Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Disappearance of Brandi Wells Part Two

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The Disappearance of Brandi Wells Part Two · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Gone Call podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Three days before she disappeared, Brandy
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Wells was talking about college. Years later, that conversation would
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: become one of the most important memories preserved by the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: people who loved her. Brandy wasn't talking about leaving, about
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: starting over somewhere else, or about running away from anything.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: She was talking about classes, her scholarship, and her future career.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: At twenty three years old, after a series of setbacks
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: that might have discouraged someone else, Brandy felt like her
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: life was finally moving in the right direction again. Her
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: best friend Janelle remembered the excitement in her voice. Brandy
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: had enrolled at Trinity Valley Community College, and the flag
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Core scholar ship she'd earned years earlier had been renewed.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: She admitted she felt a little nervous about returning because
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: she would be older than some of the other students
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: around her, the kind of concern many people have when
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: they start over after life takes them in an unexpected direction.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: But nervousness wasn't the feeling that defined this conversation. Excitement did.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Brandy had plans. She had already been hired at her
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: local Walmart and was waiting to be placed on the schedule.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: More importantly, though, was that rediscovery of a dream she
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: never completely abandoned, becoming a kindergarten teacher. Friends and family
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: thought that line of work suited her perfectly because she
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: genuinely loved children. The future Brandy Wells envisioned wasn't extravagant.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It was built around helping people starting a career she
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: cared about and creating a life she could be proud of.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: For the first time in years, she felt close to
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: achieving it when she went missing. These things didn't necessarily
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: make her disappearance difficult to understand. No one who knew
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Brandy thought for a second she would leave of her
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: own free will. There was absolutely no indication she would,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: even if her plans for the future were any less
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: developed than they were. There were, however, indications she had
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: not purposely vanished. The way her car was found off
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Interstate twenty between Longview and Kilgore was suspicious, as it
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: was parked at an odd angle with the driver's side
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: door wide open. Brandy's purse, her wallet, a phone, not hers,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and other personal items were inside. The keys were not
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: there were no broken windows or any other signs to
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: indicate that a struggle had taken place. The vehicle bore
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: damage above the right passenger side front wheel, but this
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: was later accounted for. The driver's seat had been pushed
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: all the way back, but Brandy stood only around five
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: feet tall. Police found a gas can in the trunk,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: and no one knew her to carry one at all,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: not family, not friends. The Longview police, who inherited the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: missing person's case after it was established Brandy was last
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: seen there, would not elaborate. It's unknown if the gas
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: can was full, empty, or somewhere in between, if it
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: was new or old, whether fingerprints or other evidence was
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: found on it, or whether detectives even considered it significant
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: to Brandy's disappearance. Also inside the car, detectives found a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: nat with a man's name and phone number written on it.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: It was one of the very first leads that came
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: their way, and though they knew its explanation could be
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: simple and innocent enough, it was an incredibly important one
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to follow. Police tracked the man whose name and number
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: they found written on a napkin in brandy Well's black
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: two thousand Pontiac Grand prix. He was cooperative and gladly
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: accepted when they asked him to come in for an interview.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Told detectives that he had met Brandy at Graham Central
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Station in Longview, the last place she was seen, and
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: offered to buy her a drink. According to his account,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: she declined but continued to be social, even hinting that
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: she needed gas money. Brandy never directly asked him for cash,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: but the subject came up during their conversation. The man
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: even recalled most of what the missing young woman was wearing,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: a floral print, brown and cream colored tube top with
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a v cut over the hip, rust colored gaucho pants,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and black strapless high heeled sandals. Although he was fine
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: with being interviewed, the man declined to submit to a
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: polygraph examination. Having no evidence he'd done anything at all,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: The lead was moved to the backburner until evidence proving
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: something either way surfaced. Knowing she was asking or hinting
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: around for gas money, detectives turned back to the club
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to find witnesses who had spoken with Brandy. It's unclear
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: if they learned much. Meanwhile, Brandy's mother, godmother, and other
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: family members continually contacted newspapers and television stations to help
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: keep word of Brandy's disappearance in the media, while also
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: handing out and posting flyers around Longview and the surrounding areas.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Then there was the phone found in Brandy's car. Police
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: had already begun contacting people listed in the cell phone,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: but they weren't having much luck. They had assumed it
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: belonged to the missing young woman, but something about it
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't adding up. Detectives found that most of the contacts
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: stored in it didn't know Brandy at all. The confusion
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: only deepened, and Brandy shared a cell phone plan with
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a friend and her mother, Ellen asked for copies of
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the callogues. That's when another strange development emerged. About a
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: week after Brandy disappeared, activity began appearing on Brandy's cellular account.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Calls were being made from her phone. They weren't long conversations,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: most lasted only a minute or two. It was odd
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: not to mention wildly suspicious. Ten days after Brandy vanished,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Ellen went to provide police in Longview with the DNA sample,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: so any Jane Does who came in there or the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: surrounding areas could be compared and if they were her
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: identified quickly. While she was at the station, she noticed
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: something that changed the course of the investigation. The cell
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: phone sitting in evidence wasn't brand at all. It belonged
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: to an ex boyfriend who had been deployed overseas in Iraq. Suddenly,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the confusion made sense. The device and police custody belonged
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: to someone else entirely, explaining why only a handful of
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: names in its address book had any connection to her.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Detectives scrambled to redirect their efforts. Subpoenas were issued for
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Brandy's actual cell phone records, while search efforts continued across
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: East Texas and somewhere out there, Brandy's real phone was
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: still moving through other hands. For Ellen, the discovery produced
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: an uncomfortable mixture of hope and frustration. On one hand,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the activity suggested the phone still existed and could potentially
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: lead police to someone who knew what happened. On the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: other hand, every new call reinforced the same reality. An
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: item that should have been with her daughter was now
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: in someone else's possession. Police eventually connected three different individuals
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: to Brandy's cell phone. According to Ellen, all three people
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: submitted to polygraph examinations, two reportedly passed and one reportedly failed.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: According to this person's account, he found it beeping alongside
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: a roadway in a residential area on the south side
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: of Longview, a neighborhood described as rough and known for
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: criminal activity. It was a spot that Brandy's family insisted
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: she would have never gone to on her own. Police
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: seemed to have agreed. They also discovered something else interesting
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: from the spot on Eckman Street where it was supposedly found.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: It's a four block drive to a turn that becomes
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Farm to Market Road twenty eighty seven. That's the closest
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: exit off Interstate twenty to where Brandy's vehicle was found.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: It wasn't nothing. The person who said he simply found
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Brandy's phone while out on a walk told similar but
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: differing accounts of what exactly happened. As was the case
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: with the man who'd given his name and numbered A
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Brandy on a cocktail napkin, the police had no reason,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: no evidence to suggest he was guilty of anything, but
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: he remains a person of interest in the case to
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: this day. Though things weren't going well concerning the investigation, Luckily,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: police had been able to secure Graham's Central Station surveillance
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: footage from the night Brandy was last seen, but even
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: this evidence came with its own bout of confusion and misdirection.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: When detectives first reviewed Graham Central Station's surveillance footage, they
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: believed they had found Brandy Wells. Family members were brought
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: in to help identify her and pointed to a young
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: woman they believed was her. The woman appeared to be
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: socializing with several men inside the club, and based on
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: that identification, detectives publicly asked for help identifying those men.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: For a lengthy period of time, both investigators and Brandy's
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: family believed they were looking at Brandy's final hours. The
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: woman in the footage identified as her, a woman who
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Brandy's mother had told police might be her as they
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: had similar body shapes and the same color and length
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: of hair, ended up not in fact being Brandy. For
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: weeks after reviewing the footage recorded the night her daughter
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: was last seen, Ellen wasn't sitting right with it. The
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: young woman on the tape wasn't wearing the same clothes
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Brandy had left home in that night, at least not
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that she remembered. She began questioning whether she and investigators
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: had identified the wrong person. Approximately six weeks in the investigation,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Ellen reviewed the footage again alongside Brandy's aunt and uncle.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: This time around, her uncle found the real Brandy in
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the footage. The root cause of the confusion appears to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: have been the surveillance system's time stamp being incorrect. The
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: original woman had been misidentified because investigators were relying on
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: an inaccurate time. Once the footage was re examined, the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: following facts were determined. Brandy was seen entering Graham Central
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Station alone at approximately ten thirty five to ten thirty
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: six pm. Her driver's license had been electronically scanned at
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the entrance, confirming it. She remained inside the club for
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: nearly two hours. She was later seen leaving the club
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: at approximately twelve thirty am now Saturday, August third, two
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: thousand and six. When she left, she appeared to be alone.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: The early public plea seeking information about the men seen
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: with the misidentified woman had been based on the wrong person.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Of course, for Ellen, that realization had to be devastating.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: For six weeks, she believed the police were following a
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: promising lead, but instead she discovered they had been chasing
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: people who most likely had nothing to do with her
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: daughter's disappearance. At the same time, the correction revealed something
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: just as unsettling. Perhaps the real Brandy appeared to have
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: spent much of the evening by herself. Because the camera
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: was pointed only at the entrance and not the parking lot,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: which had no cameras, the most important moments of the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: night occurred just beyond the reach of the surveillance system.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: The footage that was supposed to answer questions only created
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: new ones. Who was the man in the white cowboy
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: hat walking out behind Brandy? Did he speak to her?
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: If he did, is that why Brandy changed directions and
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: turned left after first going right? And there was also
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: a question that nagged at Ellen. If investigators had correctly
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: identified Brandy from the beginning, would anything about those critical
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: first days of the investigation have unfolded differently. It was
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a horrible thought, a painful one, and it was followed
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: by something else that shook Brandy's loved ones to their cores.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: It happens over and over again in missing persons cases.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Someone unidentified, a doe discovered in a field or vacant building.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Maybe skeletal remains found in the woods, followed by a
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: reconstruction released to the public in hopes of identifying them
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: someone with a vanished loved one. Perhaps the age is
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: close or the timeline seems possible. This occurred in the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: case of Brandy Wells, involving a woman who became known
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: across Texas as Lavender Doe. On October twenty ninth, two
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: thousand and six, hunters came upon the body of a
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: young woman near kings Hilgore, about thirty miles from Tyler
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: and not far from where Brandy's car had been found.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: She had been murdered and left burning in a pile
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: of brush and debris off a rural road in greg County.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: The fire appeared to have been set just minutes before
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: the discovery. Because there was nothing on or around her
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: to suggest her identity, authorities didn't know who she was,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: but detectives in Longview knew there was a chance it
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: was Brandy Wells. They estimated the Doe was young, though
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: they believed she was as young as thirteen, there was
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: a possibility she was around Brandy's age. Her estimated height
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and weight were similar. An empty gasoline can sat near
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the fire. An eerie reminder of the gas can found
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: in the trunk of Brandy's car, the one that did
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: not belong to her. Seamen was found on the victim,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: and it is believed she was raped using the unidentified
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: woman's skull. Greg County Sheriff's Office officials released facial reconstructions
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: and pleaded for help identifying her. Brandy's mother, Ellen even
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: said the reconstruction looked like her. It could be her.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: She was wearing different clothing blue jeans and a long
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: sleeved lavender colored sweater, but it had been months since
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Brandy was last seen. It was an anguishing thought, as
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Lavender Doe had been raped and brutally murdered before being
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: set ablaze. Ellen made the initial call to detectives working
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: her daughter's case that led to a dental comparison because
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: there was little to no belief Brandy would have gone
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: so long without contacting family. The dates of her disappearance
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: and Lavender Doe's discovery never truly aligned, and when dental
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: records were compared, they shattered the hope that there might
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: be an end to their uncertainty. Eventually, in twenty eighteen,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: an initial suspect sex offender Joseph Wayne Burnett confessed to
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: killing Lavender Doe and told police he believed her name
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: was Ashley. The following year, advance's in genetic genealogy finally
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: gave her her name back, and that wasn't it. She
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: was identified as twenty two year old Dana Lynn Dodd
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: from Florida. She had left home after joining a traveling
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: magazine sales team said to be known for exploiting teens
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and young adults with promises of travel opportunities. Her family
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: had spent more than a decade without answers of their own.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: For Brandy's family, Dana's identification had closed one door. It
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: wasn't the answer they had been searching for, but it
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: was one more possibility eliminated from an ever shrinking list,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: and one of the cruel realities of long term missing
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: persons cases. Those left behind find themselves starting over once again,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: carrying the same questions into yet another year. Almost twenty
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: years after the fact, Brandy Wells remains missing. Using surveillance tapes,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: detectives were able to confirm that at approximately twelve thirty am,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Brandy walked straight out of Graham's Central station in longview
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and into the parking lot. Right behind her, a man
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: in a white cowboy hat and a dark colored shirt
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: exited the club. The man appeared to be looking toward
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Brandy and talking as he moved outside. Rather than going
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: straight and then to the right like she did, the
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: man turned to the left. Brandy then changed course and
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: turned left as well. Within seconds, both disappeared from the
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: camera's view. The surveillance didn't cover the parking lot, so
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: what happened next has never been publicly documented. Maybe it
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: meant nothing at all. Maybe they were simply two strangers
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: leaving a crowded nightclub at the same time. Or maybe Brandy,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: who according to those who loved her, never met a
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: stranger and always tried to see the good in people,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: followed someone she believed was offering a simple solution to
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: a simple problem. She needed gas, and perhaps this man
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: offered to provide it. Or maybe that didn't happen at all.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe Brandy simply momentarily forgot where she had parked. Whatever
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the case, it's unclear if authorities ever identified this man.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Brandy's disappearance. Like the minority of missing persons cases that
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: aren't solved in the first few days forced her family
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: to keep moving, even when they had no idea which
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: direction would lead to answers. Detectives followed tips, friends, family,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and volunteers showed up again and again, walking fields, wooded areas,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: abandoned buildings, and remote stretches of East Texas terrain, looking
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: for anything that might explain what happened after Brandy walked
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: out of that club. The Laura Recovery Center became involved
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: in December two thousand and six, more than three months
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: after Brandy went missing. They brought tracking dogs and trained searchers.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Nothing was found. Cadaver dogs were also brought in. Boats
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: were used in searches connected to the Sabine River area.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: At one point, more than fifty volunteers joined an organized effort,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: moving through the land in lines sometimes connected by rope,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: trying to cover as much ground as possible without missing
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the smallest clue. But every search returned the family to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the same place. No clothing was ever found, no remains
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: were found, No piece of evidence surfaced that explained whether
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Brandy left the club and ran out of gas, accepted
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: help from someone, got into another vehicle, or was harmed
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: somewhere else before her car was left along Interstate twenty
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that's where the vehicle was found, but that did not
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: prove Brandy disappeared from there. The Pontiac suggested one possibility,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and her phone, found several blocks away down a residential
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: air yet well known for being the rough side of town,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: suggested another. The longer the case continued, the harder it
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: became to know where anyone should be looking for families
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: of missing persons, time doesn't move the way it does
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: for everyone else. In the beginning, there's activity everywhere, media, searchers, cops, tipsters.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: That first forty eight hours goes by fast, too fast.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Every possible sighting feels like it might be the one.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Every rumor, every name, every scrap of information feels important
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: because it might be the piece that finally connects others together.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Then the weeks become months, the months become years, and
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the family is left living in a place most people
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: never have to imagine, where hope and grief exist. At
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the same time, they keep hoping for answers while also
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: preparing themselves for the possibility that it might not be
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: what they want to hear, like it had with Lavender Doe.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Just a couple months after Brandy Wells disappeared. Years later,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Hope and fear returned again. In twenty twenty one, human
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: remains were discovered behind the former Sunset Inn in Longview.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Once again, the possibility it was Brandy had to be considered.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Her family had to wait while investigators determined whether this
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: might finally be the discovery that ended their questions at
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: least the initial round. But it was not Brandy. Detectives
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: eventually determined the remains belonged to a middle aged man.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: For the public, a discovery like that might be a
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: brief news story, something read once and forgotten by the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: next day. For families like Brandy, it is an emotional rollercoaster.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: It raises the possibility of an ending, forces everyone to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: imagine the worst, and then leaves them with the same
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: empty space they had before. Through everything, Ellen never stopped
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: talking about her daughter. She never stopped trying to keep
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Brandy's name in front of the public. In the early days,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: family members contacted media outlets themselves, trying to make sure
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: people knew Brandy was missing. Over the years, detectives changed,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: coverage faded, and the case moved in and out of
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: public attention, But Ellen continued searching. Brandy wasn't just a
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: case file to her, She wasn't just the woman in
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: a missing person's poster or a photograph shown on the news.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: The loss didn't freeze the family in place, even if
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Brandy herself remained for l of her twenty three in
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the public memory. Grandparents died, an uncle died, nieces and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: nephews were born, children who would grow up knowing Brandy
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: only through stories and photographs. Her half sister, Samantha, grew
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: up married, had children of her own, and carried the
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: memory of a sister she didn't get nearly enough time with.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Samantha was placed into foster care before Brandy disappeared, and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: never learned the full truth until she turned eighteen because
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: of a no contact adoption. She remembered Brandy coming to
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: get her from her father's house when she needed a
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: break from the turmoil there. They'd go shopping, go to
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the movies, browse CDs at music stores, and did the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: simple sister things that become priceless after someone disappears. Samantha
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: has become one of the strongest voices keeping Brandy's case
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: in front of the public. She believes her sister is
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: most likely deceased, but she still wants answers for the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: siblings who deeply miss her. She's spoken about becoming more
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: vigilant because of what happened to Brandy, making a point
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: of knowing her surroundings and keeping safety tools in her vehicle,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: window breaking and flotation devices. Samantha always introduces herself to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: bouncers and bartenders at clubs as an added safety precaution,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: and keeps her husband's phone number on the locked screen
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of her cell phone. Nearly twenty years after Brandy Wells
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: walked out of Graham's Central Station in Longview, the mystery remains.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Someone out there knows whether she accepted help, whether she
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: left with someone she trusted, whether she was followed, or
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: whether something happened in a place that has never been
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: publicly ida identified. Maybe it had something to do with
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the man in the cowboy hat seen walking out just
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: after her. Perhaps the man who said he found Brandy's
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: phone while out on a walk knows more than he's
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: let on. Whatever the case, she was more than the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: mystery she left behind. She was a daughter, a sister,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: and a friend. Brandy was a young woman excited about
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: returning to college, starting a new job and building the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: future she thought she still had time to reach. Twenty
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: years is a long time, and no one knows that
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: better than Brandy's family. If you have any information about
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: the disappearance of Brandy ellen Wells, please contact the Longview
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Police at nine zero three two three seven one one
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: one zero. If you'd like to join Concold's mission to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: shine a light on unsolved homicides and missing persons cases,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: get the show at free and have access to bonus content.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: You can at Patreon dot com slash Gone Cold podcast.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: You can also support the show by leaving a five
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: star rating and written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: else you listen. However you choose to support Gone Cold,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Thanks for listening, y'all.