The Notorious Abduction of Melissa Brannen
One minute, the five-year-old was having fun at the party, and the next minute, she was gone.
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Melissa Brannen was born in Texas to Michael and Tammy Brennan. But when she was about five years old, her parents divorced, and Melissa moved with her mother to Virginia. They were all set to restart their life with pleasant memories, friendly people, and a new culture.
Tammy worked as an accountant and took care of Melissa all by herself. She was super protective of her daughter. They lived in a lovely apartment complex with friendly neighbors and fun parties almost every weekend.
Until it wasn’t.
Tammy and Melissa were having a wonderful time at the complex’s Christmas party. At around 10 pm, Tammy wanted to put Melissa in bed. She asked Melissa to grab her coat and some potato chips while she bid her goodbyes.
However, that was the last time anyone saw the five-year-old. Melissa had vanished into thin air.
Did she run away?
Everyone was freaking out. Melissa was right there one minute, and the next minute, she was gone. And no one knew anything.
When Tammy couldn’t find her daughter anywhere, she immediately called the police and filed a complaint.
The police arrived at the scene and began searching for Melissa. They questioned people and looked around for clues. While there were no signs of the little girl, they did notice an open window in the utility room.
The police’s initial belief was that Melissa climbed out the window and ran outside. They hoped to find her nearby, unharmed but scared.
Both the officers and the neighbors started searching the neighborhood. It was a cold December evening. If Melissa had wandered off, chances were she wouldn’t make the night.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the five-year-old anywhere.
Panic rose in the complex. Everyone was disturbed that a crime had occurred right under their noses. And poor Tammy was inconsolable. Melissa was all that she lived for, and she had failed her.
The Christmas of 1989 was no longer cheerful for Woodside Apartments residents.
Caleb Hughes
The police knew that there was no time to waste. So, the officers decided to question 200-odd residents and employees on the same night. They knocked on every door in the complex and took their statements.
One name kept popping up — Caleb Hughes.
Caleb was a 23-year-old maintenance worker. He was at the party, all drunk and vulgar. Many felt uncomfortable and disgruntled to see him lurking around, touching and talking to kids and women inappropriately.
So, the police realized that Caleb would fit the description perfectly if there were an abductor.
The first signs of sketchiness
The police decided to visit Caleb, whose house was about four miles from the apartment complex.
Caleb’s wife answered the doorbell and told them he didn’t come home till 12:30 am. The police found it odd. It’s only four miles from the complex. Why would it take him over 2 hours to come back?
When the officers got hold of Caleb, he casually told them that he was out buying beers. For two hours.
Furthermore, Caleb had washed his clothes, sneakers, belt, and knife sheath immediately after returning home. At 12:30 am on a cold December night.
Needless to say, the knife was nowhere to be found.
Something is wrong
The police found Caleb’s attitude dismissive and rude. He didn’t have an alibi or proper response to their questions.
When the police took a look at Caleb’s clothes that he so desperately wanted to wash, they noticed that the sides of his sneakers were shaved off deliberately, as if he was trying to hide or remove something.
So, the officers decided to conduct a luminol test on Caleb’s sneakers and clothes. Despite being just washed, the pair of shoes still had blood traces on them. But unfortunately, there wasn’t enough to conduct tests.
Since Caleb was acting weird and sketchy, the police brought him for questioning. Though they kept him in custody for several hours, they got nothing. He even challenged the officers to prove his involvement.
Unfortunately, the police had no evidence, and they had to let Caleb go. But they were confident of two things — Melissa was abducted, and Caleb was somehow guilty.
The first real search effort
The police built a 12-mile search radius around the apartment complex and Caleb’s home. About 500 volunteers, the police force, military personnel, helicopters, and dive teams scoured the area for Melissa.
The police went back to the apartment complex to get a better look, and they focused on the area near the utility room. The officers found a pair of adult footprints that led to the parking lot. So, the police theorized that the culprit picked Melissa, put her in a car, and drove away.
It brought them back to Caleb and his 2.5 hours journey that fateful night.
Caleb’s fishy profile
The police knew they didn’t have much to arrest Caleb. So, they involved the FBI and the jury to get express court orders for blood tests and forensic data collection.
The police also looked into Caleb’s history. They found that he was brought up in an abusive, dysfunctional family. He had a lengthy criminal record and a long history of alcohol and drug abuse.
However, one piece of information piqued the police’s interest. Caleb was a known pedophile.
When Melissa was abducted, Caleb was actually out on probation for an auto theft case. And he had violated his probationary condition. So, the judge canceled his probation and sent him back to prison for about 7-8 months.
That gave the police enough time to build their case against Caleb.
The random ransom call
Two months after Melissa went missing, Tammy received a ransom call.
The anonymous caller demanded $75,000 the very next day, or he would harm Melissa. Tammy freaked out. She immediately called the police and her mother to arrange the ransom amount.
The police assured Tammy that they would help her with the case. They wanted to save Melissa before anything else. So, they asked her to arrange the money while they took care of setting up the exchange.
The next day, Tammy dropped the money at the drop-site.
Two young college students came to collect the money. But the agents rounded them up and arrested them. It turned out they did not have Melissa. They were only looking to make some money from the grieving mother.
The world is a sick, sad place.
The perfect match
The police turned their attention back to Caleb.
The officers found out that the car Caleb drove was his wife’s, and she permitted them to impound it.
Usually, the forensic team uses a vacuum cleaner to collect minuscule pieces of evidence. But Caleb’s car was a mess with trash, clutter, and dog hair everywhere. So, checking the entire vehicle and accumulating proof was impossible.
Instead, the police decided to use luminol to identify segments to collect evidence.
Luminol highlighted the driver’s seat, steering wheel, foot pedals, and floormat. The team collected blood samples from these places and sent them for testing. Unfortunately, the results came inconclusive because the specimens weren’t strong enough.
The forensic team then used duct tape to collect hair samples from the seats. While most of them were Caleb’s dog’s hair, the team identified three strands of rabbit hair and a strand of blonde hair.
The forensic team conducted rests, and they were a perfect match. The rabbit hairs were from Tammy’s coat, and the blonde hair strand was Melissa’s.
Mounting forensic evidence
Despite finding evidence in the suspect’s car, the police still needed more to strengthen their case.
The officers feared that Caleb’s lawyer would dismiss the case with only the hairs as forensic evidence. He would likely argue that Caleb brushed past Tammy and Melissa at the party.
So, they decided to check the car for more forensic evidence.
The team found a bunch of red and blue fibers on the passenger’s seat. They were more interested in the blue threads because they were acrylic.
It turned out Melissa was wearing a blue acrylic sweater the night she went missing. And the FBI went above and beyond to make sure the fibers were from Melissa’s sweater. The chief officer conducted around 8000 tests to confirm the match.
At that point, the police had multiple pieces of evidence pointing to Caleb. But nothing on Melissa’s whereabouts.
The justice that didn’t stick
The police had no idea whether Melissa was alive or not. But with the mounting evidence, the blood samples, and the missing knife, they believe that the five-year-old was likely raped and murdered.
So, the police made Caleb take a polygraph test. The officers wanted him to confess to the murder to charge him. And Caleb pretty much lied through the whole test. He kept saying the same thing, despite it being a lie.
Caleb’s botched polygraph test meant that the police didn’t get the confession they needed to make their case. But they still went ahead and charged him with abduction with intent to defile.
Caleb pled not guilty, and his case came to court in February 1991. After eight days and several hours of deliberation, the jury found Caleb guilty. The judge sentenced him to 50 years in prison.
However, Caleb was released in 2019, after only 29 years in prison. He is now free to do whatever he likes. But, to this date, Melissa or her body was never found.