MISSING: Brian Wehrle from Atlanta
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break here. And now you guys officially know what we've been up to hear with our rereleases on thursdays might not tightly ly be an air store, but IT is a crime junky tour. We've been take you through our upcoming twenty twenty five crime junky tour stops, I promise, will have more deeds on the dates.

Tickets exit 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 rereleases is that not only have we ve been able to have a little fun with you on thursday, but most importantly, it's given us the opportunity to rehired light cases that still need answers, answers that one of you may have. So today were headed back to atlanta, georgia, and hopes that someone out there can finally give this family the closer that every loved one deserves.

High crime junkie, i'm your host, ashly flowers .

and i'm .

bit and before we jump p in to today's episode, but I just want to acknowledge that audio truck recently passed two billion downloads across our shows.

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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 unevenly trip to his hometown. Everyone who knew him or who hears about this case suspects fail play, but no one knows what could have happened to him. This is the story of brian worley.

Another gay is surprised when he gets a call from a friend who works at the courthouse. It's the afternoon of thursday, september twenty fourth, two thousand nine, and her friend says that I need his brother. Thirty nine year old brian burley didn't show up for court here that morning.

Now he's not in trouble or anything. It's like probe cord and he was only supposed to be there to just turn in some reseats and sign a document. You see, their mom has all zymos and neural cognitive 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 guide to just skip on something so important.

In fact, he came in the town specifically for that hearing, and he even drove through some of the worst flooding that George has ever seen to get there, like the drive from where he was living in atlantic to where his family lives in Carol, tn. 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 twenty second a so at first I need to just called his cell, but he doesn't answer.

Then he starts reaching out to some of the people that he's closer sway to see if they ve heard from him like his long time partner jeff, who he lives with. Ana and herran needs AManda, who he knows he talks to at least a few times a day, but no one I need a calls, has spoken to him since yesterday. Ameena says that brian called her while he was getting talk about the day before was like the three o'clock in the afternoon.

He had just finished up some yardwork at his parents house, which is where he says when he is in town because it's been empty and his mom moved into an assisted living facility that pass spring. Now during their chat, he was so Normal, he, like, filter in on his nightmare drive from midland. A he says he was so crazy that he just stopped somewhere along the way to have a quick drink and met some, quote, quote, 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 hadn't stick around in kerala until the roads clear, because he and jeff are going to be going to a florida this coming saturday to visit another one of his sisters. And he has been really looking forward to a vacation.

So he told the Manda on this call that he might try to get his hands on a topographic map. Ryan actually study geology and college, and he worked for years as a land survey. So he figured he's probably going to be able to like, use this map, which shows, like the kind of an elevation in the area to find an alternate route home where the roads aren't flooded.

Now, after that call, I need to knows where brian was because I was her house 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 eight thirteen, just to catch up. He also left AManda voice meal at some point, but he didn't answer when he called him back. Now the last person that he spoke with was his best friend. And I need to knows that they hung up at around nine fifteen.

Was he still at needs during those calls?

That depends on the source and is an all warn you all like the fall line podcast first covered this and they were actually the ones who suggested this story to us because brians case wasn't just getting i'm hardly any attention. So they give us copies of police reports that they obtained their records request.

And there is so much stuff that just was never documented by the original investigators and the lee detective tony Johnson like, I mean, we're talking there are entries with no dates or times. Some of the details don't die with things that i've heard from bryans misr sister, or even from current investigators who are reporters need a interviewed. And there's also, like a honey, conflicting information from the media.

So again, there's a lot of specific that we've tried to piece together with everything that we know the best can, but nAiling down a consistent timing is damer impossible. So with that in mind, police reports say that brian left and needs at around eight on wednesday night. July lives like ten 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 I need to goes to look for him on thursday afternoon, but he's not there, and neither is his car, a light blue bit that used to belong to their mother. So SHE goes inside the house, and at first gLance, everything looks Normal.

But then he 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 stuff is still there. And I say, all we're talking, his cell phone, his overnights bag, close toiletry. And most alarming of all his medications.

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 a and he also has in soma.

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 he 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 when amenda, who by the way, lives in ohio with her husband at the time when he gets an update from and need a SHE, starts panic immediately. And jeff, who still in a landa, is right there along with her. He apparently contacts carlton police that very night. You can guess what they tell him.

Oh my god.

you have to wait a wapping seventy two hours. I know we've mentioned this before.

I'm going to say, again, allowed and clear for the folks in the back, in case anyone listening ever find self in this situation, law enforcement agencies are not required to wait to take a missing persons important, even if that person is an adult. Totally file that report, make them do IT? Yes, absolutely. Especially in this case. I mean, you would think that bryan's medical conditions would, I don't know, raise the level of concern enough to get IT filed right away.

at least without any push back. That was kind of my thought to and again, it's you can like it's one thing to say you're not going to search like again, I still don't understand that. Take the report, how much of .

something in paper get something started.

get the ball roll, right? So here's a thing with this one. So they do eventually take a report after a need calls them on friday. But even though they took a report, they don't actually enter bryans information into the state and national database .

yet rise a stuff on a posted node. Yeah.

I don't know. Although according to bennet rollins reporting for the times georgian, they do put out a bolo for brian's car now, by the time saturday rolls around and there are still no sign of brian, jeff makes his way to carl in himself and he and the need to go to the station to speak with investigators in person.

And again, they're pleading with them though this is totally at a character for brian to just go mia like this and they're also trying to convince police like, isn't we got a completely rule out like any kind of self harm this isn't that either. So is at this point that he is finally officially listed as a missing person. But even though he is a Victory, jeff doesn't think detectives are all that interested in finding his partner. For some reason, they seem to believe that jevon brian into a quarter quote lover spat and that maybe bryan left without a 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 found.

Did jeff tell them they were having problems?

No man.

then where the hackers is coming from. So again.

know everything we have is a little bit body posted notes, right? They're not actually posted notes. But to your point, and we have this one report where I needed told police that apparently they gotten into an argument.

I know how big the argument was. I do you know how accurate that is. So I don't know .

that what they're going off of, okay, but what heart of being mad, upset in an argument with your partner is like results in not wanting to take your medication or change. None of that adds up.

Not to mention jeff and brian have been together for thirteen years like jeff can't see brian leaving him or her two beloved dogs and like they're all life .

together without .

a single word for listen. Like anyone who's been together for thirteen years, i'm sure they had some up and downs. I mean, I do know that at one point bryan had to move back to his childhood to take care of his mom full time after his dad died.

That was back in july two thousand seven, and before his mom went to that assisted living place. And jeff had to stay in at landa for his job and to help with his own mother. So I mean, there was a time where I hadn't really tough mother living apart.

Plus bryan hadn't been working for a while because of all this care taking 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 was any reason for him to go away, because that seemed to be all being result 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 Green, if he still visited curls in a lot to see his families to run irons for his mom, but he and jeff 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?

And even if friend wanted to break up a stuff, why would he ditch his entire family too?

I doesn't make sense.

If anything, that 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 be ending. 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 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.

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Police learned that brian paid his mother's water bill on thursday, the twenty fourth 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 is an 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 three seventeen P. M.

But how do they know brains? They want to made the payment is a footage of them there?

no. So detective Johnson notes that city hall doesn't have any security hamers, which I feel like kind of bones. I know.

I know that for 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. Like I was, pray, one of many things that happen that day.

So I think they are just assume IT with 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 probe court.

So why in the world would he skipped that hearing in the morning? A hearing he drove through a flood to attend, then paypal the afternoon and vanish. Jeff thinks this whole thing is just too strange.

So he keeps flowing 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 twenty third at four twenty six pm. The problem was he overpaid and the utility company issued an automatic refund on thursday, hence the thursday timestamp. Your kidding, I wish I was.

But thankfully, at least according to detective johns'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 wearables. What we know is that at some point from sunday to twenty seven through monday, september twenty eight, detective Johnson goes to check out bryan's parents house.

He doesn't see any signs of a broken or foul play, but something catches his attention like enough to include IT in his reports, which is no small thing with the sky, there are a empty bottles of bud light in the trash and to hand they look fresh. However, before you go getting too excited, it's another dead end. I need to tells him that the bottles were from another one of their brothers, who is, they are doing some yard work.

And just like cleaning up, she's like bind and drink beer. Now, the other thing that detective Johnson does, he also speaks with the next storm, neigh, or the guide named Jimmy, who is a long time family friend of the words, and Jimmy or his wife for possible, both of them, depending on who you're talking to. They remember seeing that the garage light was on at around two A M on thursday day, 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 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 as odds. So they didn't pay much attention to them. They said when they left for work later that day, which would have been around eight hundred, eight thirty 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 that actually wasn't super unusual for brian to be up late because of his insua. 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 two 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 orange active violence at the worry house seems really unlikely. I mean, that is quite literally one of the safest neighborhoods in carton.

So much so that a man to told us that her grandparents door was always unlock, 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 cold sac. So it's not even like an area that someone stumbles upon, right?

And and with his cargan IT definitely seems more likely that he went somewhere. Could he have gone out look for one of those maps?

Well, actually that something that his family is wondering because again, we know he's gotten some yet man says it's not strange for him to like run and air in the middle the night or even to leave a cell phone at home if he thought he's going to 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 and around two a and this time that they know he's like ubin adam, but there's not much in the area. They do find a wall mart nearby that's open twenty four hours since he mentioned wanting to get that topographic map. Ds, worth checking out.

Well, walmart would have surveilLance cameras that .

the police contract, 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 maps dock number to see if any were sold in the relevant like time window that they were looking at. And they say that none were.

Could he have gone somewhere .

else to get at them according to cap in chain and cantrell? And he's one the investigators working the case now brian could have bought a map at literally any convenient store, although the captain told us that he is not aware of police checking any of those surveilLance cameras either. But what they do is the at least monitor bryans bank accounts and his credit cards. And bentz lin reported that there's no financial activity anywhere after wednesday, september twenty third.

okay. So speaking of finances, this might be totally relevant. But was there any sibling in fighting about bryan's mom's care or their parents assets or anything? Mean, I know you said that b ryan was really close with his family, but money can make things really messy. Was there? Was there anyone who might have one of him out of the picture?

The probe court judge actually told detective Johnson that SHE wasn't aware of any issues. But what I will say is that a need as husband told the fall line that bryan's older brother, this would have been, Chris wasn't happy with how brian was handling the probe. E paperwork.

But that being said, i'm not sure if this was a serious disagreement or if investigators were even aware of that. I don't know if they even ever interviewed cries and if they did, there's no mention of IT in any of the police reports. And just F, Y, I, because like this is not, no matter, but Chris is not the brother that I need to was talking about with the like, but lights in the trash and the yard work. There are nine words, siblings altogether, so I can get .

little bit confusing. I marry the big family.

I totally get you. Anyway, while police are trying to track down bry's last movements, his loved 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 carton looking for him or you know, any sign of his car.

They're even checking like properties that he like is known to, I guess jeff and bryan owned like a little farmhouse two hours away. And so people who live by there even go checked 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, that is there a chance he could have gotten caught in one of those?

I think that something that police consider, but they conduct ground and erie searches for the music and don't find anything. And I don't even know that I would expect them to like I don't think that makes sense for him to leave early without all this stuff.

Yeah, I keep coming back to the medication you got again.

Like you just have to go to this one court thing that the whole reason you came in the town, it's that morning, just like take all yourself go to that thing and go like this isn't right. Something here is very fishy. By early october, everyone feels like theyve had a wall.

But on the off chance, the off off chance that bran did leave on his own without his medication, without his things, there is one thing that could possibly make him come back his nephews birthday. Because brian adoors, his nephew, he would never miss his birthday if he could help IT. So if he let willingly, that d be the day he returns the word 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.

Ryan 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 and quote. And carlton, georgia is probably not the easiest place to do that. I mean, IT is not a small town per say.

At the time, there were like twenty four thousand residents, but IT can feel like a small town, and IT is an extremely conservative area. And what, brian isn't the type of person to start a fight. Heat, stand up for himself if someone was messing with him.

Or, you know, another theory, 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, couldn't vote interesting people? Bryan, I 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 a mean 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 midland a because there is no internet access at his parents. Just to be on the safe side though, jeff takes the laptop to carton pd for them to look through. But again, I was like a total bus and they ve got nothing from IT.

I feel like that completely rules out policies. Early theory that brian was having an affair since there's zero evidence that he was really talking to anyone else.

right? But here's a thing I should add that amid doubts that police thoroughly ly analysts electronics because weeks after brands disappear and SHE learned that detectives still have to even checked his email, so SHE decides to log in to his account to just look for clues herself like i'm not the missing around, wait for you. And I guess investigators had an alert set up because soon after, detective Johnson calls a eda about the law and SHE tells him that is her nie, not brian who signed in. And that's when the detective calls AManda for the first time ever, by the way, and ask her for his passwords.

We we are weeks in to this investigation, and police still haven't talk to one of the last people bryan spoke with. bingo. I mean, I can see why a man has some doubts.

Yeah, now I don't know, but I think we can safely say that by now twenty twenty three, anyway, the phone has been analyzed. One of the current investigators, sergeant maritz Browning, says that police have identified everyone in bryan's activity log from september first two thousand on, and he doesn't seem like any of them around as police. Suspicion is also worth noting that there doesn't appear to be a working line line at his parents either.

So it's not like he's making calls on a different phone because he's at a house like or anything like that. Like I don't think he's talking to anyone new knowing the october an uni dense fied man's body turns up in west Virginia and detective Johnson's interest is peak when he hears that the victim has an invalid georgia ID. But he quickly learns that this man is his panic with black hair, and brian was White with blond hair, so definitely not him.

By now, he has been a month since anyone has seen or heard from brian. Police tell reporter bentz rolling that they're following up on every leave they get. But behind the scenes, a Manda a says that they still seem fixed on the idea that left on his own baby to pursue another relationship and get away from jeff. good.

But based on everything you just said, there was no evidence of an affair. Oh.

when I see. And by that, i'm not saying that what they're doing makes any sense what so ever. It's just what they were doing.

And this part will make even lessons to you because AManda says that at the same time, police are also suspicious that did something to bryan. what? Even though no one in bryan family thinks that, like he's CoOperative, he lets police search their own house, he passes a .

voice of .

only these two theories. Police are going nowhere fast. And the investigation stalls out until wednesday, december second, when a cap in chat uga tennesee, about one hundred and twenty five miles away from carrot, 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. Rocket money is a personal finance APP that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. See all your subscriptions in one place and know exactly where your money is going, plus the new goals feature automatically saves money for you, so whether your goal is to pay off credit card dead or just build your savings, rocket money makes IT easy.

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The tennessee tag of 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 place removed, belongs to a man who's been reported missing. It's parked by a street light on judgin lane near north chAmberlin avenue, next to a curb, and some overhanging bushes with berries on them.

And when officers see leaves, barriers and black mold on the car, they speculate that it's been sitting there for a while, so they obviously knows brian's car. So chat gpi notify the police in georgia, who in turn tell bryan's s family about the development and they're battle because he has no ties to this area whatsoever, and neither does jeff. So how and why did his car end up there? The girl, tn.

Investigators had to chat uga 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 he saw the guy who left the car there. He describes him as a Young black man.

He says that he was driving really fast, had turned onto the road early one afternoon part, got out and walked away, though he 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 twice. He's like five, seven, five, nine, with short hair. And he says he was wearing dark pants and a black shorts, these 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 I was strange that the car was just sitting there from more than a month.

Well, apparently rand dom people use this spotlight the time. And IT seems like everyone just assume IT was because of like one neighbor or another, like they were kind of assuming he was all each other. Like there's this one witness for incident.

He tells investigators that the man who lives across the street from herself ves pit balls and possibly drugs. So he gets a lot of visitors, but pitbull guy, meanwhile, says that he thought the beauty was there because of this older man who lives across the street from him and fixes cars up for people in neighborhood. So sometimes he parked cars that he's working on in that same spot that brian car was found. And of course, the nights or hood mechanic says that he has no idea who left to be with there or why.

And I see where this is going .

and so on and so on. When detectives get the car back to carlton, they contact the georgia bureau's investigation and they send an agent over to help process its interior. And based on what investigators here from bryans loved ones, the car looks just how he left IT IT hasn't been ran SAT. There is a top wear container filled with change on the front passenger seat next to a science fiction novel, and under the book is a receipt from talk about that meal that he was eating when he spoke with AManda on september twenty third.

okay. So there was probably no one in the passenger see or they would have had to move that stuff to said .

that's what police are thinking. And IT doesn't look like anyone was in the back seat either. There's actually an important fact about the car IT had been burglarized while brian was in in leana and I think there was still broken glass from the rear window in the vacation that didn't seem to have been disturbed so long to assured IT.

As police are processing this, they manage to pull a partial print from the car, and according to AManda, they get some fibre 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 to the can, just like put IT into A S so while investigators are doing what they can with the car, bryans loved ones do what they can. They visit the chat, knew the neighbor od where his car was found, to hang up posters.

They offer a ten thousand dollar reward, even run a couple of TV ads, but months roby, with nothing. And eventually the one year anniversary of his disappearance comes and goes. Detective Johnson tells times georgian reporter amenda Thomas that he thinks their answers in chat and nuka because someone there are knows something about the, he says brian's disappearance is wearing heavily on him and that he works on the case every single day.

The a side, I am giving this as well.

Here's a say. According to his report, he does take steps to move the investigation along every day I can speak to because of, again, the timeline is very cloudy, like all you really see is like randomly hillites a bunch of things that he does in just this, like one big summary that has no date on IT like a few examples of stuff that like is on olic like this. Like he gets search warrants for brian and jeff s eighty account, including cell t tower data and verifies that jeff was in ada and brian wasn't kerley when they last spoke on the IT says that he checks with greyhound and and the company tells him that no bus tickets have been sold in brian's name you also tries to determine if brian has traveled anywhere by playing. But the airport at atlantic informs him that apparently they can't search by name alone like you actually have have a flight number or airline a note itself.

If I ever want to dippel fly out of A T, L.

And I don't know. This is like, i'd never heard this before. I thought, like any time you flew, they know exactly who you are like in a post nine eleven era at this shocked me.

I just assume my name appears on a list when I walk into an airport. right?

same. So anyways, time continues to pass with no needs. And by April twelve, Johnson retires new investigators, including the two that i've mentioned so far.

Shana can trial and married Browning, or asked to just take a fresh look at bryans case. So can trial, who is a surgeon at the time, brings the needle 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're Sally 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 was so early is that the room he was staying and 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 there are still covered in grass clipping and stains. His personal belongings are all still there, like his overnights bag and toothbrush paperwork. So since all of this stuff is still there, can trail takes everything .

in the evidence? Hang on, i'm thrilled everything was still there, but I have to ask why? Why didn't detect if Johnson collected? 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 we're not. But as the new and investigators quickly realized, unfortunately, that wasn't the only overside like for a since.

Remember those beer bottles that were in the trash? Yeah, the ones that I need to set were from their other brother. Well, apparently those were never even taken in the evidence either.

And then you've got the police reports that they are going off of two and 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 youtube ben jab that he has a theory as to why police just didn't take this case seriously.

To begin with, he thinks, is because bryans gay. Robert said, quote, brian never made any bones about the fact that he was gay. My impression was that rugged, a lot of people wrong.

And IT may even have rubb the police force in carlton wrong. And 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 in to doing that. And one of the things that I may end up points to the kind of like back this up is he 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 investigation if they thought homophobia could have played a role in how the case was handled during the first couple of years, and they both acknowledge that there were a lot of things that should have been done that warned, 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, any investigation. So to get back to what sergeant control starts doing at this two, two and half year mark, he also goes to atlantic for another interviewed. Jeff bryan's disappearance has genuinely shadow him. And however, the original investigation may have felt the two in the case today say they are confident he did not harm brian.

I mean, that sounds like there is some new dedication to the case, at least IT does.

And I think there is. But despite that, a few more years still passed by without any real developments. But then in two thousand fifteen, sergeant Browning meets a self proclaimed psychic through this friend. The psychic mentioned that she's worked with long enforcement before, and the surgeon immediately thinks of brian and listen, he knows is a long shot.

But at this point, like, would you got to lose like anything, things worth a shot, right? So police have her come in for an initial reading, and whatever he tells them, they're impressed enough that they bring her to the word home, where SHE says SHE starts getting vives or feelings from the backyard deck area. So on tuesday, April twenty first, investigators called Tracy sergeant.

Tracy is one of the top canine hand dollars in the nation, and SHE specializes in search, rescue and recovery missions. SHE also just happens to live in georgia, about forty five minutes away from Carol ten. So the very next morning, SHE and three of her dogs, two black german shepherds, because they know you're wondering, and one yellow lab, they all had to bryan's parents house.

When they get there, Tracy starts her usual routine. SHE gives the command. And the three dogs, they are like checking around the property, just wanted a time.

They don't want to influences each other, but none of them have any kind of reaction, that is, until they get to the backyard. More specifically, the worlds boat house, which is basically this, like large shed being perched on the lake that you can park about. And what happens is that right outside of that boat house, each dog alerts in the same exact spot one a year.

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After seeing the dog's response to this spot, Tracy brings the dogs into the boat house, and once again, they each alert in the same specific area. This could be huge, but tracey knows that even a consistent reaction like that doesn't necessarily mean that a dead body was there. Heros are trained to smell human remains, so used to be talking blood tissue.

Cadover flew its bones, teeth, and they give the same a alert whether they catch the scent of decaying flesh, or, like, blood from a bloodying nose, right? And one of the things that Tracy notices is there are some like tools and boards in the boat house. 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? This is definitely worth taking a closer look at. So police essentially pull up the boat house 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 a routine maintenance, so is way more follow than usual. And they actually use the dogs for this to 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 search just like a little cove next to the boat house. So I mean, they are really going at this area, yeah. But unfortunately, the dogs don't have any reaction once they are 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 bryans remains are not on his parents property.

But if something did happen to brian in the boat house and then his body was moved somewhere else, won'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, summer are much more likely than others, which actually brings us to july of two thousand and eighteen, when serdan Browning gets this idea, even though ryans 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. Room like switched to whatever.

But if the license info was accidently removed from the system along with the car, then police wouldn't know if IT was tied to a missing person, like if I ever came up anywhere else. So SHE checks to see if any cops ever ran bryans tags. And when the results pop up, she's done IT.

Turns out the share of department in nearby kawai, a county, georgia, did come across the license plate, but IT wasn't after the beauty was removed from the databases. IT was way back on october seventeen, two thousand nine. And what .

they just ignore 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 heroin tested IT a couple of days after I went into effect. So CAD officers would have immediately known that the tag was associated with a missing person, and they should have alerted kellton pd right away.

Why that didn't happen, anything in between, I don't know. All we know is that bry's license plate was on a vehicle in cava county, which is like forty five minutes away from Caroline, and we know that he was there like three weeks after he disappeared. We don't know if IT was on bryans car at that point or if I was on a different car by that point.

And we also don't know why police ran the tag because because we the county doesn't have those records anymore. And when surgeon Browning calls the now retired detective Johnson, he says he doesn't remember her for being notified about IT. So all I can tell you is that if carlton pd was notified, there is no record of IT, which, as you can imagine for brians loved ones, is more than frustrating.

IT is heartbreaking, especially for jeff, who diligently contacts police over the years and never stopped looking for brian. In twenty seventeen, jeff is hospitalized with a pencil s and while he is 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 lock 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 I mean, a AManda says that he couldn't help but wonder, like, if that early police theory about brian leaving just to get away from him was true which like, I mean, he 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 invoice can just get so loud .

IT does make IT easier to seem like everything is possible, anything is possible.

For bryan'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 sheet from organizations around the world that list concrete steps and actions that you can take if god for a bid, someone you love of any age goes missing, or if they are already missing. AManda also recently started to go fund me to raise money for billboards, and there is a link to IT in our blog post and in the shows if you want to help her meet her goal. SHE is hoping that the billboards will spur some new leads and help jump start the investigation again, because IT has been at a stand still for a while now.

Police never found out who left the beauty in chat uga, 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 built 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 fact, they just want to follow that trail back to brian, whose family has been grieving for far too.

Mom, so please, if you have any information about bryans disappearance or the car or anything related to the case, contact the carlton police department at seven, seven, zero, eight, three, four, four, four, five, one. Brian is White, and at the time of his disappearances, cy had blond hair, blue eyes, and waited about one hundred forty pounds. He's five seven. And if he's alive today, he's fifty two years old.

You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crime junk y podcast dot com.

and you can follow us on instagram at crime junky podcast.

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 those missing, and we'll be back next week with another episode.

Crime junky is an audio check production. So what do you think, chuck, do you prove just in time for the holidays, that heavy red tags are out at your local heavy deal, and you can say big with zero percent apr financing on the old to twenty five chevy equinox. Go to shame, drive shaka action for details. And together, let's drive.

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