Where is Brianna Maitland?
This month marks 20 years since the Vermont teen vanished.
Brianna Maitland was born on October 8, 1986, to Bruce and Kellie Maitland in Burlington, Vermont. The Maitlands raised Brianna and her older brother on a farm in East Franklin, Vermont. This area is in northern Vermont, close to the Canadian border. Brianna was into jujitsu, which will be something to note later. She was said to have trained in it for years. She attended Missisquoi Valley Union High School before transferring to nearby Enosburg Falls High School during her sophomore year.
When Brianna turned 17 she decided she wanted to move on her own and to be able to go to school with her friends. Her mom said there were no serious stresses at home. This decision was because she wanted more independence and to be closer to a group of friends who lived 15 miles away.
Her living situation wasn’t stable. She moved from a friend’s house to a different friend’s house. At the end of February, she moved in with a friend named Jillian Stout in Sheldon, Vermont. Also at this time, Brianna dropped out of high school and worked two jobs. She was enrolled to study to take the GED as well.
Three weeks before her disappearance she was attacked by a girl at a party named Keallie Lacrosse. And she was beaten up pretty badly. Many find this interesting because Brianna could have defended herself. After all, like I said she was trained extensively in jujitsu. The attack left her with a concussion, a broken nose, two black eyes, and several other facial wounds. It was never completely confirmed why this happened but the rumor was that Brianna and Keallie’s on and off again boyfriend had some sort of interaction and it pissed Keallie off. Brianna filed a police report because of this attack, but it was dropped three weeks after she went missing.
This will bring us to March 19, 2004. Brianna had just passed her GED so to celebrate she and her mom went out to lunch and then to do some shopping. Kellie said that Brianna and her were getting along, she was extremely happy and was talking about her plans for her future. While shopping Brianna went outside and after a while her mom went to find her. When she found Brianna, Kellie said that she was extremely mad and shaken but didn’t want to talk about what had happened so Kellie let it go. They ended up leaving and Kellie dropped Brianna off at her apartment between 3:30 pm-4:00 pm.
That night Brianna had a shift at one of her jobs where she was a dishwasher. It was at the Black Lantern Inn. She left Jillian a note saying that she had a late shift and she would see her later. Which Jillian saw after Brianna left for work. Jillian then went to her boyfriend’s house for the weekend.
That night, Brianna’s coworkers tried to get her to stay after they closed because they were all going to get food and whatnot. She said no she couldn’t stay because she had an early shift the next morning at her other job where she was a server at a diner. This was at approximately 11:20 pm.
Jillian came home at the end of the weekend and she noticed Brianna wasn’t there. She didn’t think too much about it though because she knew she had 2 jobs and assumed she was either at work or she had gone to her parents’ house. By Tuesday she became concerned and called Brianna’s parents who said no she hadn’t been there.
An area that’s going to play a huge role in this case is Route 118 in Richford. More specifically, The Old Dutchburn House. This was about a mile from the place she worked that night. The Old Dutchburn House was abandoned. It was known as a “druggie hangout” because of this. The following day Brianna’s car, a 1985 green four-door Oldsmobile Delta 88 sedan was found there.
Here’s a multiple witness timeline that will provide us with additional details on the night Brianna was last seen:
11:30 pm – March 20, 12:30 am: A male witness who drives by the Old Dutchburn house reports potentially seeing the Oldsmobiles’ headlights on. He does not see anyone in or around the car.
12:00 am - 12:30 am: A second man reports seeing a turn signal flashing on the car.Note: This overlaps with the first male witness. If the first witness drove by after this witness, perhaps the turn signal was a sign of the beginning of the struggle, and the first witness may have come upon a more stabilized scene if the turn signal got knocked back off during the struggle.
2:30 am ~ 4:00 am: Brianna’s ex-boyfriend, James Robitaille, now deceased, drives past the car after a night of partying. He recognizes the vehicle but does not see anyone. He later says he pulled over at 2:30 am, saw nobody, and saw the headlights were on, as well as the driver and passenger doors opened. He reports he shut the doors, turned off the headlights, and had been drinking that night, hence why he did not notify law enforcement.
The next afternoon a trooper finds the car. The back end is in The Old Dutchburn House as if someone backed into it. Now the trooper who responded to this just had it towed because he assumed it was a drunk driver. Didn’t get a photo of it, nothing. The reason we have the photo of her car is that someone passing by thought it was weird and took a picture of it. This car was registered to Kellie, Brianna’s mom, but no one called her.
So in the car/at the scene, there were two uncashed checks, some of Brianna’s clothes, her contact lenses, migraine meds, makeup, debit card, and ID. On the outside of the car there was vomit, which they couldn’t tell how old it was, some change, jewelry that was Brianna’s, cigarettes, and what was probably one of the weirdest was a lime wedge on the hood of the car. The keys were missing and were never found. Something to note is that the car wouldn’t be connected to all of this until days later.
Now going back to Jillian calling Brianna’s parents, they, of course, reported their daughter missing as soon as they found out. Which puts us at 5 days later at this point. On Thursday, March 25th, Brianna’s parents gave photos of her to Vermont State Police in St. Albans. A trooper showed them a picture of the Oldsmobile found at The Old Dutchburn House. The Maitlands immediately identified the car as their daughter's. Kellie has said in interviews that she was "instinctively revulsed" by the photo, and believed “someone else, not Brianna, had left the car in such a way”. Police initially tried to treat this as a runaway case, but Brianna left everything. If she was trying to run away and start a new life she most definitely would have at least taken the checks with her don’t you think?
Once word got out about Brianna this was when the tips started flooding in and the timeline from the witnesses came through that was discussed above.
They performed searches in the area including with k9 units but they found nothing. It was as if she just vanished. What was heartbreaking was when they went to get the car her dad talked about how he “was afraid she was going to be in the truck dead”. This would not be the case and the vehicle ended up leaving more questions than answers.
As time went on there were absolutely no solid leads or evidence on where Brianna went. Tips continued to come in and rumors spread. There was a discussion if this was a drug-related incident. It was confirmed that she did dabble in some drugs recreationally, as a lot of teens and young adults do but she wasn’t an addict or super into the drug scene.
Later that same year, authorities received another tip implicating Nathanial Jackson and Ramon Ryans in Brianna's disappearance and death. The anonymous tipster said Brianna and Ramon argued because he owed her money. The source stated Brianna loaned Ramon money to purchase cocaine, and he never paid her back. This source stated that Brianna was being held in a basement. The police raided the house and of course, found drugs, but no Brianna or evidence she had been there. This incident initiated a path for other theories on what happened to Brianna.
This first theory, which I am personally skeptical of, suggests she voluntarily left town. In the weeks before her disappearance, Brianna reportedly told several friends she was planning a short trip. However, as reported by Stories of the Unsolved, authorities still have not found any evidence to suggest she left willingly, or had the means to do so.
There was also the theory that this may be related to the case of Maura Murray. Maura was a University of Massachusetts student who went missing on February 9, 2004. As reported by WMUR, Maura’s vehicle was found abandoned in a ditch in North Haverhill, New Hampshire, approximately 90 miles from where Brianna's vehicle was found. While there may be some parallels, authorities have not confirmed any connection between the disappearances.
Then in 2006, security footage at the Caesars World Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, showed a woman resembling Brianna sitting at a poker table. The woman was never properly identified.
Lastly, another theory was that maybe she was a victim of serial killer Israel Keyes. In 2012, authorities investigated this possibility. However, Keyes’ financial records proved he was not in Vermont when Brianna went missing. This led to the FBI ruling out Keyes's potential connection to Brianna's disappearance in late December 2012.
In March 2016, on the case's twelfth anniversary, investigators revealed to a local television station they had recovered DNA samples from Brianna's car. The results of the DNA tests were not made public. Then in July of that same year, the farmhouse where Brianna's vehicle was discovered was destroyed in a fire.
Just last week, March 19, 2024, authorities announced there was now a $40,000 reward for information on Brianna’s disappearance. Col. Matthew T. Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police addressed the public:
“Someone out there may have information that can help solve this case. It’s been too long, and it’s time to come forward. No tip is too small. Together with our partners from Vermont State Police, we will work to cover every lead until we bring Brianna home.
We remain as dedicated to this case now as we were when Brianna disappeared. This is not a cold case, but it is an unsolved one — and we’re hoping the announcement of a significant financial reward for information will help change that. Partnering with the FBI to provide this reward money offers one more significant tool as we continue to pursue answers in this 20-year-old investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to call either 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Vermont State Police Tipline at 1-844-84-VTIPS (1-844-848-8477).