Crime Junkie - MISSING: Brian Wehrle from Atlanta

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

This episode was originally released in May 2023, and is one of sixteen episodes from the archives we'll be bringing you every Thursday, now through end of year... for good reason! ;) We highly recommend you listen to each episode between now and end of 2024, and follow us on Instagram @crimejunkiepodcast so you're the first to know what's coming next!

Hi, Crime Junkies, Britt here. And now you guys officially know what we've been up to here with our re-releases on Thursdays. It might not technically be an Heiress tour, but it is a Crime Junkie tour. We've been taking you through our upcoming 2025 Crime Junkie tour stops. I promise we'll have more deets on the dates, tickets, et cetera, out very, very soon. And you guys, we cannot wait to see you in real life. But in the meantime, we've still got more stops to go. And what's been so great about these re-releases is that not only have we been

able to have a little fun with you guys on Thursdays, but most importantly, it's given us the opportunity to re-highlight cases that still need answers. Answers that one of you may have. So today, we're headed back to Atlanta, Georgia in hopes that someone out there can finally give this family the closure that every loved one deserves. Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

And I'm Britt. And before we jump into today's episode, Britt, I just wanna acknowledge that AudioChuck recently passed two billion downloads across our shows. I know, and just to be clear, that's billion with a V. I mean, that number is like hard for me to even wrap my head around. And as you guys know, I mean, so much good has come from you just hitting play.

Yes, and we truly could not do it without each and every one of you tuning in every single week. But just like us at AudioChuck, we know that you crime junkies don't just stop after an episode. So many of you look for more ways to engage after you listen. So if you're looking to connect with us and to take your crime junkiness to the next level, you can follow AudioChuck and our shows on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

We will link out to all of those in the show notes. And trust me, you'll want to keep up because we are not stopping anytime soon. With that being said, the story I have for you today is about a man who vanished without a trace during what should have been a fairly uneventful trip to his hometown. Everyone who knew him or who hears about this case

suspects foul play, but no one knows what could have happened to him. This is the story of Brian Whirly. Anita Gay is surprised when she gets a call from a friend who works at the courthouse. It's the afternoon of Thursday, September 24th, 2009, and her friend says that Anita's brother, 39-year-old Brian Worley, didn't show up for court earlier that morning. Now, he's not in trouble or anything. It's like probate court, and he was only supposed to be there to just turn in some receipts and sign a document.

You see, their mom has Alzheimer's and neurocognitive disorder, and he is her power of attorney. So Brian has to juggle a lot of complicated paperwork. And sure, it's been a bit stressful, but he's not the kind of guy to just skip on something so important. In fact, he came into town specifically for that hearing. And he even drove through some of the worst flooding that Georgia's ever seen to get there. Like the drive from where he was living in Atlanta to where his family lives in Carrollton usually takes about an hour, but because of everything

that was going on with all the traffic, with all the road closures, it had taken him four hours when he made the trip just two days before on the 22nd. Oh wow. Yeah. So at first, Anita just calls himself, but he doesn't answer. Then she starts reaching out to some of the people that he's closest with to see if they've heard from him, like his longtime partner, Jeff, who he lives with in Atlanta, and her and Brian's niece, Amanda, who she knows he talks to at least a few times a day. But no one Anita calls has spoken to him since yesterday.

Amanda says that Brian called her while he was getting Taco Bell the day before. It was like three o'clock in the afternoon. He had just finished up some yard work at his parents' house, which is where he stays when he's in town because it's been empty since his mom moved into an assisted living facility that past spring. Now during their chat, he was so normal. He like filled her in on his nightmare drive from Atlanta. He says he was so frazzled that he just stopped somewhere along the way to have a quick drink

and met some quote-unquote interesting people there. Interesting how? I don't know, he didn't really elaborate. But interesting people aside, he said that he didn't want a repeat of that trip. But the problem is, he can't stick around in Carrollton until the road's clear, because he and Jeff are going to be going to Florida this coming Saturday to visit another one of his sisters, and he has been really looking forward to a vacation. So he told Amanda on this call that he might try to get his hands on a topographic map.

Brian actually studied geology in college and he worked for years as a land surveyor. So he figured, you know, he's probably going to be able to use this map, which shows like the kind of elevation in the area to find an alternate route home where the roads aren't flooded. Now, after that call, Anita knows where Brian was because it was her house. He went over there for dinner with her and her family, and she's able to piece together that Brian had called Jeff later that night at around 830 just to catch up. He also left Amanda a voicemail at some point, but he didn't answer when she called him back. Now the last person that he spoke with was his

best friend and Anita knows that they hung up at around 915. Was he still at Anita's during those calls? That depends on the source. And listen, I'll warn you all. The Fall Line podcast first covered this and they were actually the ones who suggested this story to us because Brian's case wasn't just getting, I mean, hardly any attention. So they gave us copies of police reports that they obtained through a records request. And there is so much stuff that just was never documented by the original investigators and the lead detective detective Tony Johnson. Like, I mean, we're talking there are entries with no dates or times. Some of the details don't

jive with things that I've heard from Brian's niece or his sister, or even from current investigators who our reporter Nina interviewed. And there's also like a ton of conflicting information from the media. So again, there's a lot of specifics that we've tried to piece together with everything that we know the best we can, but nailing down a consistent timeline is damn near impossible. So with that in mind, police reports say that Brian left Anita's at around 8 on Wednesday night. She only lives like 10 minutes from their parents' house, so if those reports are accurate, that he was probably back at his folks when he spoke to Jeff.

So that is where Anita goes to look for him on Thursday afternoon. But he's not there. And neither is his car, a light blue Buick that used to belong to their mother. So she goes inside the house, and at first glance, everything looks normal. But then she notices that a corner of his bed covers are turned back, almost like he was getting ready to lie down, but then didn't for some reason. And what's even more strange is that all of Brian's stuff

is still there. And when I say all, we're talking his cell phone, his overnight bag, clothes, toiletries, and most alarming of all, his medications. And none of that is reassuring. Are the medications essential? Yes. So you see, Brian had some health issues.

He has a heart condition that requires him to use a pacemaker. He has severe arthritis. He's been diagnosed with narcolepsy, and he also has insomnia. So there is no way that this dude is leaving with all of his medications left behind unless he planned to come back Yeah, and actually the one thing she can't find is Brian's wallet So maybe just maybe he ran out to get something But even then like it doesn't add up because he wouldn't have missed court that morning So by this point everyone's getting really worried

court that morning. So by this point, everyone's getting really worried. When Amanda, who by the way lives in Ohio with her husband at the time, when she gets an update from Anita, she starts panicking immediately. And Jeff, who's still in Atlanta, is right there along with her. He apparently contacts Carrollton police that very night, but I bet you can guess what they tell him. Oh my god, you have to wait. Mm-hmm, a whopping 72 hours. I know we've mentioned this before. I'm gonna say it again, loud and clear for the folks in the back in case anyone listening ever finds himself in this situation.

Law enforcement agencies are not required to wait to take a missing persons report, even if that person is an adult. Mm-hmm, totally. File that report, make them do it. Yes, absolutely. And especially in this case, I mean, you would think that Brian's medical conditions would, I don't know, raise the level of concern enough to get it filed right away, at least without any pushback?

That was kind of my thought too. And again, it's one thing to say you're not going to search. Like, again, I still don't understand it, but take the freaking report. Like how much effort is that? Yeah, at least get something in paper. Get something started. Get the ball rolling. Right.

I don't... So here's the thing with this one. So they do eventually take a report after Anita calls them on Friday. But even though they took a report, they don't actually enter Brian's information into the state and national databases yet. So they just write this stuff on a Post-It note? Yeah, I don't know. Although according to Bennett-Rowland's reporting for the Times-Georgian, they do put out a

bolo for Brian's car. Now by the time Saturday rolls around and there's still no sign of Brian, Jeff makes his way to Carrollton himself and he and Anita go to the station to speak with investigators in person. And again, they're pleading with them. They're like, this is totally out of character for Brian to just go MIA like this. And they're also trying to convince police like, listen, we got to completely rule out like any kind of self-harm. This isn't that either.

So it's at this point that he is finally officially listed as a missing person. But even though it is a victory, Jeff doesn't think detectives are all that interested in finding his partner. For some reason, they seem to believe that Jeff and Brian got into a quote unquote lover spat and that maybe Brian left without his cell phone on purpose because he didn't want to be bothered or maybe he's having an affair. Either way, the police think that he might not want to be bothered, or maybe he's having an affair. Either way, the police think that he might not want to be found. Did Jeff tell them they were having problems?

No ma'am. Then where the heck is this coming from? So again, we know everything we have is a little bit spotty, Post-It notes, right? They're not actually Post-It notes, but to your point. And we have this one report where Anita told police that apparently they had gotten into an argument. Again, I don't know how big the argument was. I don't even know how accurate that is. So I don't know if that's what they're going off of. Okay. But what part of being mad, upset in an argument with your partner is like results

in not wanting to take your medication or change your clothes. None of that adds up. Not to mention, Jeff and Brian have been together for 13 years. Like, Jeff can't see Brian leaving him or their two beloved dogs and like their whole life together without a single word. There's dogs involved? Forget it. Exactly. Exactly. And listen, like anyone who's been together for 13 years, I'm sure they had some ups and downs. I mean, I do know that at one point, Brian had to move back to his childhood home to

take care of his mom full time after his dad died. That was back in July of 2007 and before his mom went to that assisted living place. And Jeff had to stay in Atlanta for his job and to help with his own mother. So I mean, there was this time where it had been really tough while they're living apart. Plus, Brian hadn't been working for a while because of all of this caretaking that he was doing. And there was some tension, I think, there because Jeff wanted him to get a job.

But I don't think that that was any reason for him to go away because that seemed to be all being resolved. Because earlier that year, Brian had told his siblings that handling everything for their mom was really wearing him down. So that's when they moved her into the assisted living facility, and Brian went back to Atlanta. And granted, he still visited Carrollton a lot

to see his family, to run errands for his mom. But he and Jeff were finally starting to get their lives back. So even if the stress was getting to him, why leave now when things are finally starting to turn a corner? Well, and even if Brian wanted to break up with Jeff, why would he ditch his entire family too? That doesn't make sense.

Yeah. If anything, it sounds like he would turn to them if he was leaving Jeff. Exactly. And he is tight with his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He's like that fun uncle who's never been too busy to play a game or give advice. Bottom line is him abandoning everyone, like you said, does not make any sense. And again, like say there is a world where he needed to get away for a minute and something happened and he couldn't call or whatever, whatever. Like, say there is a world where he needed to get away for a minute and something happened

and he couldn't call or whatever, whatever. You'd take your medications with you, bare minimum. Yeah. But for whatever reason, police are pretty confident in their own theory, especially when they get word that Brian might have been seen after he was supposed to appear in court. Police learn that Brian paid his mother's water bill on Thursday the 24th at City Hall. And I don't know how this information comes to light because police reports say that Jeff heard it from one of Brian's brothers, which Amanda says isn't accurate.

But however it happens, when Detective Johnson goes to the water department, a receipt shows that the bill was paid by check that Thursday at 317 PM. But how do they know Brian's the one who made the payment? Is there footage of him there? No, so Detective Johnson notes that City Hall doesn't have any security cameras, which I feel like is kind of bonkers. Oh, what? I know, I know. That's one place I thought would have them.

And I guess the clerk who took the payment doesn't remember what the person who paid looked like. It was probably one of many things that happened that day. So I think they're just assuming it was him because he is the one who handles his mom's finances, but I'm not sure. So of course, this really throws his family for a loop. City Hall is literally two minutes away from the probate court.

So why in the world would he skip that hearing in the morning, a hearing he drove through a flood to attend, then pay a bill in the afternoon, and then vanish? Jeff thinks this whole thing is just too strange. So he keeps following up with the water department. And sure enough, his instincts are correct, because within a couple of days, they learn that Brian actually paid the bill on Wednesday the 23rd at 4.26 p.m. But the problem was he overpaid, and the utility company issued an automatic refund on Thursday, hence the Thursday timestamp.

Mm-hmm. You're kidding me. I wish I was. fund on Thursday, hence the Thursday time stamp. You're kidding me. I wish I was. But thankfully, at least according to Detective Johnson's reports, the search for him wasn't just totally abandoned because of this payment. According to the notes, Johnson had still been looking into Brian's whereabouts.

What we know is that at some point from Sunday the 27th through Monday, September 28th, Detective Johnson goes to check out Brian's parents' house. He doesn't see any signs of a break-in or foul play, but something catches his attention, like enough to include it in his reports, which is no small thing with this guy. There are eight empty bottles of Bud Light in the trash and to him they look fresh. However, before you go getting too excited, it's another dead end. Anita tells him that the bottles were from another one of their brothers who was there doing some yard work and just like cleaning up.

She's like, Brian doesn't even drink beer. Now the other thing that Detective Johnson does is he also speaks with the next door neighbor, this guy named Jimmy, who is a long-time family friend of the Whirleys. And Jimmy or his wife or possibly both of them, depending on who you're talking to, they remember seeing that the garage light was on at around 2 a.m. on Thursday, which would have been in like the early morning hours before the court appearance that he was supposed to be at. And they say they also saw someone in the garage. And although they couldn't make out their features, they just, I mean, figured it was

Brian because, I mean, they knew he was staying there, his car was in the driveway, and whatever he was doing, like, nothing was striking them as odd. So they didn't pay much attention to him. They said when they left for work later that day, which would have been around 8 or 8.30 in the morning, his car was gone. Now this helps with the timeline and a potential sighting, but I don't know that it like means anything because it actually wasn't super unusual for Brian to be up late because of his insomnia.

And Amanda knew that he had been searching for this specific receipt that he wanted to bring to court, so it's possible he was in the garage just looking for that. But overall, everyone is pretty confident that it was Brian that the neighbors saw at around that 2 a.m. time. So the question is, what happened after that? He's not in jail, he's not in any hospital, police have checked, and a random act of violence at the Whirly house seems really unlikely.

I mean, it is quite literally one of the safest neighborhoods in Carrollton, so much so that Amanda told us that her grandparents' door was always unlocked, which I never recommend no matter where you live. Don't do that. But on top of that, apparently it's like situated on a lake cove at the end of a cul-de-sac, so it's not even like an area that someone stumbles upon. Right, and I mean mean with his car gone,

it definitely seems more likely that he went somewhere. Could he have gone out to look for one of those maps? Well, actually that's something that his family is wondering. Because again, we know he's got insomnia. Amanda says it's not strange for him to like run and errand in the middle of the night, or even to leave his cell phone at home

if he thought he's gonna be back really quickly. So kind of with that idea in mind, I know that they started to look at what would have been open locally at around 2 a.m., this time that they know he's like up and at them. But there's not much in the area. They do find a Walmart nearby that's open 24 hours. And since he mentioned wanting to get that topographic map, it's worth checking out. Well, and Walmart would have surveillance cameras that the police can check. Right. They do have footage. But...

For whatever reason, investigators don't ask for it. But they do have Walmart at least search their records for the map's stock number to see if any were sold in the relevant time window that they were looking at. And they say that none were. Could he have gone somewhere else to get it then? Well, according to Captain Shannon Cantrell, and he's one of the investigators working the case now, Brian could have bought a map at literally any convenience store. Although, the captain told us that he's not aware of police checking any of those surveillance cameras either.

But what they do is they at least monitor Brian's bank accounts and his credit cards. And Bennett-Roland reported that there's no financial activity anywhere after Wednesday, September 23rd. Okay, so speaking of finances, this might be totally irrelevant, but was there any sibling infighting about Brian's mom's care or their parents' assets or anything? I mean, I know you said that Brian was really close with his family, but money can make things really messy. Was there anyone who might have wanted him out of the picture?

Well, the probate court judge actually told Detective Johnson that she wasn't aware of any issues. But what I will say is that Anita's husband told the Fall Line that Brian's older brother, this would have been Chris, wasn't happy with how Brian was handling the probate paperwork. But that being said, I'm not sure if this was a serious disagreement or if investigators were even aware of it. I don't know if they even ever interviewed Chris and if they did, there's no mention of it in any of the police reports. And just FYI, because this is, I don't know if it matters to you, but Chris is not the brother that Anita was talking about with the like, Bud Lights in the Trash and the yard work. There are

nine Whirly siblings altogether, so it can get a little bit confusing. I married into big family. I totally get it. You get it, yeah. Anyway, while police are trying to track down Brian's last movements, his loved ones are doing everything they can to bring him home. They're posting flyers throughout the area. They create a Facebook page. They're contacting friends and relatives. They drive around Carrollton looking for him or, you know, any sign of his car. They're even checking properties that he is known

to. I guess Jeff and Brian owned a little farmhouse a few hours away, and so people who live by there even go check that property. But there is no sign of him. No one has seen him. No one has heard from him. It's like he vanished into thin air. What about those flooded areas? I mean, is there a chance you could have gotten caught in one of those? I think that's something that police consider, but they conduct ground and aerial searches for the Buick and don't find anything.

And I don't even know that I would have expect them to. Like, I don't think it makes sense for him to leave early without all of his stuff. Yeah, I keep coming back to the medication. Yeah, and again, like, you just have to go to this one court thing. That's the whole reason you came into town. It's that morning, just like, take all your stuff,

go to that thing and go. Like, this isn't right. Something here is very fishy. By early October, everyone feels like they've hit a wall. But on the off chance, the off, off chance that Brian did leave on his own, without his medication, without his things, there is one thing that could possibly make him come back,

his nephew's birthday. Because Brian adores his nephew. He would never miss his birthday if he could help it. So if he left willingly, that'd be the day he returns. The Worley family and Jeff celebrate the birthday at a restaurant. And the whole time, Jeff can't help but watch the door, waiting for Brian to walk in, but he doesn't show. And that last sliver of hope

that his absence was voluntary is dashed. His loved ones try to start thinking of explanations, possible scenarios that could help focus and direct their search efforts. Again, they don't think he would harm himself, but they do wonder if he fell victim to a hate crime. Brian had come out as gay to his family years ago, around the time that he had graduated high school.

And he was met with what the fall line refers to as, quote, varying levels of acceptance, end quote. And Carrollton, Georgia is probably not the easiest place to do that. I mean, it is not a small town per se. At the time, there were like 24,000 residents, but it can feel like a small town. And it is an extremely conservative area. And while Brian isn't the type of person to start a fight, he'd stand up for himself if someone was messing with him.

Or, you know, another theory is maybe he stopped to help someone who had car trouble. Maybe he had car trouble and needed help. Police do get a tip that a man who reportedly looks like Brian was broken down on the side of the road, but they can't pinpoint a location. What about those mysterious quote unquote interesting people Brian had told Amanda about?

It seems like it could be a good lead, right? Especially since they have nothing else to go on. Right. But I mean, it's impossible to follow up on him. He only mentioned them in passing and Amanda doesn't even know what town he was in when he met them, let alone who these people are. Like there's just no way to even track that down. But according to police reports, investigators do go through his cell

phone and look for unfamiliar numbers or anything suspicious in case he was in contact with someone, but they don't find anything. Brian doesn't use social media and he didn't even bring his laptop from Atlanta because there's no internet access at his parents' house. Just to be on the safe side though, Jeff takes the laptop to Carrolton PD for them to look through, but again, it was like a total bust. They got nothing from it. I feel like that completely rules out police's early theory that Brian was having an affair

since there's zero evidence that he was really talking to anyone else. Right. since there's zero evidence that he was really talking to anyone else. Right, but here's the thing I should add that Amanda doubts that police thoroughly analyzed the electronics. Because weeks after Brian's disappearance, she learned that detectives still haven't even checked his email. So she decides to log into his account to just look for clues herself, like I'm not going to sit around and wait for you. And I guess investigators had an alert set up because soon after, Detective Johnson calls

Anita about the login and she tells him that it's her niece, not Brian, who signed in. And that's when the detective calls Amanda, for the first time ever, by the way, and asks her for his passwords. Wait, we are weeks into this investigation and police still haven't talked to one of the last people Brian spoke with? Bingo. I mean, I can see why Amanda has some doubts, yeah. Yeah.

Now, I don't know, but I think we can safely say that by now, 2023 anyway, the phone has been analyzed. One of the current investigators, Sergeant Meredith Browning, says that police have identified everyone in Brian's activity log from September 1st, 2009 on, and it doesn't seem like any of them arouse police suspicion. It's also worth noting that there doesn't appear to be a working landline at his parents' house either, so it's not like he's making calls on a different phone

because he's at the house or anything like that. I don't think he was talking to anyone new. Now in late October, an unidentified man's body turns up in West Virginia. And Detective Johnson's interest is piqued when he hears that the victim has an invalid Georgia ID. But he quickly learns that this man is Hispanic with black hair and Brian was white with blonde hair.

So definitely not him. By now it has been a month since anyone has seen or heard from Brian. Police tell reporter Bennett Rowland that they're following up on every lead they get. But behind the scenes, Amanda says that they still seem fixed on the idea that Brian left on his own, maybe to pursue another relationship and get away from Jeff. Okay, but based on everything you just said, there was no evidence of an affair.

Oh, and I stand by that. I'm not saying that what they're doing makes any sense whatsoever. It's just what they were doing. And this part will make even less sense to you because Amanda says that at the same time Police are also suspicious that Jeff did something to Brian What yeah, even though no one in Brian's family thinks that like he's cooperative He lets police search their place in Atlanta their farmhouse. He passes a voice stress test He brought the laptop in yeah, so with only these two theories

stress test. He brought the laptop in. Yeah. So with only these two theories, police are going nowhere fast and the investigation stalls out until Wednesday, December 2nd when a cop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, about 125 miles away from Carrollton, notices a car parked on a residential street that matches the description of one involved in a robbery. The officer runs the tag and he gets a shock. The Tennessee tag that the cop just ran doesn't match the car that the plate is on now. So when they dig a little more, this officer gets an even bigger surprise because the car, which must have had its original plates removed, belongs to a man who's been reported missing.

It's parked by a streetlight on Judson Lane near North Chamberlain Avenue next to a curb and some overhanging bushes with berries on them. And when officers see leaves, berries, and black mold on the car, they speculate that it's been sitting there for a while. So they obviously know it's Brian's car. So Chattanooga PD notify the police in Georgia, who in turn tell Brian's family about the development. And they're baffled because he has no ties to this area whatsoever, and neither does Jeff. So how and why did his car end up there?

The Carrollton investigators head to Chattanooga to try and answer some of those questions. And during their canvas of the neighborhood, they do get lucky because a woman tells them that she saw the guy who left the car there. She describes him as a young black man. She says that he was driving really fast, had turned onto their road early one afternoon, parked, got out, and just walked away. Though she doesn't see where he went and she's like, I don't know the guy. And the best description she could give was that he looked to be in his early to mid 20s. He's like 5'7", 5'9", with short hair, and she says he was wearing dark pants and a black short-sleeve t-shirt. What she and the other residents tell police is that that car has been there

for weeks, like since around Halloween, which is wild because the key was still in the ignition. And none of them thought it was strange that the car was just sitting there for more than a month? Well, apparently random people use this spot all the time. And it seems like everyone just assumed it was there because of like one neighbor or another like they were kind of Assuming it was all each other like there's this one witness for instance She tells investigators that the man who lives across the street from her sells pitbulls and possibly drugs So he gets a lot of visitors But pitbull guy meanwhile says that he thought the Buick was there because of this older man who lives across the street from him

And fixes cars up for people in the neighborhood. So sometimes he parks cars that he's working on in that same spot that Brian's car was found in. And of course, the neighborhood mechanic says that he has no idea who left the Buick there or why and I see where this is going. Right. And so on and so on. When detectives get the car back to Carrollton, they contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and they send an agent over to help process its interior. And based on what investigators hear from Brian's loved ones, the car looks just how he left it.

It hasn't been ransacked. There's a Tupperware container filled with change on the front passenger seat next to a science fiction novel. And under the book is a receipt from Taco Bell, that meal that he was eating when he spoke with Amanda on September 23rd. Okay, so there was probably no one in the passenger seat or they would have had to move that stuff to sit. That's what police are thinking. And it doesn't look like anyone was in the backseat either. There's actually an important fact about the car. It had been burglarized while Brian was in Atlanta. And, I mean, there was still broken glass from the rear window in the backseat.

That doesn't seem to have been disturbed. So long story short, as police are processing this, they managed to pull a partial print from the car. And according to Amanda, they get some fiber samples too. The problem is the print isn't good enough quality to analyze on its own. Like they would need a suspect to compare it to. They can't good enough quality to analyze on its own. They would need a suspect to compare it to. They can't just put it into APHIS.

So while investigators are doing what they can with the car, Brian's loved ones do what they can. They visit the Chattanooga neighborhood where his car was found to hang up posters. They offer a $10,000 reward, even run a couple of TV ads. But months roll by with nothing. And eventually, the one-year anniversary of his disappearance comes and goes. Detective Johnson tells Times-Georgian reporter Amanda Thomas that he thinks there are answers in Chattanooga because someone there knows something about the Buick.

He says Brian's disappearance is weighing heavily on him and that he works on the case every single day The amount of side I am giving this Ashley well, here's what I'll say according to his reports He does take steps to move the investigation along Every day I can't speak to you because again, the timeline is very cloudy Like all you really see is randomly he'll list a bunch of things that he does in just this one big summary that has no date on it.

Like a few examples of stuff that is on a list like this. He gets search warrants for Brian and Jeff's AT&T account, including cell tower data, and verifies that Jeff was in Atlanta and Brian was in Carrollton when they last spoke on the phone. It says that he checks with Greyhound, and the company tells him that no bus tickets have been sold in Brian's name.

He also tries to determine if Brian has traveled anywhere by plane, but the airport in Atlanta informs him that apparently they can't search by name alone. Like, you actually have to have a flight number or airline. Uh, note to self, if I ever want to disappear, fly out of ATL. And I don't know if this is like, I never heard this before. I thought like anytime you flew, they know exactly who you are. Like in a post 9-11 era, this shocked me. I just assume my name appears on a list when I walk into an airport, right?

Same, same. So anyways, time continues to pass with no leads. And by April 2012, Detective Johnson retires. New investigators, including the two that I've mentioned so far, Shanna Cantrell and Meredith Browning, are asked to just take a fresh look at Brian's case. So Cantrell, who is a sergeant at the time, brings Anita and her husband in for another interview. And then afterward, they go to Brian's parents' house. The family still owns it at this point, even though no one actually lives there.

They basically just use it for events like baby showers and get togethers or whatever. Now, when they're walking in the door, it has been two and a half years since Brian stepped foot in the house. But what's so eerie is that the room he was staying in looks practically untouched. The bed has been made, but the clothes on it are the ones that

he was wearing while doing yard work the Wednesday before he disappeared. Like, they're still covered in grass clippings and stains. His personal belongings are all still there, like his overnight bag and toothbrush and paperwork. So since all of this stuff is still there, Cantrell takes everything into evidence. Hang on, I'm thrilled everything was still there, but I have to ask why? Why didn't Detective Johnson collect it? Why are they just taking this stuff now? I have no idea.

Again, like, there are a lot of things that should have been done that were not. But as the new investigators quickly realize, unfortunately, that wasn't the only oversight. Like, for instance, remember those beer bottles that were in the trash? Yeah. The ones that Anita said were from their other brother? Well, apparently those were never even taken into evidence either. And then you've got the police reports that they're going off of two and a half years later, which again leaves so much to be desired.

All of it is just so frustrating. And one of Brian's friends, this guy named Robert, he actually told YouTuber Ben Jacob that he has a theory as to why police just didn't take this case seriously to begin with. He thinks it's because Brian's gay. Robert said, quote, Brian never made any bones about the fact that he was gay. My impression was that rubbed a lot of people wrong, and it may even have rubbed the police force in Carrollton wrong, end quote. So basically, Robert thought that they weren't interested in pursuing the case until Brian was gone for like a while.

And even then, when they started to take it seriously, it was because his loved ones had to badger them into doing that. And one of the things that Amanda points to, to kind of like back this up is she says that Detective Johnson even refers to Jeff as Brian's roommate in one of his initial reports. So, I mean, we asked the current investigators if they thought homophobia could have played a role in how the case was handled during the first couple of years. And they both acknowledged that there were a lot of things that should have been done that weren't, and a lot of things that were done

which could have been done better. But they told Nina that they don't think that there was a malicious reason for any of the flaws in the investigation. So to get back to what Sergeant Cantrell starts doing at this two, two and a half year mark, he also goes to Atlanta for another interview with Jeff. Brian's disappearance has genuinely shattered him. And however the original investigators may have felt, the two on the case today say they

are confident he did not harm Brian. I mean, it sounds like there is some renewed dedication to the case, at least. It does. And I think there is. But despite that, a few more years still pass by without any real developments. But then in 2015, Sergeant Browning meets a self-proclaimed psychic through this friend. Sergeant Browning meets a self-proclaimed psychic through this friend. The psychic mentions that she's worked with law enforcement before, and the sergeant immediately thinks of Brian. And listen, she knows it's a long shot, but at this point, like, what do you got to lose? Like, anything's worth a shot.

Right. So police have her come in for an initial reading. And whatever she tells them, they're impressed enough that they bring her to the Whirly home, where she says she starts getting vibes or feelings from the backyard deck area. So on Tuesday, April 21, investigators call Tracy Sergeant. Tracy is one of the top canine handlers in the nation, and she specializes in search, rescue, and recovery missions. She also just happens to live in Georgia about 45 minutes away from Carrollton. So the very next morning,

she and three of her dogs, two black German Shepherds, because I know you're wondering, and one yellow lab, they all head to Brian's parents' house. When they get there, Tracy starts her usual routine. She gives the command and the three dogs, they're like trekking around the property just one at a time. You know, they're like trekking around the property, just one at a time. You know, they don't wanna like influence each other. But none of them have any kind of reaction. That is until they get to the backyard.

More specifically, the Whirly's Boathouse, which is basically this like large shed thing perched on the lake that you can park a boat in. And what happens is that right outside of that boathouse, each dog alerts in the same exact spot. After seeing the dog's response to this spot, Tracy brings the dogs into the boathouse. And once again, they each alert in the same specific area. This

could be huge. But Tracy knows that, listen, even a consistent reaction like that doesn't necessarily mean that a dead body was there. Her dogs are trained to smell human remains. So you could be talking blood, tissue, cadaver fluids, bones, teeth, and they give the same alert whether they catch the scent of decaying flesh or like blood from a bloody nose. And one of the things that Tracy notices is there are some like tools and boards in the boathouse, so it's totally possible that someone at some point cut themselves during a project or something. But you don't know that till you find that out, right?

Like this is definitely worth taking a closer look at. So police essentially pull up the boathouse floor to see what's underneath. But they don't find anything. So they decide to expand the search to the water. And it does seem to be good timing because according to the fall line, the city had recently drained the lake for routine maintenance. So it's way more shallow than usual. And they actually use the dogs for this too. Tracy and investigators take the dogs out on a boat ride

one at a time to see if they can sniff out anything on the lake. At the same time, the county fire department's dive team searched just like a little cove next to the boathouse. So, I mean, they are really going at this area. Yeah. But unfortunately, the dogs don't have any reaction once they're out on the water,

and the dive team doesn't find anything, which is a huge disappointment. But as Tracy pointed out, the dogs aren't just there to determine where something is or might be. They can also tell you where something is not. And Tracy is confident that Brian's remains are not on his parents' property. But if something did happen to Brian in the boathouse and then his body was moved somewhere else, wouldn't that kind of point to him knowing his killer? I mean, why would a stranger be at his parents' house? Yeah, I mean, it's a disturbing thought, but it does make sense. And I mean, really, until we find out what happened, I think every scenario is on the

table, although at least to me, some are much more likely than others, which actually brings us to July of 2018, when Sergeant Browning gets this idea. Even though Brian's car was removed from police databases after it was located, there should still be an active alert on his license plate since that was never recovered. Remember, because it got like switched or whatever. But if the license info was accidentally removed from the system along with the car, then police wouldn't know if it was tied to a missing person, like if it ever came up anywhere else. So she checks to see if any cops ever ran Brian's tags. And when the results pop up,

she's stunned. It turns out the sheriff's department in nearby Coweta County, Georgia did come across the license plate. But it wasn't after the Buick was removed from the databases. It was way back on October 17, 2009. And what? They just ignored the photo? I mean, how are they just ignored the BOLO? I mean, how are we just now finding out about this?

That is the million dollar question. And the BOLO was definitely active. Carrolton tested it a couple of days after it went into effect, so Cawita officers would have immediately known that the tag was associated with a missing person, and they should have alerted Carrolton PD right away. Why that didn't happen, anything in between, I don't know. All we know is that Brian's license plate was on a vehicle in Coweta County, which is like 45 minutes away from Carrolton, and we know that it was there like three weeks after he disappeared.

We don't know if it was on Brian's car at that point, or if it was on a different car by that point. And we also don't know why police ran the tag, because Coweta County doesn't have those records anymore. And when Sergeant Browning calls the now retired Detective Johnson, he says he doesn't remember ever being notified about it. So, all I can tell you is that if Carrolton PD was notified, there is no record of it. Which as you can imagine for Brian's loved ones is more than frustrating.

It is heartbreaking, especially for Jeff, who diligently contacts police over the years and never stops looking for Brian. In 2017, Jeff is hospitalized with appendicitis and while he's there, he actually has a heart attack. He died never knowing what happened and still questioning to some extent if the love of his life chose to walk out on him. He didn't really think that though, did he after all that time? I mean in his heart of hearts, probably not. At least I hope not.

But I mean Amanda says that he couldn't help but wonder if that early police theory about Brian leaving just to get away from him was true. Which like, I mean she points out it's easy for your insecurities to get the best of you when you have no answers. Like when there's a void like that, sometimes that like horrible inner voice can just get so loud. It does make it easier to seem like everything is possible, anything is possible. For Brian's family, the lack of answers is just the worst part.

But there's another difficulty they faced that Amanda hopes we can help ease for others. And that was not knowing what to do or how to even advocate for their person. So in the blog post for this episode, we actually have a bunch of links to guides and tip sheets from organizations around the world that list concrete steps and actions that you can take if, God forbid, someone you love of any age goes missing or if they are already missing. Amanda also recently started a GoFundMe to raise money for billboards, and there is a link to it in our blog post and in the show notes if you want to help her meet her goal. She is hoping that the billboards will spur some new leads

and help jumpstart the investigation again, because it has been at a standstill for a while now. Police never found out who left the Buick in Chattanooga, and that could be the key to cracking this case. And I want to be clear, they don't necessarily believe that the guy who left it there was involved in Brian's disappearance. Because if the Buick was abandoned somewhere, it might have changed hands a couple of times before he even got it. And they want that guy to know, if he's out there, if he's listening, that they have zero interest in pursuing charges for car theft. They just wanna follow that trail back to Brian,

whose family has been grieving for far too long. So please, if you have any information about Brian's disappearance or back to Brian, whose family has been grieving for far too long. So please, if you have any information about Brian's disappearance or the car or anything related to the case, contact the Carrollton Police Department at 770-834-4451. Brian is white, and at the time of his disappearance, he had blonde hair, blue eyes, and weighed about 140 pounds. He's 5'7", and if he's alive today, he's 52 years old. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. And you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast.

Don't forget to go check out all of those links so you know exactly what to do in case of an emergency if someone you love goes missing. And we'll be back next week with another episode. Crime Junkie is an AudioChuck production. So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?