Naman Shrestha
The chilling discovery of the frozen body of 18-year-old Brittany Clardy in the backseat of her car sent shockwaves across the community. The grieving loved ones of the victim were determined to find justice for her, so they played their part with the detectives during the investigation. An unexpected suspect, Alberto Palmer, turned out to be the killer responsible for the murder of Brittany. In Hulu’s ‘How I Caught My Killer: There’s More Than One Scumbag Out There,’ viewers get a detailed account of the entire case, which raises questions about the perpetrator’s criminal history.
Alberto Palmer Was Involved in the Murder of Two Young Women
Born on April 30, 1989, Alberto Prece Palmer became the prime suspect in the murder case of 18-year-old Brittany Charise Clardy in Minnesota. She had gone missing on February 11, 2013, and just a couple of days later, her car was towed from a Brooklyn Park apartment complex to a Columbia Heights impound lot on the 3800 block of Central Avenue Northeast. On February 21, inside the passenger compartment of the car, her frozen body, which was concealed with a large piece of cloth, was discovered by the police. Her neck had ligatures around her neck and multiple blows to the back of her head caused by a blunt object.
After digging deeper into the case, the investigators came across a similar case in Georgia a few months ago. 23-year-old Alberto Palmer had been accused of being involved in the murder of Klaressa Cook, whose frozen body was also found inside a car, which was also towed from Brooklyn Park to a Minneapolis parking lot. He allegedly met the sex worker on Backstage, hired her, beat her up, and put her into the trunk of a car. Alberto confessed that in 2013, he had met the victim online and decided to have sex. When they were done, he attempted to return his money and kept pushing her head against a wall.
Looking at his rap sheet, the police also discovered that he had allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted three other women in Georgia. Given so many similarities and circumstantial evidence, the investigators arrested 23-year-old Alberto Palmer at his Woodbury home without any incident. At the time, he already had a warrant out for his arrest and was booked into jail on several outstanding warrants for previous crimes from Georgia, such as criminal sexual conduct, two counts of false imprisonment, first-degree assault, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct.
Alberto Palmer is Serving His Two Sentences at a Minnesota Prison Facility
A couple of years after the death of Brittany Clardy, Alberto Palmer was indicted of first-degree murder instead of the original charge of second-degree murder. As for the bail, it was at $2 million. Finally, in August 2014, Alberto Palmer pleaded guilty to murdering 18-year-old Brittany Clardy in February 2013. While awaiting sentencing, in the following month, he also pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection to the murder of 24-year-old Klaressa Cook in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He admitted that he wrapped up her body, put it in the trunk of her car, and left the car in the parking lot of a grocery store. During the hearing for Klaressa Cook’s murder, Alberto apologized to the victim’s family present in court.
However, on the day of Brittany’s sentence hearing, he denied being a monster and talked about how both his victims were sinners as they were sex workers. For killing Brittany, he received a 40-year imprisonment sentence, which could be reduced by a third. The 25-year-old convict was also ordered to serve at least 30 years of a life sentence with an opportunity of parole for being responsible for the murder of Klaressa. Both sentences were meant to be served consecutively, not concurrently. The killer also addressed the court before his sentencing, “What if this would have happened to a member of my family? Since I’ve been in jail, I’ve been allowed to become a better person.” At the moment, Alberto Palmer is held behind bars at Minnesota Correctional Facility – Rush City at 7600 525th Street in Rush City, Minnesota.
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