On March 23, 2004, Kellie Maitland contacted the Vermont State Police to report Brianna missing. As with any missing person case, there are clues left behind. [4], The disappearance of Maura Murray, a college student from Massachusetts, in northwest New Hampshire the month before was deemed unrelated to Maitland's disappearance by law enforcement,[11] in spite of the events occurring within 90 miles (140km) of each other. She showed up at the Black Lantern Inn on time and completed her shift accordingly. It's now been nearly two decades since Maitland was last seen leaving the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont, where she worked in 2004. [b] According to a March 2017 article published in the Burlington Free Press, the reward remained available. 0. She currently has 11 rule outs The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) UP85157 09/26/2021 Chautauqua NY. 17 year-old female. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. Based on the location of the item, and not knowing how long it had been there, it was unclear if it was related to Maitlands disappearance. (SOT) (the rumor mill is just alive and well with this case SHE ALSO SAYS THERE'S VERY LITTLE EVIDENCE TO GO ON. While waiting in the check-out line of a store, Kellie said something outside caught Brianna's attention; she told her mother she would return shortly, and left the store. Brianna Maitland had a rough start to adulthood. "If you go on the internet and search: Brianna Maitland, just the information that comes up, it is just an obscene amount of information, says Baker. In the weeks prior to her disappearance, Maitland reportedly told several friends she was planning a short trip. On February 9, 2004, the 21-year-old emailed her professors at University of Massachusetts and her employer requesting time off after death in her family. Brianna Maitland disappeared from Montgomery, Vermont, on March 19, 2004. . Vt. police say ID of Danby skull could take time, Danby skull mystery now points to out-of-state victim. If she is alive, she would currently be 35 years old. In the days and weeks following her disappearance, numerous tips were investigated by state law enforcement, including a claim that Maitland was being held captive in a house occupied by local drug dealers of whom she was an acquaintance; however, none of the tips resulted in her discovery. Those are Heidi Wilbur, reported missing from Middletown Springs in 1991, and Brianna Maitland, reporting missing from Montgomery in 2004. [30] In July 2016, the farmhouse where Maitland's vehicle was discovered was destroyed in a fire. This was the last time Brianna Maitland was seen alive. Brianna Maitland disappeared in 2004. Othram is the worlds first private DNA laboratory built specifically to apply the power of modern parallel sequencing to forensic evidence. In Fall 2020, the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit partnered with Othram in the hopes of generating a lead using the same DNA evidence that was used to build the DNA profile that was submitted to CODIS. An alleged 2006 sighting of Maitland at a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, brought renewed interest to the case, but the woman seen was never properly identified. This independent, strong, smart woman left home at the age of 17 to try and get a jump on her future. The next day, her 1985 Oldsmobile was located backed into an abandoned building about a mile from the restaurant. by Chilling Crimes November 06, 2019. I called her parents and having 20 some years experience metal detecting offered to find the car keys. Brianna Maitland was born on October 8, 1986 and grew up in Burlington, Vermont. Baker says, despite the attention surrounding this case, she follows up on every new lead. Subsequently, she cut the get-together short and told her mother she needed to get ready for work. Known locally as "the old Dutchburn house," the siding of the home had been breached by the rear end of the car. The Biggest Brianna Maitland Theories: What Really Happened. Brianna Maitland went missing 17 years ago. On the passenger seat were two of Maitland's uncashed paychecks (via Charley Project). Stout did not realize Maitland had actually disappeared until March 23, when she called Maitland's parents' home and realized she was not there either. After Maitland's reported disappearance, several individuals came forward to law enforcement to report sightings of Maitland's vehicle at the old Dutchburn house the night she disappeared: The Vermont State Police, who led the official investigation for the first months after Maitland's disappearance, were skeptical that foul play was involved, considering the possibility that Maitland was a runaway. As we pass the 15 year mark, we discuss updates and new leads. Upon the car's return to the Maitland family, Bruce noted that his daughter's ATM card, glasses, contact lens case, and migraine medication had all been left inside. Because of this, some started to speculate that the skull might belong to Heidi Wilbur, Brianna Maitland or Maura Murray, three young women went missing in Vermont and New Hampshire. The young boy's skull was found in 2014 and initial analysis suggests the young boy was born between 2000-2004 and likely died between 2007-2012 raised 100% of goal. Less than . Last updated March 5, 2018; picture added; details of disappearance updated. and law enforcement agencies to achieve results when other approaches have failed. The Strange Details Surrounding Brianna Maitland's Disappearance. University of Massachusetts student Maura Murray went missing on February 9, 2004. [5], On Maitland's seventeenth birthday in October 2003, she decided she wanted to move away from her parents' farm. Vermont State Police and Othram Partner to Investigate Brianna Maitland's Disappearance. [4] The complaint was subsequently dropped three weeks after Maitland disappeared, and police stated that Lacross was cleared of any involvement in her disappearance. On March 25, 2004, Kellie and her husband, Bruce, went to the State . She has not been found. A photograph of the vehicle as it was found is posted with this case summary. A green 1985 Oldsmobile Delta was found at an odd angle, backed into the side of the building. She will release "In Living Color: A Cultural History" on Rowman & Littlefield Press in April 2022, and "The Golden Girls: A Cultural History" on Rowman & Littlefield Press in October 2022. Brianna has been missing since March 19th, 2004. She eventually moved in with her friend Jillian Stout and enrolled in a GED program. Brianna Maitland didn't have it easy. Today, police still dont know what happened to her.Angela Baker has been the Vermont State Police lead detective on the case for the past four years.She says rumors surrounding the case, and the fact there is little evidence have made it more difficult to solve. (SOT) (Bruce) (Sometimes time is your friend till people change they get older circumstances change maybe that someone who knows some thing would. Her car was later found backed into an abandoned barn. It's Baker's job to sift through that information. [4] In her youth, she was extensively trained in jiu-jitsu. Bernadette Giacomazzo is a NYC-based editor, writer, photographer, and publicist with a career spanning more than two decades in the entertainment industry. For this reason, this skull belongs to someone that has never been reported missing or someone that went missing outside of Vermont. Despite the efforts of local authorities, her whereabouts are still unknown. That weekend, Stout had been out of town visiting family. On March 20th, Brianna's vehicle, a pale green four-door 1985 Oldsmobile sedan, was found back into the side of a abandoned house on Route 118 in Richford, about a mile from the Black Lantern Inn. Her work has been featured in People, Teen Vogue, BET, HipHopDX, XXL Magazine, The Source, Vibe, The Los Angeles Times, and more. In what has been widely considered one of the more baffling cases to detectives, the disappearance of Brianna Maitland has been frustrating officials for nearly two decades. [4] Kellie said in interviews that she was "instinctively revulsed" by the photo, and believed someone else, not Maitland, had left the car in such a way.[4]. [29], In March 2016, on the case's twelfth anniversary, investigators revealed to a local television station they had recovered DNA samples from Maitland's car. Anyone with tips or other information that might in any way be relevant to the investigation should contact Detective Baker atangela.baker@vermont.gov, or submit ananonymous tip online. "There isn't a day that goes by that I dont think about her," says Bruce Maitland, Brianna's dad who says he is still holding out hope hell find his daughter. Brianna passed her GED examination on the day of her disappearance; she planned to attend college part-time. When police probed the inside of Brianna Maitland's car, they found crucial pieces of evidence that could indicate several possible scenarios. HE SAYS CERTAIN ALGORITHMS CAN HELP- BUT STILL THESE THINGS TAKE TIME. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WPTZ-TV. Regardless of the circumstances, though, the disappearance of Brianna Maitland remains an open and active investigation. The officers did not realize Maitland was missing, and the car might be evidence in her disappearance, until three days later when her mother called to report her missing. As for Bruce Maitland, he now supports other families who are also searching for their loved ones, through his own private investigation foundation. Maitland's parents believe multiple people were involved in her disappearance. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We suspect Brianna was the victim of foul play, Maj. Glenn Hall of the Vermont State Police said to Fox News. However, his financial records proved he was not in Vermont when the teen went missing. On March 23, 2004, Kellie Maitland contacted the Vermont State Police to report Brianna missing. Affidavit: Brianna Maitland Murdered . As reported by Stories of the Unsolved, the car was unlocked. Assuming Maitland was staying elsewhere, she did not call Kellie until the following day. Police have said there is no evidence Brianna left the area willingly and they believe she was a victim of foul play. They then "dismembered [her] with a table saw and disposed of [her] at a pig farm." Brianna, 17, was last seen on the evening of March 19, 2004. They did, however, find drugs and paraphernalia on the premises. Now, however, police were convinced that something terrible had happened. [25][11] The woman was never properly identified. Theory #2 - Brianna Maitland was the victim of a serial killer Considering New Hampshire, where Maura was last seen, is approximately 90 miles from Montgomery, some have speculated that Brianna's case may be linked to Maura Murray's disappearance , a Massachusetts nursing student who went missing on February 9, 2004, near Haverhill, New . These DNA samples were sent to the Vermont Forensic Laboratory for comparison testing. Her car was found the next day backed into an abandoned building a mile from the restaurant. The next morning, some passing motorists found the scene odd enough that they stopped and took pictures of it. Today, her family and detectives are still searching for answers. Police began conducting interviews of Maitland's co-workers, friends, and family members. She was 17 years old at the time. Shes urging anyone with information to come forward and thinks the one person who knows something will be key to cracking the case. [19] Upon interviewing Maitland's close friends, law enforcement was informed that Maitland had allegedly experimented with hard drugs in the recent past, specifically crack cocaine,[19] and was an acquaintance of Ryans and Jackson. and law enforcement agencies to achieve results when other approaches have failed. Rumors began to spread that one of the men offered to cut a deal with prosecutors for a lighter sentence in exchange for information about Maitland's whereabouts. Two of Maitland's paychecks were on the front seat of the car, and outside it, law enforcement observed loose change, a water bottle, and an unsmoked cigarette. [4], In late 2004, police received a statement from an anonymous "older female" who implicated both Ryans and Jackson in Maitland's disappearance and alleged murder. AND EVENTUALLY PLANS TO RETURN TO DUTY. This was the last time Brianna Maitland was seen alive. For the most part, Brianna led a relatively normal life, and even took jiu-jitsu lessons after school. A woman's fleece jacket was laying nearby, which was later proven to not belong to Maitland (via Murder Squad). Police say they believe Maitland was the victim of a crime. Brianna Maitland remains missing. Brianna was never seen again. (SOT) (What do you think is going to be key to solving this?) [4] Maitland attended Missisquoi Valley Union High School before transferring to Enosburg Falls High School in nearby Enosburg Falls, during her sophomore year. At the end of her shift, around 11:20 p.m., Brianna was seen by a co-worker getting into her car and leaving the parking lot. She was only 17-years-old when she decided to move out of her mom's Vermont home to start life on her own. (SOT) (Professor) (Can I plug in keywords that only someone who was pretty intimate with what was going on would know about or they made a statement about something that was not made public) BAKERS SAYS - DESPITE THE ATTENTION SURROUNDING THIS CASE- SHE RECEIVES NEW LEADS EVERYDAY AND FOLLOWS UP ON EACH ONE OF THEM. She says rumors surrounding the case, and the fact there is little evidence have made it more difficult to solve. Don't states have access to the registry of missing people of other states? The Oldsmobile had sustained minor damage; it had apparently backed into the building and punctured a hole in the wall. [7] One of Maitland's friends at the party claimed that Maitland, despite her martial arts training, refused to fight with Lacross, who subsequently hit her in the face several times while Maitland was seated in a truck. Maitland's case was profiled across various local media, on Dateline NBC, and the documentary series Disappeared. [4] On Tuesday, March 23, Kellie began calling various people in order to find Maitland, including friends as well as her employers, none of whom had seen or spoken to her. Updated 10 times since October 12, 2004. She never arrived and her friend assumed she had moved back in with her parents and brother in East Franklin, Vermont. Brianna Maitland mt tch ngy 19 thng 3 nm 2004, sau khi ri ni c lm vic ra bt l nh tr Black Lantern ti Montgomery, Vermont, M.Chic xe hi ca Maitland c tm thy vo mt ngy sau, ang trc mt cn nh b hoang, cch ni lm vic khong mt dm. Now, nearly 20 years after she first disappeared, we take a look at the curious case of Briannas disappearance. The evening marked 17 years missing for Brianna Maitland There were no indications that the vehicle had come off the roadway in an uncontrolled manner. She was last seen leaving work in Montgomery, Vermont where she was a dishwasher at the Black Lantern Inn . It was 10 years ago when Brianna Maitland spent the day shopping with her mother in their quiet Vermont town, hours after the 17-year-old had completed her high school equivalency test. [21] The website was active until at least 2009. Missing - Brianna Maitland. After not hearing from Maitland for three days, her friend and roommate, Jillian, contacted Maitland's parents. Shed called up her mother to tell her the news, and her mother treated her to lunch to celebrate. Updated: Mar 18, 2022 / 05:35 PM EDT Saturday marks the 18th anniversary of Brianna Maitland's disappearance but Vermont State Police say they have now identified DNA found in the vicinity of. After she vanished, the district attorney dropped the complaint, against the objections of Brianna's parents. In the fall of 2020, the state police sent samples to Othram, a Texas-based forensic sequencing laboratorythat has set up afundraising pagefor the investigation. Can DNA analysis shed new light on Vermont cold case. Her coworkers asked her to have dinner with them, but she declined because she was tired and had to get up early to go her second job as a waitress in St. Albans, Vermont. However, it was later determined that the skull belonged to an Asian woman between the ages of 21 and 40. The teen was also rumored to be friends with known drug dealers and users in the Montgomery area. Vermont State Police are partnering with a Texas company to complete a new analysis of DNA evidence in the 2004 disappearance of 17-year-old Brianna Maitland, the agency announced this week . The Black Lantern Inn is less than 2 miles from where her car was found. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. She left work and was supposed to go home to where she lived with a friend in Sheldon, Vermont. Brianna Maitland. The Story Of Daniel Lambert, The 'Fattest Man In England' Who Left 19th-Century Crowds In Awe, Meet Hugh Thompson, The Hero Who Stopped The M Lai Massacre And Was Branded A Traitor For It, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. He says certain algorithms can help investigators, but it takes time. Advertisement But the attention surrounding cases like Maitland's can sometimes. "Anyone can write a blog, anyone can write information about this case," says Duane Dunston, an Associate professor of cybersecurity at Champlain College. Brianna Maitland was 17 years old when she was last seen in March 2004. March 18, 2022 / 1:43 PM Brianna Maitland. He is still hoping time, will lead him to Brianna, "sometimes time is your friend," Bruce Maitland says. "There isn't a day that goes by that I dont think about her," says Bruce Maitland, Brianna's dad who says he is still holding out hope hell find his daughter. [4] Maitland enrolled at her friends' high school, but her living arrangements were unstable, as she moved in and out of several friends' homes. Police say rumors and lack of evidence make the case more difficult to solve. Maitland's car had been reported several days earlier outside of Montgomery, Vermont, in what looked to be a minor accident. She was working her dishwashing job at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery. [4] She told her mother that she needed to go home and prepare for her upcoming work shift at the Black Lantern Inn, a restaurant in Montgomery. When police raided the suspected dealers' home in Berkshire, Vermont, however, there was no trace of Maitland there. In both cases, there were no signs of an altercation or any indication that the young women were harmed or killed in or near their vehicles. Police said they are checking with local agencies and have not ruled out an unreported disappearance or one from another state. Stories of the Unsolved reports the damage appeared to have been caused when the vehicle struck a wall while it was being backed into the barn. University of Massachusetts student Maura Murray went missing on February 9, 2004. Brianna Maitland remains missing. According to Murder Squad, the two dealers were Nathaniel Charles Jackson and Ramon Ryans. However, the vehicle's keys were never found. As reported by Stories of the Unsolved, Maitland's friends confirmed she has experimented with several "hard" drugs including cocaine. Her friend had no idea that she would not see her Maitland again. [28] The FBI ruled out Keyes's potential connection to Maitland's disappearance in late December 2012,[28] shortly after Keyes committed suicide in Anchorage, Alaska. The case was still pending when Brianna disappeared. Police think Maitland was a victim of foul play. On March 20, 2004, police were called to a farmhouse about one mile away from the Black Lantern Inn. No Asian woman was reported missing in Vermont. For Brianna, earning her GED was an important step in her goal to attend college. [4], In 2006, security footage at the Caesars World casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, showed a woman resembling Maitland sitting at a poker table. [4] This was the last time she saw her daughter. Angela Baker has been the Vermont State Police lead detective on the case for the past four years. At that time, police showed the Maitlands a picture of their daughters car, which had plowed into the back of the barn. "If you go on the internet and search: Brianna Maitland, just the information that comes up, it is just an obscene amount of information, says Baker. The 17 year old had dropped out of high school but that morning she took her GED certificate test and . In late 2004 I read about Brianna Maitland's disappearance online while at work. [4], In 2012, law enforcement investigated a potential connection between Maitland's disappearance and serial killer Israel Keyes, who committed numerous rapes and murders in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington,[26][27] as well as in Vermont and New York, where he owned property in Constable.
