Down By The River

Hoda Kotb Correspondent • Profile

Flint, Mich., where the steely Flint River winds through the heart of car country. Where on a beautiful spring day more than 20 years ago, one little boy mysteriously vanished.

How, why, whom?

Years passed, decades, the water kept its secrets. Memory faded and evidence disappeared, until all that was left was one mother's love, and her fragmented dreams of her child, calling her, haunting her, and pushing her to find the truth about what had happened to him.

When Christopher Alan Brown – who they called Alan – was born in November 1973, his mother Brenda Simpson could not have been happier.

Hoda Kotb: Was it love right away?

Brenda Simpson: Oh, yeah, I just loved him with all of my heart.

Brenda thought her baby looked particularly good in yellow.

Brenda Simpson: He brought so much joy into my life.

When Alan was one, Brenda separated from his father, Jestine Brown – they later divorced. In 1978, she married an auto worker named Harvey who says he was smitten with her little boy.

Harvey Simpson: So, when I fell in love with her, I fell in love with him (chuckle). This was my son as much as it was hers. I mean I raised him; I helped to mold him into the little man that we had hoped he was going to become.

Alan excelled at school and sports. He loved Pacman, fishing and listening to "Through the Fire," by Chaka Khan.

Both Brenda and Harvey had good jobs on the assembly line at General Motors, Alan had one little brother, and another on the way.

Alan's father, Jestine Brown had also remarried – a woman named Rosalind Pettiford – and they had two little girls.

Hoda Kotb: In these sorts of blended families, where there's divorce, it's kind of complicated. Who gets to see the children, when?

Brenda Simpson: Well, I was going to have primary custody of Alan, and he had visitation.

Jestine's sister says Alan was close to his dad.

Ella Watson: He loved spending time with his father on the weekends or during school breaks.

But the relationship between Brenda and Alan’s stepmom was tense.

Ella Watson: They didn't like each other, didn't like each other at all. But Brenda would always let Allan come over to his dad's house and, you know, spend time with him. She would never keep him back from his dad.

In 1985, Alan was 11. When Easter rolled around, Brenda was surprised when he told her he did not want to spend the week at his father's as they had planned.

Brenda Simpson: But his dad kept calling him, and then he told him, "I'm going to take you camping and fishing."

Hoda Kotb: Those sound like the magic words for…

Brenda Simpson: They were the magic words. Yes, he packed up all his stuff. He was just happy, and he came over and he hugged me. He says, "I love you, Mom. I said, "I love you, too.

Hoda Kotb: And that's the last that you saw of him was that day.

Brenda Simpson: Yes.

That was Monday. On Friday, Brenda came home late and was alarmed to find her sisters waiting on her front porch.

Brenda Simpson: I rolled the window down and I was like, "What's wrong? I know something is wrong for them to be at my house at 11:00.”

Harvey Simpson: Her sister said Alan was missing. And it was like, "Well, how can that be? Missing from what? Missing how? He's supposed to be with his dad."

Brenda called Alan's father, demanding to know what had happened. He explained what he knew, that he and Alan had not yet gone fishing, and that while he was at work that day, his wife Rosalind was home with the kids. Rosalind said that at some point she bought McDonalds, put it in the kitchen, told the children to go in and eat, and left.

When she returned home a few hours later, Alan was missing. She looked for him around the neighborhood, and then called police.

Brenda Simpson: All I care about right now it finding Alan.

While police launched an investigation, Brenda and her relatives organized a neighborhood search party.

Brenda Simpson: We're going door to door, talking to people, showing his picture, asking anyone if he's seen him, and everyone is saying, "No."

Sgt. Francis Tull had almost no training as an investigator, but suddenly found himself in charge of a major case.

Sergeant Francis Tull: I get there and I start talking to the officers to find out what they had come up with.

Sgt. Tull's first thought was runaway or possible kidnapping and so the FBI was called in. Tull says they worked together. Every lead went nowhere.

Hoda Kotb: You probably put together a sort of profile of who is this child. Who was that boy in your mind's eye? Who was he?

Sergeant Francis Tull: A missing, scared little boy and that we needed to find him.

Days passed, with no sign of Alan. Frantic for help, Brenda did something she would do again and again in the years to come, she called the local newspaper. Flint Journal Cub reporter Jeff Smith was sent to her house.

Jeff Smith: You could just tell she was just drained, but determined, "I have to find my child."

This story was one of Jeff's first front page bylines, but it did not bring Brenda any closer to her son.

One week passed, and then another.

Hoda Kotb: You must have had a lot of conversations with God during these really difficult days. What were you asking for or praying for?

Brenda Simpson: I was praying to get my baby back, and I wanted him to be alive, but after about 17, 18 days…

Hoda Kotb: What were you praying for then?

Brenda Simpson: Then I prayed that the Lord would give me his body, so that I could bury him.

On April 30th, 18 days after Alan disappeared, Sgt. Tull's expanded his search efforts to include this peaceful bend in the Flint River three miles from Alan's father's home. By noon word came they'd found a body. Brenda's sad prayer had come true.

Sergeant Francis Tull: With the clothing description, deep down you knew.

Video   Explaining the toxicology report During the trial, the defense argued that there was another reason for the high blood alcohol content found in 11-year-old Alan's body. Dateline NBC

Hoda Kotb: You knew.

Sergeant Francis Tull: You know, your heart starts sinking.

Reporter Jeff Smith raced to the scene.

Jeff Smith: You could see law enforcement people were out there with the tarp, or the body bag, it was just very quiet, very solemn.

Hoda Kotb: What did you lose that day?

Brenda Simpson: Oh, a big chunk out of my heart. I lost all my dreams that I had for him.

Brenda's grief was overwhelming but so were her questions. Alan was not the type of child to wander off. Why had he been at the river? How did he get there? Discovering his body was the beginning of a mystery she was just beginning to grasp.

Brenda Simpson: It didn't make sense. None of it made sense because he wouldn't have went out there without permission. None of this is adding up.

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