On the 19th of March 2004,17 year old Brianna
Maitland vanished under baffling circumstances.
Brianna was from Franklin, Vermont. Her family have
described her as a vibrant and spirited young woman. She had a passion for art
and creativity, and enjoyed activities such as hiking and exploring. She was a
dedicated young woman, as she worked 2 jobs, a dishwashing job at the Black
Lantern Inn in Montgomery, and waitressing in St. Albans, Vermont.
Brianna had just turned 17, and decided she wanted more
independence and freedom, and so she decided to move out from her parents
house. On top of this, Brianna felt she wasn’t fitting in at her high school,
and so as a result she moved from Franklin to Enosburg, to live with her friend
Katie Manning, roughly 10 miles from home. She then enrolled in the local high
school in Enosburg, and this worked out for Brianna, she felt she fit in better
and had more friends. Although not thrilled, her parents let Brianna go ahead
as they wanted her to be happy and more comfortable.
Brianna only stayed with Katie for 2 months, between October
2003 and December. She decided to move out and from then lived with different
boyfriends. By February 2004, Brianna became more distant from her circle of
friends, her academic performance declined, and she dropped out of high school
and enrolled in a GED programme and moved in with a different friend, Jillian. Despite
this hurdle of dropping out of high school, Brianna remained determined to get
a proper education.
Only a few weeks before her disappearance, Brianna was at a
party and got into a verbal altercation with one of her former friends, about a
boy. She leaves the party to go and sit in her boyfriends truck, and the former
friend hit Brianna through the window, breaking her nose, and she pressed
charges. She said to police she didn’t fight back, as she wanted to be liked
and didn’t want to be outcast like she was in her previous school.
The Day of the Disappearance
On this day, Brianna took her high school equivalency exam
in order to receive her GED, and to celebrate, her mother took her out for
breakfast, and then they went shopping. When standing in the checkout line,
something catches Brianna’s eye, and she leaves and tells her mother she will
be back soon. Her mother doesn’t question this as she doesn’t want to invade
Brianna’s privacy, as they were in a good place and didn’t want to cause
arguments on a special day. When she returns, she is in a foul mood, she had
just done a complete 360. She then says to her mum she wants to go home and get
ready for her shift. It was never confirmed what Brianna went out and did/saw/spoke
to. Her mum then dropped her off at Jillian’s house, and this was the last time
she would see Brianna.
Brianna leaves Jillian a note saying she is going to work but
will be back home later, however Jillian was going on a trip and wouldn’t be
back until the 21st, 2 days later.
Brianna was last seen at the Black Lantern Inn between 11.20pm
and midnight on the 19th of March 2004. She declined an invite from
her co-workers to have dinner as she had to get up early the next morning for
her second job at KJ’s diner. She then left to go home. She was seen leaving
and driving her green 1985 Olds Mobile.
In the late evening hours of the 19th of March
and early hours of the 20th, there are multiple reports of Brianna’s
car backed into an abandoned farm house. The headlights were on and both the
driver and passenger car door was open. Nobody reported seeing anyone in or
around the car. Brianna’s boyfriend James actually drove past and noticed it,
and turned the headlights off and closed the door, potentially contaminating
evidence of a crime scene. There was loose change and a broken necklace
surrounding the car, later confirmed to be Brianna’s.
A Vermont state trooper was dispatched to the scene, and
inside the car he found 2 of Brianna’s pay checks from the Black Lantern Inn.
The car is then towed to an auto mobile shop. However, the car was registered
to Kelly Maitland, Brianna’s mother, but she was never told of the car being
abandoned, therefore insinuating the trooper never ran the license plate.
Jillian returns on the 21st to find Brianna is
not there, and calls Brianna’s mother Kelly and they then realise Brianna is
missing. They then report her missing. However, police do not take this seriously.
On the 25th of March, Brianna’s parents go to
police and ask for help searching for their daughter and only then do the
police take this case seriously, which is extremely infuriating. The state
trooper (who was sent to the abandoned car) overhears conversation and tells Brianna’s
parents that her car had been towed and gave them the location of the auto body
shop.
Brianna’s dad goes to the auto body shop to see the car, he
finds things Brianna would not have willingly left, including her glasses,
contact lenses and her debit card. Migraine medication was also found, and Brianna
profusely suffered with migraines.
Searches are conducted but no leads are not found.
Tips come in, but none of them lead to any evidence of where
Brianna is.
Recently in 2016, DNA samples were recovered from inside/around
Brianna’s car, however despite finding a close match, police said there was not
enough evidence to consider the person of the match a suspect.
The Theories
1.
Abduction/Murder
Many have theorised that Brianna may have been the victim to
an abduction or a serial killer based off of other unsolved cases in the vicinity.
There were several other reports of young missing women in surrounding areas. A
further pointer is the way Brianna’s car was found abandoned, and inside her
car were essential items such as migraine medication and her glasses, and she
would not have left them behind had she free will, or if she was alive.
2.
Drug-Related Foul Play
After Brianna’s disappearance, a tip was given that Brianna
was being held hostage in a specific location, which ended up being a drug
house, There were 2 occupants who were arrested on drug charges, but there were
other occupants living there who knew of Brianna. However, Brianna wasn’t there.
What police did find out is that Brianna was a drug user, but only occasionally,
and didn’t have a drug problem. However, this information coming out has lead individuals
to believe drugs were involved and Brianna was not in the right state of mind,
and therefore she left her belongings in the car. What is thought to have
happened next is still unclear.
3.
Runaway?
It is without a doubt Brianna from a young age wanted
independence and freedom, as she moved out at 17 to her friend Katie, but only
2 months after Brianna was bouncing from different places. She lived with different
boyfriends, even some nights sleeping in her car in freezing temperatures, and
since Brianna moved out she didn’t sustain stability in her living conditions.
It could be possible Brianna wanted to start over and so abandoned her car and
ran away to live a new life.
Another theory that follows this, is potentially Brianna was
being threatened, or she was scared. Whatever Brianna seen on the morning of
her disappearance that she left her mother Kelly to go out and see, or perhaps
it was a person she spoke to, could be the reason for her disappearance. It is
very suspicious, as Brianna’s mood completely changed from being happy and
content after passing her qualification, she retuned sad and seemed agitated,
and is it a coincidence she disappeared that night?
There is so much information regarding this case, it would quite
literally be mountains of information. There are so many different conspiracies
as to what happened Brianna, but I have listed the most likely ones. However,
feel free to further look into this, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Feel
free to comment your opinions and thoughts.
*This is purely for educational purposes and I do not mean
any disrespect to anyone mentioned above*.
Comments
Post a Comment