The Tragedy
A senseless crime
In the days and weeks leading up to her death, Brandy was going on adventures with her best friend and her friend's family. She was working, making friends, and going about her life.
She had been keeping in touch with a friend of hers whom she dated about a year and a half prior. So maybe it wasn't all that odd when Brandy was invited to Cochranton, PA to visit that ex-girlfriend.
It was Thursday, May 17th when Brandy made the drive to visit that girl. Brandy texted a friend of hers that she had a bad feeling about going. However, she still made the trip, which was over an hour long. Brandy eventually texted that same friend to say that she was not feeling so well and was going to stop at Subway to get something to eat. (Brandy had diabetes, and therefore she had to be careful about her blood sugar.)
That was the last time anyone heard from her.
That night, her family and closest friends started to worry.
Brandy's family was able to file a missing person's report due to Brandy's diabetes, despite law enforcement figuring that a 20-year-old female may go places or change plans without telling others.
Friday passed.
Saturday passed.
Sunday passed.
People who had contacted Brandy's ex-girlfriend, who lived at the residence Brandy was headed to that day, were getting responses from her. The girl said Brandy never made it there that day. She was interested in knowing if police were involved. She told one friend that it was bear hunting season and that the local people did not like gay people.
On Monday morning, Brandy's cell phone finally pinged a tower in Meadville, PA. Her family and friends were excited and hopeful! We grabbed the posters we had printed out with a picture of Brandy on it and headed to Meadville. We went door to door, into businesses, through neighborhoods, all to no avail.
After having no luck in Meadville, a couple of friends and family members went to the address of the girl whom Brandy had gone up there to visit. The girl was there in the front yard, with her new girlfriend (whose parents owned and lived in the residence too). There was a brief confrontation there, but the story was still that Brandy had never arrived at the house.
It was that night when an anonymous phone call was made to the authorities. The phone call allowed them to find Brandy's car in the garage of that house. Completely cleaned out.
The two girls who were seemingly responsible for Brandy missing then fled. They packed a couple of grocery bags with belongings in them and took off on foot. They did not get too far before they were identified by an officer who was headed home after his shift. The officer saw two females headed across an underpass and getting into a vehicle. He thought the girls matched the description of the girls who had gone missing. So he followed that vehicle.
The two girls confessed to the crime after a few hours of interrogation. The FBI was at the house where it occurred. They uncovered Brandy's body, which was buried in a shallow grave not far behind the residence. The area was wooded.
I won't get into the gory details here, out of respect for keeping this site about who Brandy was, but the crime was premeditated and gruesome. Here is a link to an article that explains the events. The killers had dug the grave seemingly days prior to Brandy's arrival.
After a few months, finally, there were preliminary hearings. Then pre-trials. Eventually, by the end of the following year, both of the killers plead guilty before an official jury trial.
They are currently both in women's prisons in Pennsylvania serving out life sentences without the possibility of parole.