A dead body discovered in an overnight house fire near Lake Conroe may be a man who gained infamy along with his son in 2008, when the pair was indicted for murder.
Neighbors reported a fire at 1524 West Creek Drive around 12:30 a.m. on Monday. The Lake Conroe Fire Department responded and found a single wide mobile home engulfed in flames.
Inside, firefighters found what first appeared to be two human corpses, but turned out to be a human and a canine.
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Investigator Joe Manz with the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office said no information could be released regarding the identity of the deceased until an autopsy was performed and next of kin was notified.
While Manz would not speculate about possibilities or probabilities, various public records show the address is still home to 55-year-old Michael “Fred” Gloede who is awaiting trial in the 2006 brutal murder of his son’s girlfriend.
His son, 30-year-old Michael “Brandon” Gloede, was convicted last July of murdering Lori Randall, along with third-degree felony driving while intoxicated, and is currently in the Montgomery County Jail awaiting transfer to the Texas Department of Corrections. His address is currently listed on the jail roster as the West Creek Drive location.
Brandon and Fred Gloede both lived at the West Creek Drive address when Randall died. They were arrested on March 31, 2008, charged with first-degree murder and eventually both were released on bond.
Brandon was reindicted last May, then tried and convicted of the lesser included charge of manslaughter in July. Fred Gloede’s case has not been heard.
Lori Randall was 32-years-old when she died in the spring of 2006.
The original arrest affidavit states the pair caused Randall’s death by “blunt force trauma to the head,” which is believed to have occurred on April 30, 2006 at the West Creek Drive residence.
Ultimately, Randall was flown by air ambulance to Methodist Hospital in Houston where her attending physician requested contact with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office the following day so he could discuss her extreme injuries.
The document states that the “most significant injury discovered was a large right-sided subdural hemotoma with neurological evidence of extremely severe and most likely irreversible brain injury not compatible with life.”
According to the report, Randall’s friends and family said she was physically abused by Gloede and his father during frequent stays at their home.
Witnesses told investigating officers that Randall said illegal drugs were involved and she was afraid if she tried to get out of the situation “she would be killed” because of her knowledge of their alleged illegal activities related to drug sales and her knowledge of where the contraband was stashed.
Randall once reported an assault by Brandon Gloede, but later dropped the charges.
Witnesses told officers it was common to see Brandon Gloede grab Randall around the neck and shake her and one friend reported witnessing that on April 30 as the couple sat in a vehicle.
According to the police report, Fred Gloede admitted to investigators that he argued with Randall on the night of April 30, 2006 and he shook her twice during that time, and threw her one the couch.
A witness also told officers Fred Gloede said he had shaken Randall, and done so with such force that she passed out, and then repeated that action and laid her on the floor. The father and son, apparently realizing they had gone too far, stated they put wet rags on her head to make her feel better that night.
A neighbor told investigators the next morning, which was May 1, Brandon Gloede dropped by, asking for aspirin for Randall who he claimed had headache. The witness characterized Gloede as “agitated, nervous, and not himself.”
Early that day, the two men finally called for an ambulance, and medics had Randall flown to the Texas Medical Center in Houston where she was removed from life support three days later and died, leaving behind three sons.
All currently accessible public records list Fred and Brandon Gloede as the only permanent residents of the now burned out mobile home over the past several years, except for a young woman who other documents indicate now lives in East Montgomery County.
Fred Gloede is not confirmed to be the victim as of Monday morning. Once the deceased is positively identified, it will be posted on this website, along with the cause of death and the cause of the fire as that information becomes available.
