Brittany Tee left her boyfriend’s house and vanished | Missing on NewsNation

[Music] thank you for joining us I'm Marty Hughes in Chicago and this is missing on news Nation each week we cover missing person cases from across the country no matter their race religion background or circumstances every missing person matters to us and we know it means a lot to you and with your help we offer family and friends hope answers and sometimes closure before we get to this week's featured case we have several other missing updates to tell you about there are some questions still surrounding the case of a Marine missing from Camp Pendleton the naval criminal investigation service says they made contact with Corporal Charles Alex Benfield he is safe that's the good news but his sister tells news Nation they still don't know where he is Benfield was reported missing after a night out in D downtown San Diego he had just reenlisted for four more years this past fall the family became concerned when he didn't show up for work his phone was dead and his bank accounts had been drained Benfield sister tells us they believe he's traveling towards Arizona on foot we'll keep following this case and bring you updates as we learn more here at news Nation we also have an update in another case we've been following police have located a missing door Dash driver in the Chicago area Elijah Okala is safe and thankfully back with his family the 24-year-old vanished after dropping off his mom for work his family spent a week desperately trying to locate him and get in touch least are not releasing any details about where Elijah was found other than the fact that he is okay and he has been reunited with those who care about him our case this week takes us to Massachusetts and the search for Britney T Britney is 35 years old 56 120 lb she has brown hair and blue eyes and on the night of January 10th 2023 Britney walked out of the door of a home where she was sharing with her boyfriend and Britney simply vanished her family wonders if her vibrant caring personality made her a Target the only thing they know for sure is Britney would not leave her life behind now police are asking for the Public's help to connect the dots she stuck in the tent I'm stuck uhoh the fun Aunt Britney T playing with her niece and nephew wow ch anything the kids did she'd do yeah you know and vice versa you know she's the one that's getting down on the ground on her hands and knees and yeah you know just being fun don't worry everyone the kids now struggling to understand what happened to their favorite Playmate they don't they thought initially she was on vacation and forgot to tell us where she was but as as it goes on they realize she's really busy missing investigators say the 35-year-old left the house where she lived with her boyfriend in Brookfield around 8:30 on the night of January 10th 2023 and simply vanished check your video check your garages check your sheds anything that is a spot where a person may look to get out of the elements investigators released these surveillance photos from days before The Disappearance showing the black jacket and Hoodie Britney was believed to be wearing but more than a year later we know she left the house wish she went after that that's still a mystery we don't have the answers Susan T says she spoke to her daughter on the phone just half an hour before her disappearance we had a brief conversation and she started to cry and I asked what was wrong and she said oh nothing mom we'll talk about it later when she couldn't reach Britney for 2 days she got worried and texted the boyfriend and he called me back very shortly after saying what do you mean how is Britney doing isn't she with you they immediately went to the house and discovered her Jeep with her purse and keys still inside her boyfriend said he thought Britney had gone to her mom's he knew she was speaking to me and he thought that she was asking me to come pick her up investigators say the boyfriend has cooperated fully we're getting pretty consistent stories um from different people and as far as the boyfriend goes he's been very Cooperative from the beginning Britney's family admits she struggled with alcohol dependency but was working hard to get better what is she like thinking of I know are you on a motorcycle or something these photos Tak in Just 2 weeks earlier at Christmas you know her skin was better she had a lot more energy she was you know she was being silly with the kids I felt like I had my sister back we can't imagine what could have gone wrong in two what two weeks and she's gone the da would not confirm whether Britney's phone had pinged after her disappearance but says multiple searches have left no stone unturned they've been Relentless with the uh the investigators been Relentless with searches helicopters drones K9 units civilian search teams Britney's family is confident she would not have walked down that unlit road alone in the freezing cold she had just spoken with my mom a half hour prior and she was clear as about she there was she was not intoxicated or altered in any way they say Britney worked at the local liquor store where she became friends with the customers she's kind and loving and funny and people are drawn to her personality and we're just afraid maybe the wrong person was drawn to her personality and she was too trusting did the wrong person come by and she got in the wrong vehicle oh another card I know I don't have your card why did you find this well that's good Best Day Ever her family just hoping someone with information will come forward we're hoping that they will find it in their hearts to come forward and let us know where she [Music] is just hear the pain in that mother's voice thinking about this entire family right now as they search for answers around this Myster Britney is a a sister a daughter an aunt you can see how much fun she had with her family they want her back desperately joining us now is law Olstead he's the president of the missing person Center to talk more about this case La welcome back and thank you for for looking into this investigation with us what stands out to you first about the evidence that police have put forth so far a year plus after Britney's disappearance well one of the biggest things that um you know for me looking at a from an investigative standpoint is the fact that I understand her purse and her car keys were found in her vehicle that seems kind of odd to me because if her vehicle was running well enough to get to her mom's house which was about 15 minutes away why didn't she take her car why did she leave the vehicle there was there something wrong with the vehicle um was it out of gas that that is really uh a big question for me and then we don't really know the direction that she left the house is what I'm understanding so we really don't know where she could have been heading it um I'm also hearing a lot about that she was very trusting she was uh having some sort of emotional situation uh prior to leaving I'd really like to know a little bit more about what that situation was and I would imagine that situation had something to do with the boyfriend but we haven't heard of a whole lot about that so those two elements right there are very concerning to me and I wish we had some more information being shared on those topics yeah all we know the family has been in touch with the boyfriend they don't suspect him they think that he has nothing to do with it police seem to be on that same page but these investigations are fluid right and we learn more as time goes on how challenging is it for law enforcement they've done ground searches they've done air searches as more than a year has passed by for them to continue to get leads in a case like this well it's G you know the longer any case goes on it's definitely more challenging to get new leads I think one thing that will help you know from again from an investigative standpoint is if she was If Britney was you know struggling with some alcohol issues if she was going to any kind of groups or getting any kind of counseling I would say start looking around those circles as well and and what you typically find when there's like somebody who has um an obsession with with someone um after the fact that they go missing often times that person will start behaving differently so if there's somebody within her circle of influence within her friends or peer group that is acting differently maybe not coming around as much maybe coming around more maybe asking a lot more questions maybe acting a little bit more um emotional about the situation than they normally would those are things to to start looking at don't think there's going to be a whole lot of tips rolling in on this case if they haven't already after a year uh the case to me is very very cold and uh there needs to be some new things really dug up very quickly and um you know another thing to think about too is sometimes when we're looking all over the place for a missing person trying to find out where they went sometimes they're very close and underneath our nose maybe even on the property somewhere um maybe they never even left so it'd be interesting to find out if uh If Britney ever had any ideations of self harm or anything like that I know these are very very tough questions to ask and address but they really help in trying to figure out where to go from here because there's really been no new information yeah I I think to that point a lot of families are desperate for any clues any evidence and answer so you have to go down some dark roads um even if they are unlikely just to rule that out you know in a case like this what about that theory that she worked at the liquor store she was overcoming some struggles herself with alcohol surveillance video from around that store at the time investigatively would you start with some of the clientele at that store yeah I would I would start uh talking to people who were other employees or co-workers um to find out you know patterns a lot of people go to their local liquor store in patterns they have these routines of things they do um and and conversations they have you get to know people intimately especially in these more rural communities so I would certainly be looking for patterns of behavior before she left of patrons and employees and afterwards I mean if there was somebody who was coming in all the time and you could see they were speaking to her on a regular basis and then all of a sudden now that she's missing that person's not showing up anymore I'd say it's really important to find out who that person is so yeah for sure there's a there's a lot if um if someone takes the time to start checking on patterns of people's behavior two three even weeks or even a month before she left and then the the the next couple of weeks after um she was last seen I think could possibly tell a story what is your message law is you cover lots of missing person cases to the family in in this situation and their desperation more than a year after Britney went missing where they continue their search they've been looking on the ground I mentioned there were canine searches they looked from helicopters from above but after this much time has passed what do families do well you know one thing they they have to do is start working on a reward fund I don't know if one has been uh you know developed yet or being cultivated but start working on a reward fund stay as be as much of an ad advocate for her as possible do not let her story be lost in the in the the ocean of so many other missing people the ones that have the most success in being recovered reunited found are the ones with the most advocacy people talking about the story all the time and this starts with the family the families need to stay on law enforcement they need to stay on the district attorney they need to stay on the local media and do show like this as well and share information um you know about her so people can start forming a personal connection to her because this this she sounds like a really great young lady who has a really big heart and very friendly and I think people will identify with her quite a bit and and the story is is is very interesting you know everybody likes a compelling story and they I know there's a lot of people following this so they need to be hopeful don't give up don't act like this is the end of it you're never going to know you can know but you have to keep advocating all the time yeah does it become a resource issue for police after this much time has passed and in some other cases even more time has passed how do they continue to investigate um with no clues coming forward well unfortunately most of the time uh they just sit around and and wait for tips I don't want to take anything away from what the local police have done I followed this uh you know to a smaller extent I do believe the police have done all they can based on their experience and their resources they seem to have pulled out all the stops uh they're doing a good job they're keeping the community informed it sounds like they're they're open to speaking with the family um but it's it's just really tough it's it's very tough they're they're gonna have to uh wait for tips to come in and if uh that's the case this could take a long time I really believe that you know they might want to even open up the door to other agencies coming in maybe a state agency to look at the case or some other professionals who are very familiar with missing person cases to take another look at this because sometimes there's a piece of information just sitting there that maybe based on skill level or experience someone has missed so it' be great if somebody could take another look at everything and see if there was something that uh that was obvious that hadn't been followed up on we talk about her phone as well you know there's been no one information about if the phone pinged or what kind of communication she was having with anyone leading up to her disappearance whether it be weeks before or even minutes before she left the house we haven't heard anything about that yeah and that leads me to some viewer questions that we have in regards to the evidence and the phone um law I want to have you answer some of these as broadly as you can um I know that you've been looking into the case but this question comes from Barbara and she she wants to know how can they know how she left the house her SIM card was found at the boyfriend's house if she was talking to her mom and he thought she was calling her to pick her up the SIM card would have been in the phone at the time how do they investigatively explore uh the digital evidence in a case like this well the phone has you know tracking on it through the phone carrier so they they can just serve a warrant to the phone carrier to to get all the GPS and everything on the phone um it just it's it just seems like nobody's really looking into the phone as much as they should realistically I mean there's been no pings or anything like that or uh any data recovered from the phone um it I I I can't imagine why it hasn't been shared with anybody at this point the phone incredibly critical I've got another question from Tony uh on the district attorney saying that we know that she left the house how does he know that is that on a camera or is it because that was what the boyfriend said they go based off of the evidence right they are not theorizing in a case like this well yeah they do go based on the evidence and I would say the same thing that maybe many of the the the people in the audience would say is we don't know she left the house I'm not quite sure she did leave the house I'm I'm not quite sure that her purse and keys weren't staged in her vehicle to make it look like she was attempting to leave the house we have no proof of that whatsoever that's why I said earlier they need to start looking closer to to her home to the property she could be she could be there somewhere on the property for all we know but uh you know there there's there's no there's no fact of the matter that I've heard to prove she left the house when they've talked about video cameras you know uh from uh local residents or businesses if she was on foot that may have seen her they may or may not have seen her but it doesn't sound like any have seen her so did she really ever leave the property we we may never know yeah and the big clue to that and you brought this up earlier this is a question from Lisa asking why is it that we're just hearing that her wallet and her purse were in her Jeep I understand that her car had not been working for a while could it have been planted there is that an investigative alley that they would go down well it's hard for me to say what they would go down uh I would hope so it's it seems like such an obvious thing um you know it sounds like to me that there's a lot of what's being shared with the public public is that the the local police and the district attorney are taking whatever they're hearing from Witnesses or people that have seen or last at face value and in good faith and then saying well you we got a lot of consistencies within the stories but we don't know of any people that they've spoken to outside of the boyfriend we don't know who was at the residence during the time frame leading up to uh Britney leaving who lives there what their criminal background is uh what kind of interactions with police have been at that location before we don't know anything and this is what's concerning you know when you're you're a member of your community and you start thinking that a woman who was so friendly worked at your your local liquor liquor store was building relationships and friendships with people and seem really really just liked and and and just like a a really great spirit what happened because I'd be a little concerned that there could be somebody on the loose in the local neighborhood there who may have something to do with this yeah Beyond The Mystery of her disappearance you do have that larger question is the public at risk right now what is the threat to the public maybe time to reinv some people that were spoken to early on in this case law thank you for digging into it with us uh we'll stay in touch as we continue to pursue leads and in this case it may take somebody coming forward who knows something and we'll see if a if a reward will help on that effort La Olstead thank you for your time as always now through Britney's family we did reach out to the boyfriend but he declined to be interviewed since there is no evidence pointing to his involvement in her disappearance the family is respecting his privacy and not revealing his identity to the media the district attorney stressing to us anyone with information should call a tip line that's been set up in Britney's disappearance that's 508 453-7570 in case we'll be focusing on a week from now take a look the nucleus he was like the center of it all he started the cousins days and the cousins parties and the cousin group chat the glue that is how Craig ly's cousins describe him a church choir director from Michigan who vanished more than three years ago Faith was Craig's Cornerstone his family says Craig was always the center of mention if you've ever seen Craig perform that that's Showtime at the police have named Craig's boyfriend a person of interest in his disappearance and we have learned police have given that boyfriend a polygraph the results of that test and a closer look at the days and weeks leading up to Craig L's disappearance join us next week as we investigate the mysterious Disappearance in case of C C and if you have a missing case you think we should be looking into send it to us at newsnation now.com missing many of the cases we cover come from you and make sure you check out our missing podcast each and every week I'm Mary Hughes in Chicago as always thank you for being part of each of our missing cases you play an important role We Appreciate You tuning in we'll see you back here next [Music] week thank you for watching go to news Nation now.com to find newsnation on your television provider and don't forget to click the red subscribe button below to get more of news nation's fact- driven unbiased coverage

Channel: NewsNation

Views: 37,723

Keywords: Missing, Brittany Tee, WatchNewsNationLive, missing woman

Id: 2peYjge6mMI

Length: 21min 40sec (1300 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024