Whereabouts of Vermont teen still a mystery

Stafford: One theory you have is that someone spotted your daughter, became obsessed with her, hid in the back seat of her car. She didn't now the person was there. She's driving home, and that person attacks her.

Bruce: Yes, yes.

Kellie: That's a possibility.

Her parents took some comfort in the fact that Brianna was very strong, and knew self defense.  But their anxiety was growing.  Four  days had passed since Brianna was last seen.  Bruce was furious that even after this much time police hadn't searched the trunk of Brianna's car to see what was inside. When he learned the keys had been lost, Bruce grabbed a crowbar and headed to the garage.

Stafford: What is going through your mind as you're prying open the trunk of your daughter's car?

Bruce: Oh, dear God, please, let not her be in there. 

She wasn't, and police looked through the rest of the car for possible clues.

Stafford: Any signs of a struggle inside the car?

Miller: No.
  
Stafford: Any sign that she was a victim of some violent confrontation at the scene where her car was found?

Miller: No. There's nothing obvious to indicate that at all.

Brianna was curious about the world beyond the Vermont hills. Despite that, her parents don't think she ran away.  Police found her contact lenses, and migraine headache medicine in the car, along with two paychecks, totaling  less than  $150 — money that would have been crucial to a teenager living on her own. 

Stafford: The fact her paychecks are still in the car, what does that tell you?

Miller: That she either intended to go back to the car at some point and retrieve her personal belongings, or that, you know, she didn't leave willingly.

Family and friends began a frantic search and posted flyers pleading for help. Tips came in and one went directly to Bruce — the caller told him some men were holding Brianna against her will at a house outside of town. Bruce called the police, who moved in.

Stafford: What do they find in that house?

Bruce: They find everything that has to do with selling crack cocaine and — and — you know and all the paraphernalia, a gun, thinning agent, scales, ledgers, everything a drug dealer would have in the house.

Although she was familiar with the men who lived there, the raid failed to turn up any sign of Brianna. Still, drug use had become a growing scourge in this rural area in recent years. Had Brianna been involved with drugs?

Miller: I would say she experimented with a wide range of drugs.

Stafford: And do you think that is at all connected to her disappearance?

Miller: We cannot rule it out.

Her parents are convinced she didn't do hard drugs.  Whatever the case, more than a year would pass without any solid leads.

Stafford: At that point, have you lost all hope of finding Brianna alive?

Bruce: Not all hope, but it's pretty — it's a pretty dim light.

Then, nearly two years after Brianna's car was found at this building, there was a dramatic turn in the case — a tip to police that Brianna might be alive.  That she was spotted 500 miles from here in a place no one would have expected.

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