South MS police find bleach, blood linked to Pass Christian mom’s killing
The Mississippi man accused in the murder of a Pass Christian woman had what appeared to be blood inside his pickup truck and in the cab, along with a bottle of bleach and blood-stained clothing, according to new information in the case.
Pass Christian police found the clothing — a red-stained white shirt and white shoes in the truck bed — when authorities confronted the suspect, Brett Huntley Keel, 37, shortly after he drove up to the home he shared with his mother on Cedar Avenue in Pass Christian, Police Capt. Ryan Henry said. He was in a gray 2021 Toyota Tundra, a report says.
Police have arrested Keel, a convicted domestic violence abuser, on felony charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in the weekend killing of his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Joyce Gomez, 38. According to authorities, Gomez had a domestic violence protection order against Keel.
A search for the mother of two and beloved bartender, server, and friend began after her father reported her missing Saturday, the investigator said.
Gomez’s father told police he got concerned for his daughter’s safety after she hadn’t returned home from her scheduled shift at the Whiskey Bar in Pass Christian. Her father told police his daughter had recently reconnected with Keel after they had broken up.
Two days later, Pass Christian Police Chief Daren Freeman said Harrison County sheriff’s deputies found her body dumped in a wooded area near a dirt path off West Wittman Road. She had on the same clothes she had on the night before, only doused in bleach, the investigative report said.
In addition, Gomez appeared to have blunt force trauma to her head, the investigator said. However, Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer confirmed Wednesday morning that the autopsy is still pending to determine the full extent of that injury and others for the cause of her death.
Blood evidence found
After police first confronted Keel and searched his truck with his verbal consent, authorities obtained a warrant to search the home that Keel shared with his mother.
Crime scene investigators often use the chemical agent Luminol to help identify the presence of blood.
During the extended search of the Keel home, the investigator said police confirmed the presence of human blood both inside and outside the residence.
The results of further evidence tests are performed in crime scene investigations to extract DNA evidence, which helps link evidence from a crime scene as part of an ongoing investigation.
Suspect: ‘She walked home”
After police first approached Keel, he fed them a story about his time with Gomez before she went missing.
Keel had been at the Pass Christian bar as a patron during Gomez’s shift.
According to Keel, he picked her up after she finished work at the bar.
The bar’s owner, Mary-Catherine Scriber, said Gomez clocked out shortly after 10 p.m. Friday. Gomez started working at the bar about three months after moving to Mississippi from Miami, Florida. She had also started working part-time at Bacchus on the Beach in recent weeks, her friends said.
The Pass Christian police chief said Gomez had last been seen with a man, since identified as Keel, in downtown Bay St. Louis at 10:52 p.m. on Friday.
Keel told police that he and Gomez had gone out in Bay St. Louis. However, Keel said the two went to the beach at Brown Avenue in Pass Christian about an hour later, around midnight on Saturday. Keel claims he dropped Gomez off there, that she walked home, and he drove to his home, the investigator said.
Alleged cover-up
According to other details in the case, police charged Keel with a tampering charge for allegedly trying to cover up the crime with bleach found on some of the evidence.
Specifically, the investigator said, police suspect that Keel used the bleach found in his truck and possibly elsewhere by pouring the bleach on clothing and Gomez’s body after the crime occurred.
Meanwhile, Keel remains jailed in Harrison County on a total bond of $1.5 million set by Justice Court Judge Diane Ladner. A condition of the bond requires that in the event he can make a bond, he must be equipped with an electronic monitoring device.
In addition to the murder and tampering charge, a Hancock County Justice Court judge on Monday set a $10,000 bond for Keel on an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanor assault charge.
Authorities first picked him up over the weekend on the assault offense after Gomez went missing, and police had first confronted him at his mother’s home to investigate the missing person’s case.
In the assault case in October 2024 in Bay St. Louis, he is accused of punching a man in the face and using his fist to choke him during an encounter at a bar.
Previous arrests
Before his latest arrest, Keel has been in and out of local and state custody for a laundry list of crimes, including malicious mischief, various counts of domestic violence, and other charges.
In one case in 2020, Keel used an iron to attack his mom at her then home in Long Beach. In that case, his mother said she was asleep on a couch at home when her son hit her in the head and face with an iron. Afterward, his mother ran out of the house, hid in a car, and called a friend to report the incident to the police, resulting in Keel’s arrest.
This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 1:51 PM.
