviewed and the home was searched. Reolink cameras were recovered from the home, and when the relative's phone was reviewed on April 11, Braet's Google account and email were discovered.

None of the search-warrant applications state whether the cell phones belonging to Goodwin and Smith were ever recovered.

Attorney additions and changes

Blake is represented Alex Gilmore of the West Des Moines-based FMBrown Law Firm. Another attorney from that firm was added to her defense team on June 4.

Seventh District Court Judge Stuart Werling approved the appointment of F. Montgomery Brown. He is contracted with the State Public Defender's Office to accept court-appointed cases in Scott County.

As of June 6, Weber was without an attorney.

On May 31, Beau Bergmann had to withdraw as her attorney, citing a conflict. Andrea Jaeger was appointed as Weber's new attorney.

That appointment didn't last long. Jaeger filed to withdraw as Weber's attorney on June 6. No court documents filed by June 10 indicate a new attorney had been found for Weber.