Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Case Updates with Photos
Brittney Nicole Wood
Brittney, date, approximate 2012; Age-progression to age 27 (date, approximate 2019); Brittney's uncle, Donald Holland Sr.
Date Missing 05/30/2012
Missing From
Mobile, Alabama
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/25/1992 (30)
Age 19 years old
Height and Weight 5'3, 105 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue t-shirt, blue denim shorts and flip-flops. Carrying a pink or teal tote bag containing extra clothing, a red curling iron, a makeup bag and a cellular phone.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde to brown hair, blue eyes. Brittney has a tattoo of the name "Payton" surrounded by butterflies on her left leg. Her lip is pierced. She smokes Newport Menthols cigarettes.
Details of Disappearance Brittney was last seen in Mobile, Alabama on May 30, 2012. She said she was going to visit her uncle, Donald Paul Holland Sr., in the Styx River area. She apparently got a ride from him and was last seen getting in his car at 7:30 p.m. Her last cellular phone signal was from that vicinity, but she never arrived and has never been heard from again. Her parents reported her missing on June 2.
Donald Sr. was found dead on June 1, the day after Brittney was last seen. At the time of his death, he was under investigation for sex crimes. He had been shot and his death was ruled a suicide, but some people doubt this explanation because the gunshot wound was in the back of Donald Sr.'s head, which is unusual in suicide s. A photograph of Donald Sr. is posted with this summary. Authorities found Brittney's cellular phone battery in his truck after his death.
In June and July 2012, several members of Brittney's family were arrested. Ultimately, eleven people were charged with crimes including incest, rape, sodomy and production of child pornography.
The arrested men included Brittney's brother, Derek Thomas Wood; her uncles, Randall "Scott" Wood and Dustin Alton Kent; her step-cousin, Donald Paul "Donnie" Holland Jr.; James Cumbaa, a Wood family member by marriage; and two friends of the Wood family, William "Billy" Brownlee and Nelton Lloyd "Butch" Morgan. Brittney's maternal aunt, Wendy Wood Holland; Wendy's twin sister, Mendy Kent, who was Dustin's wife; Brittney's mother, Chessie Wood; and Jennifer Gonzalez Moore, a friend of the family, were also charged.
There were multiple victims, and police described the as one of the worst of its kind in the county. One teenage victim stated she had first been abused while she was a toddler in diapers, and that her earliest memories involved being raped by adult relatives. Very young children would observe what was going on, and some of the women used sex toys on the children to get them "ready" for further abuse.
Authorities determined Brittney had been a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of her relatives as well, starting when she was four or five. Police were planning to question her, but she disappeared before they could.
Wendy Wood Holland was sentenced to 219 years in prison, Mendy Kent to 40 years, Dustin Kent to 17 years, and Randall Wood to a split sentence fifteen years, of which he served only three. Derek Wood and Donald Holland Jr. were both granted youthful offender status, meaning their records are sealed. Chessie Wood pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment and served no time. William Brownlee was sentenced to 21 years and Nelton Morgan to ten years in prison and five years of probation. The outcomes for James Cumbaa and Jennifer Gonzalez Moore unknown.
None of the trials and guilty pleas led to any further information about Brittney's whereabouts or fate.
Brittney left behind a young daughter. She didn't have a car at the time of her disappearance, and her mother stated she would not have run away from home. Authorities believe she may have been taken against her will and may have been murdered. She may still be in the local area. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Mobile Police Department
251-208-7211
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
NamUs
Fox 10 TV
Alabama Department of Public Safety
Local 15 TV
The Mobile Press-Register
Gulf Coast News
Facebook Page for Brittney Wood
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Case Updates with Photos