The Mystery of the Lost Weekend

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

They say people re-invent themselves when they come to California - something transformative about the road west, the cities on the hills and the valleys by the sea. They're not exactly the same, anymore, once they're here. But if that's so, can you ever really know a person?

A person like Vincent Brothers, for example.  By all accounts popular, successful, and kind. 

Donald Collier: I thought he was a very loving individual.  I thought he had a heart of gold. 

Ah yes, a heart of gold. Your ability to know a man - know what he is or is not really capable of - is about to be challenged.

Vincent Brothers was an elementary school vice principal.  A very good one, apparently. Here's his wife, Joan, a school supervisor in Bakersfield, Calif.

Eddie Harper: Joanie was the sweetest, most gentlest person you'd ever meet. 

They had three kids. Vincent was the love of her life, said her brother Eddie.

Eddie Harper: Vincent was very nice, very giving to-- toward Joanie. She thought he was an-- incredible person. We knew that Joanie was in love with this man.  Deeply in love with him.   

So here he was, the respected educator, father, happily married man. And who'd have thought it given his beginnings, back in Bellport, Long Island.

Donald Collier: Where we grew up, it was easy to get in trouble.  And that was the biggest thing was to stay out of trouble.

But Vincent remembered childhood pal Donald Collier had a kind of pied piper popularity.

Donald Collier: Kids gravitated to this guy like you wouldn't believe.  They'd run out like he was the ice cream man.  They loved him.

One of ten kids, his mother, Margaret, struggled and worried... But not about Vincent.

Margaret Brothers: Vincent was just blessed with the gift of knowledge. Cause he never had to study. But he took things serious. But I never saw him down or depressed or going through anything.

He went to college, served in the Marine Reserves, and headed west in the mid-eighties to complete his masters degree at Cal State Bakersfield. He wasn't perfect.  There were two brief marriages which ended even as he rose quickly as a school administrator.

And then he met sweet, quiet Joanie Harper, from a modest but respected Bakersfield family.

Joan's mother Earnestine was an outspoken community activist who most recently had been working with the defendant in a high profile murder case.

Eddie Harper: My mother's main work-- was helping those defendants who were unjustly accused. She was fearless.

Joanie had been a gifted athlete, a star basketball player. But her real passion, like Vincent's, was helping children.

Eddie Harper: She loved working with children. She was also a division one women's basketball official. And yes she was-- multi-talented, multi-talented. 

And so Vincent and Joan became a team themselves, going above and beyond for the local kids, which did not go unnoticed around Bakersfield.

Kyoshi Tamono: We had done previous stories on how he walked kids home from school. 

Kiyoshi Tamono is a Bakersfield news anchor.

Kyoshi Tamono: He was known as the caring vice principal; the guy that really wanted to make sure his kids succeeded.

Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC: And were safe.

Kyoshi Tamono: And were safe. Bakersfield's got a lot of heart.  They said, "This guy should have bikes so he can help escort these kids home."                            

From local news:

“Vice Principal Vincent Brothers and Joanie Harper, who is campus supervisor, are escorting kids home on wheels.”

Girl: He's the best principal we ever had.

Kyoshi Tamono: And he was there with his wife in our stories, riding the brand new bikes and thanking the community for doing that for him.

From local news:

Vincent Brothers: I'm excited. I really appreciate it.  I didn't expect this.  And-- thank you.

Reporter: How 'bout you?

Joan: It's a bit overwhelming.  But we appreciate their support that they've given us-- the years that we've been here. And so it's just an opportunity for us to show that we care. And make sure their children get home safely.

Keith Morrison: He's kind of like a neighborhood hero.

Kyoshi Tamono: Absolutely.  He was a pillar in this community.

Their son Marques was born in 1998.  And to the relief of Joan's family, the two married in January 2000. And this is where we would like to have used the words “happily ever after,” but, of course, that's not why we're here.

Things… happened. The first thing was Vincent's odd disappearances.

Eddie Harper: He would leave for three days, wouldn't say where he's going.  And he'd come back and Joanie could not question his whereabouts or who he was with or what he was doing.  And-- so that behavior-- was extremely strange.

They fell out of love, they divorced, they fell in love again. They had a daughter, Lyndsey. Joanie, said her brother, worked very hard at this.

Eddie Harper: Joanie wanted her children to have a father. She wanted it to be husband and wife. That was her main concern, that-- he was really involved in the children's life.

And it seemed that Vincent wanted that too.  He began a study program with a local minister. And in January 2003, he and Joan secretly remarried. Four months later their third child, Marshall, was born.

Eddie Harper: Seeing him-- change, watching him, how he was with the-- with the children, and-- and he was, in all intent and purpose, very good.

July 4th weekend, he took a break, flew east to Ohio to visit his brother Melvin. Joan stayed home to enjoy fireworks and barbecues with her mother and the children.

It was Tuesday the 8th - Vincent still back east - a friend dropped by to see Joanie and the children. And what she found was horrifying.

911 call:

Sister: Get someone here, 901 3rd Street.

911 Operator: Where are you?

Sister: 901 3rd Street. Somebody’s dead.

911 Operator: Hold on, hold on.

Sister: My sister, my best friend - she's dead. She lay on the bed dead.

911 Operator: OK.

Sister: My mother and three children.

Eddie Harper: I thought I was-- dreaming.  I thought-- this day was not really happening.

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