Disappearance of Brianna Maitland

Brianna Maitland disappeared on March 19, 2004, after leaving her job as a dishwasher at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont, United States. Maitland's car was discovered the following day backed into the side of an abandoned house about a mile away.^[2] As of August 2014, ten years after her disappearance, her whereabouts remain unknown.

Disappearance

At the time of her disappearance, Brianna was living with her friend Jillian Stout at Jillian's father's home in Sheldon, Vermont, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Montgomery. At about 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 19, Brianna left Jillian a note that she would return after work that evening and departed for the Black Lantern Inn in her 1985 Oldsmobile sedan. After a busy but uneventful evening at work, Brianna clocked out at 11:20 p.m. She told her co-workers she needed to get home to rest before working the next day at her second job in St. Albans. She was seen leaving the restaurant by one or more co-workers, by all appearances alone in her car.^[3]

Early in the afternoon of the next day, a Vermont State Police trooper was dispatched to an abandoned house on Route 118 just outside of Montgomery, about a mile from the Black Lantern Inn. Brianna's car was found backed into the side of the house. Known locally as "the old Dutchburn house", it had a hole punched into its side by the rear end of the car. A piece of plywood that had been covering a window of the house laid on top of the car's trunk. Two of Brianna's paychecks from the Black Lantern Inn were on the front seat of the car. The trooper dispatched to the site assumed the car was abandoned, possibly by a drunk driver. A towing company arrived and towed the vehicle to a local garage for the owner to eventually claim.

Due to a combination of circumstances, days would pass before anyone realized that Brianna was missing. Police failed to notify Kellie Maitland, Brianna's mother and the registered owner of the Oldsmobile, that the car had been recovered. Kellie would not learn this until the following Thursday, five days after the fact. Jillian Stout saw Brianna's note on Friday, March 19, spent the weekend away, and returned on Monday to find the note undisturbed. Assuming Brianna was staying elsewhere, she waited until Tuesday to call Kellie to ask about Brianna. Kellie began making phone calls to try to locate Brianna. Failing in her efforts, and still unaware that Brianna's car had been recovered, Kellie filed a missing persons report that day. On Thursday morning, March 25, Kellie and her husband Bruce Maitland traveled to the Vermont State Police in St. Albans to deliver photos of Brianna. A trooper showed them a picture of the car embedded in the side of the Dutchburn house. They identified the car as Brianna's and quickly realized that Brianna was likely the victim of foul play.

It was later learned that Brianna's car was seen at the Dutchburn house at least three times during the night of March 19–20 and photographed during the morning of March 20. A man who drove by between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. recalled that the car's headlights may have been on but he did not see anyone in or around the car. A second man who drove by between midnight and 12:30 a.m. recalled seeing a turn signal flashing on the car. At around 4:00 a.m., a former boyfriend of Brianna's drove past the car on his way home from a night of partying. He thought he recognized Brianna's car but did not see anyone in or around the vehicle. The next morning, motorists drove past and found the scene odd enough that they stopped and took photographs of the car. One of the photographers reported seeing some loose change, a water bottle, and a bracelet or necklace on the ground next to the car.^[4]

Period prior to disappearance

The months leading up to Brianna's disappearance had been turbulent ones for her. On her birthday the previous October, Brianna had, against her parents' wishes, moved out of her home. Kellie said that although there had been typical parent/teen conflicts, Brianna's move was not due to any particular stresses at home. Rather, she wanted more independence and to be closer to a group of friends who lived 15 miles away and attended a different high school. Brianna enrolled at her friends' high school, but her living arrangements were unstable. By the end of February she had dropped out of school, moved in with Jillian, and joined a high school equivalency program.

Three weeks prior to her disappearance, on the night of February 24, Brianna attended a party with friends. Brianna was attacked by a girl who had become angry and jealous. She suffered a broken nose and concussion. Brianna later filed charges against Keallie Lacross for the attack. The charges against Lacross were dropped three weeks after Brianna disappeared. Police said that Lacross was cleared in Brianna's disappearance. Lacross was arrested in Montgomery in 2012 and charged with home invasion and assault in an unrelated incident.^[5]

On the day Brianna disappeared, she and her mother were shopping together around mid-day. As they waited at a checkout counter, something outside the store caught Brianna's attention. She told Kellie she would be right back and left the store. Kellie completed her purchase, left the store, and met up with Brianna in the parking lot. As she drove Brianna to Jillian's home, Brianna seemed shaken and agitated. Kellie, not wanting to pry, did not ask what had happened, and dropped her off at Jillian's home. This was the last time she saw Brianna prior to her disappearance.

Search efforts and investigation

The Vermont State Police, who led the official investigation into Brianna's disappearance, for the first months after Brianna's disappearance were skeptical that foul play was involved.^[6] They processed Brianna's car for evidence on March 30.

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously

References

External links

• Brianna's Profile at National Missing and Unidentified Persons System