The Mysterious Disappearance of Brianna.

Let’s take a look at the mysterious case of Brianna Maitland, the 17 year old, who disappeared after finishing her shift at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont.

On October 8th, 1986, parents Bruce and Kellie Maitland welcomed Brianna into the world in Burlington, Vermont. Brianna grew up on her parent's farm in East Franklin, Vermont, a small town of about 1000 residents in 1986, about 2 miles from the U.S.-Canada border, with her older brother. Growing up the family didn’t have a television, to keep herself busy Brianna read a lot of books, and for some time practiced jiu-jitsu. Brianna has been described as smart, outgoing, and fun to be around by family and friends.

On October 8th, 2003, Brianna’s 17th birthday, she moved out of her parent's home, because she wanted to be more independent, and live closer to her friends. Brianna transferred from Missisquoi Valley Union High School in Swanton, VT, where she didn’t fit in, to Enosburg Falls High School in Enosburg Falls, VT. Brianna’s friends Katie Manning, Megan Jefferson, Keallie Lacross, Sydney Coon, and Hillary Robitaille all went to Enosburg Falls High and she was happy to join them.

She moved in with Katie at Katie parent’s home, to support herself Brianna worked 2 jobs, one as a waitress at KJ’s diner in St. Albans, VT and one as a dishwasher at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, VT. It’s said that after moving out of her parent’s home Brianna began to party like no tomorrow. The relationship between Brianna and her friends began to sour, she moved out of Katie’s home, and began living out of her car. Brianna, intelligent and a great student, was forced to drop out of Enosburg Falls High.

On February 4th, 2004 Keallie physically assaulted Brianna at a party 3 weeks, before she disappeared. One of Brianna's friends alleged that Brianna declined to fight Keallie, despite having training in martial arts. Keallie punched Brianna in the face several times, Brianna suffered a broken nose and concussion during the altercation. Brianna filed charges against Keallie; police dropped the charges against Keallie after Brianna disappeared. Bruce believes Keallie attacked Brianna, because she was jealous that Brianna talked to a guy Keallie was interested in.

By the end of February, Brianna moved in with her childhood friend, Julie Stout, in Sheldon, VT.

On the morning of March 19th, Brianna got her GED, she planned to go to college and had a bright future ahead. She had lunch with her mom Kellie to celebrate getting her GED. After lunch Brianna and her mom went clothes shopping. Brianna had to buy black pants for her waitress job at KJ’s diner. While at the checkout Brianna left the store, her mother paid for the pants, and met up with Brianna in the parking lot. Brianna’s mood had changed, but her mom wanted to respect her privacy and independence, so they didn’t talk about why Brianna’s mood changed.

Kellie dropped Brianna off at Julie’s house some time between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. This is the last time Kellie saw her daughter alive. Before Brianna got in her 1985 green Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale to leave for work at the Black Lantern Inn, she wrote a note for Julie that said she would return after work later that evening.

Brianna finished work around 11:20 p.m. Her co-workers invited her to join them for dinner. She told her co-workers that she had to go home and rest, because she had to work at KJ’s diner the next morning. Brianna got in her car, and left the Black Lantern Inn by herself.

A man driving on Route 118, a Vermont state highway, saw Brianna’s car oddly backed into an abandoned farmhouse, locally known as the “Old Dutchburn House”, between 11:30 p.m on March 19th and 12:30 a.m. on March 20th, 10 to 70 minutes after Brianna left the Black Lantern Inn.

On March 20th, between 12:00 a.m and 12:30 a.m. a second witness, also a man, saw Brianna’s car backed into the abandoned farmhouse, he said a turn signal might’ve been flashing.

Later, Brianna’s ex-boyfriend, James Robitaille, who went out in Canada passed by the farmhouse and recognized Brianna’s car. It’s unclear at what time exactly, but it’s believed some time around 2:30 a.m. recognizing the car James pulled over, he said the car’s headlights were on, and both the driver and passenger’s door were open, but Brianna was nowhere to be found. James turned off the car’s headlights, closed the doors, and moved on. James had been drinking a lot in Canada and didn’t want to get in trouble.

Later that morning, a group of hikers traveling on Route 118, saw Brianna’s car and stopped. They looked at Brianna’s car and took pictures. The hikers saw some loose change, Brianna’s broken necklace, and a water bottle, next to the driver’s side of the car.

At 1:22 p.m., 14 hours after Brianna was last seen, a Vermont state trooper was dispatched to the abandoned farmhouse. The officer observed the same items as the hikers, he also saw 2 uncashed Black Lantern Inn paychecks addressed to Brianna, and an unsmoked cigarette. The trooper picked up the scattered items, and threw the items in the car. He determined it wasn’t suspicious, to find an abandoned car, and the car probably belonged to a drunk driver. He wrote down the license plate, but never ran the plates.

The state trooper had Brianna’s car towed to a local car shop. Next the trooper drove to the Black Lantern Inn, hoping to interview staff about the abandoned car. Since the restaurant was closed, the trooper went on about his day. There’s a rumor that a couple days later the trooper went on vacation.

On March 23rd*, almost 4 full days after she was last seen, Brianna was finally reported missing by her mother Kellie. On March 19th, Jillian had seen the note Brianna left her, but she went to visit her grandparents house, and was unaware Brianna hadn’t come home after work. When Jillian came back home on March 22nd, she noticed the note was still in the same spot. So on March 23rd, Jillian called Brianna’s mom, they compared notes and quickly realized Brianna was missing. Kellie called her husband Bruce, who was on business in New York to inform him that Brianna was missing. Next Kellie called the police to report Brianna missing. Bruce drove the whole night to get back to Vermont.

On March 25th, Brianna’s parents gave Vermont State Police pictures of Brianna. A trooper showed Brianna’s parents a picture of a car at the “Old Dutchburn House” which they immediately recognized as Brianna’s car. According to interviews with Kellie, she felt "instinctively revulsed" by the picture and assumed Brianna had not left the car in that manner, but that someone else did it.

On March 30th, The Vermont State Crime Lab investigated Brianna's car. DNA was found, but there were no indications of a struggle or foul play. Police didn’t reveal that they found DNA samples in Brianna’s car.

On April 15, 2004, police conducted a search of a farmhouse on Reservoir Rd in Berkshire, VT, about 10 miles from Montgomery, VT. Vermont State Police received a tip that Brianna was being held against her will at the farmhouse. Ramon L. Ryans and Nathaniel Charles Jackson, two well-known drug dealers from New York were renting the farmhouse at the time. Brianna was not found at the farmhouse.

In 2004, Brianna’s family created the now defunct website bringbrihome.org. On the website her family offered a maximum reward of $20,000 for information leading to Brianna and the arrest of the person responsible. Anyone that could lead Brianna’s family to her, or her remains could get a reward of $10,000 and another $10,000 leading to an arrest for those responsible for her disappearance/murder.

In late 2004, police received an affidavit from an anonymous witness, believed to be an older woman. In the affidavit, the witness implicates Ramon and Nathaniel in the disappearance and murder of Brianna. The woman claims that Brianna was murdered within a week of her disappearance, and that she was killed over drug money, Brianna’s body was allegedly dismembered. Police haven’t been able to corroborate the witness’ story.

Since her disappearance, Brianna’s family received a number of anonymous phone calls with unverified claims that Brianna had been "tied to a tree in the woods" and dumped at the bottom of a lake.

In 2006, there was a sighting of a woman that resembled Brianna in Atlantic City, New Jersey playing poker at Caesars Casino. The women has never been identified.

On March 10th, 2010 after police received a tip, a search was conducted in Richford, VT about 3 miles from where Brianna’s car was found. 2 dozen searchers, and 2 cadaver dogs searched for Brianna at a sand pit. The search turned up nothing.

On March 19th, 2016, the 12th anniversary of Brianna’s disappearance, Police revealed that shortly after her disappearance they found DNA samples from Brianna’s car.

In late 2020, the DNA samples were submitted to Houston, Texas based Othram, Inc. a sequencing lab, they found a number of potential matches. Police were able to question the potential matches and obtain DNA samples from them. This information wasn’t made public by police until March 2022, when police disclosed they had found a match to the DNA sample discovered in Brianna's car. The person's identity hasn’t been revealed, but police stated that the DNA belonged to one of the 11 individuals who had previously undergone testing in relation to Brianna's disappearance.

The investigation is still ongoing as of 2023, hopefully Brianna’s family will get closure soon. It’s been more than 19 years since she disappeared.

* Most reports state that Brianna was reported missing on March 23rd, but there are some reports that state March 25th as the day she was reported missing.