Brandy Wilson was at her Colfax, Indiana home when her husband got home from work early on the morning of Tuesday, June 4, 2002. Kenneth Wilson worked third shift the night before, so he went to bed shortly after he got home. When he woke up around 2:00 pm, Brandy was gone but both of the couple’s vehicles were still parked outside. Brandy’s purse had been left behind but $420 in cash was missing from the home.
Brandy, who was employed at Donaldson Company in Frankfort, Indiana, was scheduled to work at 4:00 pm that day but failed to show up. Her co-workers immediately feared that something happened to her; she and Kenneth had been having some marital problems and she told some of her co-workers that if anything happened to her, Kenneth would likely be responsible.
Kenneth waited until Wednesday morning to report his wife missing; he told police he contacted her friends first to see if she was with any of them but had been unable to locate her. Brandy’s mother, Pam McGuire, didn’t believe Brandy was missing voluntarily; she had an 8-year-old son from a previous relationship and she and Kenneth had welcomed a child together in late 2001. Pam said there was no way Brandy would have willingly abandoned her children, who had been staying with Kenny’s parents while he and Brandy tried to work out their marital problems.
Brandy didn’t take any of her belongings with her when she left; her purse, wedding ring, and all her clothing were found at home. Since both vehicles were also at the house, it was unclear how she might have left. None of the neighbors reported seeing her getting into a car with anyone; she wasn’t seen walking through the neighborhood, either. Her disappearance was a complete mystery.
The weekend after Brandy was last seen, volunteer firefighters assisted deputies with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office in searching several areas of Colfax but didn’t find anything relevant to the investigation. Brandy’s friends made missing posters and distributed them throughout Frankfort, hoping that someone would recognize Brandy’s picture and call detectives with tips about her whereabouts.
Detectives interviewed Kenny but he was unable to provide them with any clues to Brandy’s whereabouts. They also interviewed her friends and co-workers; none of them believed Brandy would leave on her own but they had no idea what happened to her. Pam just wanted her daughter to be found. “I don’t know if she left because she was so upset or if something terrible happened to her. She’s such a sweet person.”
While those who knew Brandy insisted that she hadn’t voluntarily vanished, detectives weren’t so sure. A representative for the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office told reporters they were operating under the assumption that she left home willingly and would return when she was ready. Lt. Eric Douglass noted that they hadn’t found anything to indicate Brandy met with foul play; it seemed more likely she wanted to get away for a while. “We don’t really have anything right now that points to anything else.”
Despite the lack of evidence, Lt. Douglass noted that everyone detectives interviewed told them the same thing: Brandy never would have abandoned her children. “Everything we’re getting about her is that this is completely out of character for her. Everyone says there’s no way she would just leave her kids.”
Lt. Douglass admitted that there were few clues in the case, making it hard to determine exactly what happened. “Usually with a missing person that’s wandered off, there’s something to give you a clue as to whether they just up and wandered off or if something else happened.” A week after Brandy was reported missing, detectives had only been able to conduct one brief interview with her husband. Lt. Douglass tried to contact him to schedule a more in-depth interview but had been unable to reach him.
Brandy and Kenny had been married for less than a year at the time of her disappearance, and the marriage was already in trouble. When Brandy went to work early one day, Kenny accused her of cheating on him; he took her car keys from her and refused to let her have them back until she agreed to talk to him.
One of Brandy’s friends met her for lunch the week before she went missing and noted that she appeared to be nervous and edgy during the meal. Brandy’s mother admitted, “I don’t know if she was scared about being at home or scared about leaving or what was wrong. I don’t know where she would have gone.”
While Pam didn’t want to believe that Kenny was capable of hurting Brandy, she had some concerns due to his checkered past. In 1988, Kenny pleaded guilty to robbery charges in Pulaski County; as part of the plea deal, murder charges that had been filed against him related to the incident were dropped. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison, though he served only 9 years before being let out on parole.
On June 13, 2002, investigators with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office attempted to use a helicopter with thermal-imaging equipment to search the Colfax area for Brandy. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate; it started to rain and the helicopter was grounded. Nothing was found that provided any clues to Brandy’s whereabouts.
Although detectives said they had no evidence to suggest that Brandy was dead, divers from Carroll and Tippecanoe Counties spent four hours searching through a water pit outside of Colfax on June 14, 2002. Sheriff’s Detective Rick Morgan told reporters they didn’t have any tips directing them to search that area but wanted to eliminate it as a possibility. “We have come up with absolutely zip so far.”
On June 15, 2002, detectives asked Kenny to submit to a polygraph examination regarding his wife’s disappearance. He agreed and was given the test at the police station, though investigators would not discuss his results.
Two weeks after Brandy was last seen, her family was starting to worry that they were never going to see her alive again. Investigators used a helicopter to fly over most of Clinton County but didn’t find any sign of the missing mother. Aerial photographs were taken and later scrutinized for any clues they might have missed, but again nothing was found.
Investigators received a few tips from people who thought they saw Brandy after she was reported missing, but most of them were vague and hard to follow up. Indiana State Police Detective Blaine Butler told reporters, “Basically, it’s people saying, ‘I think I saw her on the back of a motorcycle’ or something like that.”
Brandy should have been celebrating her 25th birthday on July 12, 2002, and Pam prayed that she would return home to mark the occasion with her loved ones. “I bought birthday presents just in case she comes back.” Sadly, the day came and went without any sign of Brandy.
Investigators admitted that the case had stalled; they had no idea what happened to Brandy. Detective Morgan told reporters that they were hopeful that the missing woman was still alive and assured them that they didn’t have any evidence to suggest otherwise. Although he still refused to discuss the results of Kenny’s polygraph examination, he stressed that Kenny was not considered a suspect in his wife’s disappearance. While Kenny had already moved out of the home he shared with his wife, he made sure to give investigators his new contact information before he left. He moved to Jasper County, Indiana so he would be closer to his parents.
Pam said she had only seen her son-in-law once since her daughter disappeared and wasn’t sure how he was handling the situation. He had always been a very low-key and laid-back person, making it hard to tell if he was upset. While his parents were still taking care of Brandy’s two children, Kenny made sure that Pam was able to talk to them on the phone.
The week of Brandy’s birthday, investigators received a typed letter from someone claiming to have information about Brandy’s whereabouts. Detective Morgan said he believed that the leads contained in the letter were legitimate, but he needed additional information from the author to put all the pieces together. He declined to discuss the contents of the letter but asked that the writer contact the sheriff’s office. Unfortunately, they didn’t hear from the anonymous tipster again and the case soon stalled.
By December, Brandy had been missing for six months. Pam noted, “She surely would have let someone know if she were alive…we keep trying to have hope that she’ll be found alive, but I don’t know.” Detectives entered Brandy’s DNA and dental records into a national database so they could be compared to any unidentified bodies that were found, though Detective Morgan said he still lacked any solid evidence suggesting Brandy was dead. “I certainly have a fear that it’s more than a missing person case, but to say that I have other information, I can’t.”
Investigators admitted they hadn’t had any new leads in months. They had searched the area surrounding Brandy’s home with cadaver dogs several times and divers combed through nearby ponds. They found no clues about Brandy’s fate.
Pam was forced to celebrate Christmas without her daughter, then Mother’s Day. Before they knew it, it was the first anniversary of Brandy’s disappearance and her loved ones were still without answers. Pam noted, “We’d like to know. I would love for her to come home…we’d just like to have some closure.”
Detectives said they were contemplating conducting some out-of-county searches, but admitted that unless they received leads about a certain area, they didn’t really have the manpower to do so. They hadn’t received any new tips in months and Kenny hadn’t stayed in contact with investigators. He had custody of Brandy’s youngest son, who was now 20 months old, while her 9-year-old was being raised by her mother.
Detective Morgan refrained from calling Kenny a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, but admitted, “It concerns me, his lack of concern.” While he refused to name names, he did say that investigators were narrowing their focus to one person. “The longer it goes on, the less optimistic I am that foul play wasn’t involved.”
As the second anniversary of Brandy’s disappearance approached, a task force of three detectives began meeting weekly to discuss the case. Detective Morgan, who was heading the task force, hoped that they would be able to come up with new strategies to develop leads. They planned on re-interviewing all of Brandy’s relatives, friends, and co-workers to make sure that nothing had been missed in the initial investigation.
Pam lamented the fact that Kenny refused to return her calls; she hadn’t seen her youngest grandson since shortly after Brandy went missing. Although she was raising Brandy’s 10-year-old son, Kenny hadn’t given her any of her daughter’s possessions. She told reporters that the past two years had been hell for her.
By 2015, Kenny was running a dog rescue that was raided by authorities after allegations that dogs were being neglected. Kenny was charged with 12 counts of abandonment or neglect of the dogs found on the property; at the time of his arrest, detectives admitted that he was the only suspect in his wife’s disappearance 13 years earlier. With no solid evidence of foul play, however, no charges were ever filed against him in Brandy’s case.
Sadly, Brandy’s mother died in 2011 without ever learning what happened to her daughter, but Brandy’s friends continue to hope that Brandy’s body will be found so they can give her a proper burial and provide answers for her children. As of July 2023, Brandy remains listed as a missing person but detectives believe she was a victim of foul play.
Brandy Nicole Wilson was just 24 years old when she went missing from Colfax, Indiana in June 2002. She was a sweet and friendly young woman who was devoted to her two young sons. Brandy has brown eyes and brown hair, and at the time of her disappearance, she was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds. If you have any information about Brandy, please contact the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office at 765–656–8477
