BRITTNEY WOOD - 19 yo (2012) - Tillmans Corner (SW of Mobile) AL

Friends and family of Brittney Wood turned to a higher power Monday
night for help. They sang Amazing Grace and prayed for the safe return
of 19 year old Brittney Wood. Wood has been missing for ten days.

"I'm hurting. I just want my baby to come home. Please, if anybody
knows where Brittney is, please let me know, Please", said Chessie Wood,
mother of the missing teen.

Brittney's father, Wallace Henke told reporters, "We hadn't heard
anything from anywhere and we need somebody out there. Anybody that
might know something. No matter how minor it is, please call in".

Brittney's cellphone has been traced back to Styx River. Family
members said she was going there to visit her uncle. He committed
suicide the day she went missing.

The Polly Klass Foundation is launching a search for Brittney on
Wednesday. The group plans on going to homes and clubs she may have
visited in the last six months. Members say they also have search and
cadaver dogs ready to comb wooded areas.
http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2012/jun/11/candlelight-vigil-brittney-wood-ar-3953767/

to visit her uncle. He committed suicide the day she went missing.

---Well, that's beyond interesting. What did he do with her that caused enough guilt for him to do that? Hmmmm?

Missing girl's photo

"I just want to find her and bring her home." Sonya Ayers will do
anything to find her missing niece. "We just want to know either way we
find her. We just got to find her."

She along with dozens of other friends, relatives and strangers
searched a five mile radius of where Brittney's cell phone was traced.
"It's hard," says cousin Kim Houseknecht. "But I won't stop. I'll be out
here every day I can as long as the Lord is willing and the creek don't
rise until we find her."

Searching in grid patterns through thick woods, volunteers look for
clues. Brittney's cell phone, her bag, an article of clothing, anything.

In this particular search a couple of items of interest that are
marked with a red ribbon. A pair of women's underwear laying on the
ground, rain soaked and then just a few feet away, behind a mound
another unexplained item. A bath cloth that just seems out of place.

"The difficulty here is there is so many unknowns in Brittney's
case." Brad Dennis heads up the local branch of Klaaskids, a foundation
that specializes in these kinds of searches. "We're really just trying
to eliminate areas to see if there is any evidence out there."

So far, nothing. That's when the fear sets in. "I'm just hoping she's
alive honestly. Just looking at the odds and everything adding up it
just don't seem like she is but there's still hope because we haven't
found her and that's what I go by," says Houseknecht.

And that is what everyone is holding onto. "I think the real
critical piece to this is we are eliminating area and every area we
eliminate gives that family more hope," says Dennis.

The search for Brittney Wood will resume Thursday.
http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2012/jun/13/s-ar-3967700/

June 15 2012
ROBERTSDALE, Ala. - Two weeks ago 19-year-old Brittney
Wood, single mother of one, left home in Tillmans Corner, in southwest
Alabama. She hasn't been heard from since.

Pictures: Ala. teen mom Brittney Wood missing
Family and friends traveled from the small town to search the woods near Styx River, where they believe she may have been, CBS affiliate WKRG reported.
"This
was the last place her phone was 'pinged'," says her father Wallace
Hanke. "They found the signal bouncing off one of these towers...We need
some help finding her."
"You know your child's routine. She has
done nothing routine. She always calls me and she ain't called me," her
mother Chessie Wood told the station.
On Thursday, May 31,
Brittney Wood told family members she was headed to a house near Styx
River, Ala. to see her uncle Donnie. Then Donnie Wood returned home near
Fairhope the next day, and he committed suicide, shooting himself,
heightening concern for Brittney.

"Her uncle has committed
suicide and supposedly he was the last one she was with and so we're
worried about that," says Hanke. "I'm hoping to God and I really don't
think he would hurt my baby," says Brittney's mother.
In yet
another strange twist, when Brittney left her Tillmans Corner home she
left on foot for the 40 mile trip to Styx River, WKRG reported. Her
family is sure someone gave her a ride there and they'd like to talk to
that person as well.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57453592-504083/brittney-wood-ala-teen-mom-missing-for-two-weeks/

The search for missing teen mom Brittney Wood has now moved to the
Grand Bay area. Mobile Police have told the family evidence points to
Mobile County as the best place to search.

This after nearly
three days of intense search efforts in Baldwin County. Mobile Police
aren't saying what evidence they have, but they've told the family that
evidence points to Grand Bay.

Efforts in Baldwin County were
suspended early on Friday once the family discovered Brittney's cell
phone was turned on six days after she was reported missing.

"When
you deal with so many cases like we do that don't always end up very
favorably. Every single one that ends favorably we are very happy
about," said Brad Dennis who organized the Baldwin County search teams
this week.

Searchers say Brittney could be in trouble, scared, or simply hiding. The hope is that she's alive.

"It
gives me some hope but we still believe even though she has not
contacted us that she's still missing. That possibility is still out
there," said Chessie Wood, Brittney's Mother.

"I don't care about
the circumstances if she is out there on her own or she is hiding in
fear, I would want her to know that doesn't have anything to be in fear
about," said Dennis.

Mobile Police say Brittney is in no way in trouble with the law.

http://www.local15tv.com/mostpopular/story/Missing-Teen-Search-Moves-to-Grand-Bay/DIwWjoPKHk-ayWp0tFd_0A.cspx

Brittney Wood, Ala. teen mom, missing for two weeks

06/15/2012
(CBS/WKRG) ROBERTSDALE, Ala. - Two weeks ago 19-year-old Brittney
Wood, single mother of one, left home in Tillmans Corner, in southwest
Alabama. She hasn't been heard from since.

Pictures: Ala. teen mom Brittney Wood missing
Family and friends traveled from the small town to search the woods near Styx River, where they believe she may have been, CBS affiliate WKRG reported.
"This
was the last place her phone was 'pinged'," says her father Wallace
Hanke. "They found the signal bouncing off one of these towers...We need
some help finding her."
"You know your child's routine. She has
done nothing routine. She always calls me and she ain't called me," her
mother Chessie Wood told the station.
On Thursday, May 31,
Brittney Wood told family members she was headed to a house near Styx
River, Ala. to see her uncle Donnie. Then Donnie Wood returned home near
Fairhope the next day, and he committed suicide, shooting himself,
heightening concern for Brittney.

"Her uncle has committed
suicide and supposedly he was the last one she was with and so we're
worried about that," says Hanke. "I'm hoping to God and I really don't
think he would hurt my baby," says Brittney's mother.
In yet
another strange twist, when Brittney left her Tillmans Corner home she
left on foot for the 40 mile trip to Styx River, WKRG reported. Her
family is sure someone gave her a ride there and they'd like to talk to
that person as well.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57453592-504083/brittney-wood-ala-teen-mom-missing-for-two-weeks/

Sex abuse suspects related to Wood

06/20/2012
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - Family and friends have been searching for 19-year-old Brittney Wood for nearly a month.
Family members said the teen was last seen on May 30.
Tony Dickey with Disaster and Victim Services said Wood was last seen heading to her uncle's home near Styx River.
That same uncle he said mysteriously committed suicide the day she went missing.
Now,
deputies tell us two of Wood's relatives have been arrested on a number
of sex crimes stemming from an ongoing investigation.
Deputies said the crimes involve a female juvenile who alerted authorities.
Officials described the case as horrific.
“We
don't know if there is any involvement with her as far as her being
missing at this point. We’re looking into aspects of that,” said Cpt.
Steve Arthur with the BCSO.
On Tuesday, deputies arrested Brittney’s uncle Randall Scott Wood for sex abuse, sodomy, and incest.
Deputies said another relative, Dustin Alton Kent was also charged.
While the details were limited, officials said they believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and expect to make more arrests.
“I think that once our investigation is completed and all the
individuals that are implicated in this investigation are brought to
arrest, I can give you more details; and you'll understand how serious
the crime is,” said Cpt. Arthur.
“The family is devastated just
as any family would be to learn that some of their relatives have
actually been arrested on charges of this magnitude,” said Tony Dickey.
As for the ongoing search, crews will be going door-to-door Thursday in the Irvington and Grand Bay area to pass out flyers.
Investigators said Wood’s cell phone was last activated in that area.
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/baldwin_county/sex-abuse-suspects-related-to-wood

If you read back on the history of this case, as soon as I heard that the uncle
committed suicide I knew there was a connection.
This newest revelation is even more distressing.
Unless Britt has been handed off to a sex slave ring I am afraid that she will not be found alive.
The guilt and shame of what he did, either way, forced the uncle to end his life.

Derek Wood, the brother of missing 19-year-old Brittney Wood is in Baldwin County jail on incest, rape and sodomy charges.

Baldwin
County Sheriff's Deputies arrested Wood, 21, Friday night around 11
p.m. and charged him with second degree rape, incest and sodomy. The man
is listed as homeless on the Baldwin County Jail website. He is being held on $25,000 bond.
Baldwin County Sheriff's deputies have not responded to calls about Wood's arrest.
He's the brother of Brittney Wood, who has been missing since may and has been the subject of numerous fruitless searches. She was last seen May 30 when family members say she was going to visit her uncle in the Styx River Area.
Mobile police said they found the man dead of an apparent suicide after that.
Two
other men, cousins of the missing girl, were also arrested in Baldwin
County. Randall Wood and Dustin Kent also face sex charges related to a
female juvenile victim. Randall Wood was charged with sex abuse, sodomy
and incest and Ken is charged with sodomy and rape.
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/baldwin_county/missing-teen-woods-brother-arrested

The family of a missing teen, whose brother was arrested Friday night, is speaking out.

Twenty-one-year-old Derek Wood is charged with rape, sodomy and incest. Wood is 19-year-old Brittney Wood's brother.

Brittney
disappeared on May 30, in the Styx River area in Baldwin County.
Officials say days after she went missing, her cell phone hit a tower
near her uncle's home. That uncle committed suicide.

On a
Facebook support page Sunday, the family wrote: "In the wake of the
recent arrest our focus is still the same as it's been from the
beginning. Our goal is to bring Brittney home."

Two of Wood's
other uncles are also accused of sex crimes. Randall Wood and Dustin
Kent were arrested in June after a family member came forward.

Officials say there are multiple victims, and they're all under the age of 16.

More arrests are expected to follow.

Investigators say Brittney is not a victim in the case.

http://www.local15tv.com/mostpopular/story/Family-Speaking-Out-after-Missing-Teen-Moms/oc3LCJ1y2E6FdLK2XNNfsg.cspx

Wow... what a family. Poor girl.

Another relative of missing teenager Brittney Wood has
been arrested on charges of sex abuse, rape and incest according to the
Baldwin County Sheriff's Department.Donald Holland, 20, of Daphne, is being held on $20,000 bond.

Holland
is the fourth member of Wood's family to be arrested on sexual abuse
charges. Her brother, Derek Wood, was arrested July 13 on charges of
rape and sodomy.

Her uncles Randall Wood and Dustin Kent were
arrested June 19 on
charges of incest, sodomy and sexual abuse. Information disclosed by one
or more victims in those cases helped lead to Derek Wood, according to
Baldwin County sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Anthony Lowery.
He said
the investigation of Kent and Randall Wood has
been under way for almost three months, and that investigators did not
believe that Brittney Wood's disappearance had anything to do with the
arrests.

According to her mother, the day she went missing,
Brittney Wood had told her family that she was going to visit her uncle,
Donnie
Holland, father of Donald Holland. The day after she went missing,
Holland killed himself in Fairhope, according to police.

http://blog.al.com/live/2012/07/fourth_relative_of_missing_tee.html

I agree with Ginger. What a tragic family. I don't even know what to say. Sounds like a horrible orgy has been on. I hope they find Brittany but not sure it will be alive especially since the last Uncle to see her committed suicide. I sure hope he wan't involved with his niece but who knows with the garbage going on with this family.

Poster's Note: This case keeps getting more convoluted every time I locate a new story...

FOX10 News has uncovered new information in the case of missing teenager Brittney wood. Wood was last seen May 30 heading to Baldwin County and the Styx River area with her uncle, Donald Holland.
Deputies said Holland was found two days later with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 1. He died in the hospital June 4.
Investigators confirm the Raven .25-caliber handgun Holland used in the suicide belonged to Wood.
We spoke with Wood’s mother about the discovery.
Chessie
Wood said she felt her daughter's disappearance was mysterious since
the beginning. However, she is unsure how Holland may have gotten
Brittney’s gun.
"We believe we have missed something that is hollering our name, and maybe it was so obvious,” said Chessie.
At first, some relatives thought Brittney may have skipped town.
"We
as a family do not see how she had the means to run,” said Chessie.
“We’ve covered every friend, every one of them are accounted for. I mean
if she had to run because she's that scared, I would really believe
that she would have [taken] her daughter with her.
“It just really does not look good that she went missing May 30 and two days later he commits suicide.”
Just a few weeks after her daughter vanished, four family members were arrested and charged with sex crimes, including incest.
A
source close to the investigation said Holland was a suspect in that
same family sex abuse case and was expected to meet with authorities
June 1, about half an hour after he shot himself.
Relatives said they are back to square one and hope a $1,500 reward will lead to more information about the case.
“I
mean, I just want an answer. That’s all I want. I want to bring her
home whether it be tragically or a happy ending,” said Wood.
Brittney’s
relatives told deputies that the teen normally only had two bullets in
her gun. FOX10 confirmed the weapon did have just one bullet left, after
Holland shot himself.
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/brittney-woods-family-posts-reward-fliers

Brittney Wood's 2-year-old "doing fine"

Updated: Wednesday, 25 Jul 2012, 6:15 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 25 Jul 2012, 1:44 PM CDT

GRAND BAY, Ala. (WALA) - The great-grandmother of Brittney Wood's 2-year-old daughter, Payton Hamilton, said she does her best to protect the child from the details of her mother's missing person’s case.

Maxine Harris, 65, said her grandson, Andrew Hamilton, is Payton's father and has full custody of the 2-year-old. Harris said Payton spends a lot of her time with her and she is doing fine.

Harris said the last time Payton saw her mother was two days before she went missing. Since then, Harris said she has only seen her mother's picture on television.

"When the news comes on, they show the picture of Brittney. If she is standing close by she'll go to the TV and she'll point and say that's my mama,” said Harris

Harris said Payton is doing fine, but she notices her mother isn't around and has asked where she is.

“We figured when she gets old enough and asks us questions we can try to explain things to her, but right now all we can do is say she's gone somewhere,” said Harris.

Although hopeful Wood will turn up soon, Harris said she isn't sure if that will happen.

“She wouldn't be gone this long. Maybe a few days would go by that she wouldn't call my grandson which is the baby's daddy. But she would call. So we know something has happened or they got her where she cannot use a phone,” said Harris.

In the meantime, Harris is trying her best to help keep Payton busy and happy. And no matter what the outcome is in Wood’s case, Harris said she will make sure Payton grows up with a lot of love.

“Really become something. And as long as I’m living she will. I will do as much as I can do for her,” said Harris.

If you have any information on the disappearance of 19-year-old Brittney Wood, please call KlaasKIDS at (855) 733-5567 or (251) 348-1562.

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/brittney-woods-2-year-old-doing-fine

That is so sad to me. I know where my 2 year old is cognitively and I can't imagine just disappearing from her life. I hope they find this baby's mom, preferably alive and well, but either way I hope they can tell this baby what happened to her mom.

Wood's mother feels Brittney was abused

Updated: Wednesday, 25 Jul 2012, 4:44 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 25 Jul 2012, 3:35 PM CDT
April Douglas

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - The mother of missing teenager Brittney Wood said she believes her daughter was the victim of sexual abuse.

The teen has been missing since May 30, but Chessie Wood said her daughter wouldn't have just walked off.

Chessie Wood believes her daughter Brittney knew arrests were coming in a sex crimes investigation before she disappeared.

She also believes her daughter was sexually abused by her now-dead uncle, Donald Holland, Sr.

"I was told by authorities that Brittney was one of his victims," said Chessie Wood.

She said she feels she is still being victimized by her uncle because he was the last person to have seen her. A source told FOX10 Holland was a suspect in a sex crimes ring but, before he could be questioned, he killed himself.

Chessie Wood says she asked her daughter Brittney if anyone had touched her or made her feel uncomfortable and she told her 'No.'

"A lot of rape victims do this. We don't know why they will protect the molester," said Chessie Wood.

Wood believes Holland held the key to her daughter's disappearance.

"I believe Brittney was trying to protect some people in the family she loved and she paid the ultimate price for it," Wood said.

Five people have been arrested and charged with sex crimes in the Baldwin County investigation.

Holland would have made six, except authorities said he used Brittney Wood's gun to kill himself.

"Why did Brittney carry a gun?" asked FOX10.

"For protection," answered Chessie Wood. "She had a lot of obsessive ex-boyfriends and look what was going on across the Bay... I guess she was scared."

But Chessie Wood said if her daughter did run out of fear, she would not have left her gun or cell phone behind.

If you have any information on the disappearance of 19-year-old Brittney Wood, please call KlaasKIDS at (855) 733-5567 or (251) 348-1562.

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/baldwin_county/woods-mother-feels-brittney-was-abused

Brittney Wood: Questions keep piling up in case of missing teen

Published: Sunday, July 29, 2012, 10:15 AM
Updated: Sunday, July 29, 2012, 1:57 PM
Michael Dumas, Press-Register By Michael Dumas,

MOBILE, Alabama -- Where is Brittney?

For 61 days, investigators, family members and friends have stared at silent cell phones, empty bedrooms and an inactive Facebook page as they await word of the whereabouts of Brittney Wood.

The 19-year-old mother of a 2-year-old daughter left her own mother’s house in Theodore where she was staying around 7 p.m. on May 30 and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

According to family members, it wasn’t unusual for the thin brunette with a pierced lip to occasionally be gone for as many as three days at a time, so it wasn’t until the first week of June when they realized that something might be terribly amiss.

They say she had told her parents — her mother and father are both remarried — she was headed out to visit with a friend. But Brittney’s other friends say she was with her uncle, Donnie Holland, at a house where he was staying on Water World Road near Styx River in south Baldwin County.

Brittney’s stepmother, Stephanie Hanke, said it wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary for Brittney to spend time with Holland, and that he’d picked her up from their home several times.

Chessie Wood, Brittney’s mother, said she’d known Holland, her brother in law, for more than 30 years, since she was 6 years old.

But investigators were never able to question Holland about the missing Brittney. On June 1, he drove his black SUV to a secluded clearing overlooking Fish River in the Marlow community of south Baldwin and shot himself in the head.

The first medical responder to the scene that afternoon was Fish River/Marlow Fire Chief Gib Hixon. He said Holland was alive but struggling to breathe in the bloody SUV.

A Medstar EMS ambulance crew transported Holland to the yard of a nearby home where a medivac helicopter landed and ferried him to a hospital in Pensacola, Hixon said.

Holland died three days later, and many of those looking for Brittney believe that important clues about her case died with him.

Her family says it didn’t dawn on them that she was missing until they tried to call her after hearing that Holland had shot himself hours earlier.

"Friday we started trying to contact her to tell her what had happened, and when she didn’t respond we knew right then something was wrong," said Chessie Wood, whose sister Wendy was Holland’s wife. "So Saturday I reported her missing."

Brittney’s disappearance was just the beginning of a family saga that has only gotten deeper, darker and more mysterious with passing weeks.

Since mid-June, four of the men in Brittney’s family, and another man who was a family friend, have been accused of sex crimes for which investigators offer scant details, except for three: That the crimes span years, that the investigation is months old, and that the cases involve juveniles, ages 12 to 16.

On June 19, Baldwin County deputies arrested two of Brittany’s uncles — Randall "Scott" Wood and Dustin Kent. Both were charged with sodomy and sexual abuse; Wood was also charged with incest.

Kent was arrested again in July, suspected of incest, rape and sexual abuse involving a second victim. Kent’s wife, Mendy, is another sister of Brittany’s mother, Chessie. She is the identical twin of Donnie Holland’s widow Wendy.

In mid-July, Baldwin deputies arrested Brittney’s brother, Derek Wood, and Holland’s son, Donald Holland Jr. Derek Wood is accused of rape and sodomy; the younger Holland is charged with rape, sexual abuse and incest.


One week ago, Baldwin deputies arrested William Brownlee, described by family members as a "close friend" of the older Holland. Similar to the others, he faces charges of sodomy and sexual abuse.

In fact, the older Holland might have also been on the verge of arrest at the time he shot himself. He, too, was a suspect in the ongoing sex-crimes investigation, according to a Baldwin sheriff’s spokesman.

The arrest of Brittney’s brother Derek might have been the biggest blow to their immediate family.

According to his mother, the 21-year-old Derek, like Brittney, had spent a lot of time with the older Holland — sometimes as many as three days at a time — often at the beach or at Holland family’s hunting camp near Stockton.

Derek Wood had emerged as a family leader of sorts in looking for Brittney, heading early searches for her in the Styx River area where her cell phone last pinged her possible location.

At the time of the searches, his mother described Derek as Brittney’s "protector."

_______
Law-enforcement agencies on both sides of the bay officially maintain that the Brittney Wood missing person case and the child sex-abuse investigation are not linked, although they involve members of the same family.

But Brittney’s mother Chessie Wood and stepmother Stephanie Hanke aren’t shy about making the connection, as least as it pertains to Donnie Holland. They believe that he was with Brittney less than 48 hours before he shot himself, based on phone records.

Mobile police won’t comment about details of their investigation into Brittney’s disappearance, or if Holland might have had a role. And Baldwin sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Anthony Lowery said Friday, "We’ve said all we’re going to say about Donnie Holland."

But Chessie Wood has plenty to say.

"We don’t know if he took his life because he didn’t want to go to jail, or did he kill himself because he did something to my daughter, or both?" she said.

The family is offering a $1,500 reward for information. While everyone waits, Brittney’s daughter, 2-year-old Payton, wonders when her mother is coming home.

The little girl is living with her father Andy Hamilton and his grandmother.

"She asks for her every time she gets in the car with us," Hanke said. "We just keep telling her she’s bye-bye right now. We don’t know what else to tell her."

http://blog.al.com/live/2012/07/brittney_wood_questions_keep_p.html

(Comments by family members found following article)

Uncle of missing teen Brittney Wood arrested for THIRD time in three months after 'raping 12-year-old victim three years ago

08/03/2012
Police have arrested Dustin Kent for the third time in three months over allegations of sex abuse.
Dustin
Kent, 36, who is the uncle of missing Alabama teen Brittney Wood, was
charged with first-degree rape as well as first-degree sodomy for a
crime he allegedly committed three years ago on a girl no older than 12.
His bond was later set on $25,000.
Authorities said the current charges against Kent do not appear to be related to Ms Wood’s disappearance.
Mobile,
Alabama Cpl. Chris Levy told Fox10tv.com that through their
investigation on Ms Wood’s vanishing in May, they discovered Kent’s
alleged abuse.
‘Through our
missing person’s investigation for Brittany Wood, (Dustin Kent’s) name
came up…We were able to determine we have a juvenile victim from three
years ago,’ he said.
Kent was arrested twice before in the past few weeks in Baldwin County.
His
first arrest, which happened in June, was on charges of rape and
sodomy. Last month, he was charged with rape, sodomy, and incest.
Police
would not release any information on the victim, save that she was less
than 12 years old at the time of the alleged crime.

Holland shot himself just half an hour before he was scheduled to meet with investigators about the teen's disappearance.

Officials said he used Ms Wood's Raven .25-caliber handgun revolver.

'It
just really does not look good that she went missing May 30 and two
days later he commits suicide,' Ms Wood's mother, Chessie Wood said to Fox.

The
family told Fox that normally, Ms Wood kept just two bullets in her
weapon. Police confirmed that after Holland fired, there was just one
left.

'I mean, I just
want an answer. That’s all I want. I want to bring her home whether it
be tragically or a happy ending,' Mrs Wood said.

Relatives are hoping that a $1,500 reward will help them find closure to the case.

'We believe we have missed something that is hollering our name, and maybe it was so obvious,' said Mrs Wood.
At first, some relatives thought Brittney may have skipped town.


'We as a family do not see how she
had the means to run. We’ve covered every friend, every one of them are
accounted for,' Mrs Woods said.


'I mean if she had to run because she's that scared, I would really believe that she would have [taken] her daughter with her.'
Brittney’ mother, Chessie Wood, told WKRG that Derek and Brittney were extremely close.
She
told the network: 'They have the same friends, run the same places, I
mean they're like this. He is Brittney's protector and he feels like he
wasn't there when he should've been.'

Derek Wood, 21, was charged with abuse after her disappearance, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office.

In
a statement posted on The Hometown Search for Brittney Wood Facebook
page her father and stepmother, Wallace & Stephanie Hanke said: 'In
the wake of the recent arrest our focus is still the same as it's been
from the beginning (sic).
'Our goal is to bring Brittney home. Thanks for the continued support of family & friends.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183524/Missing-teen-Brittney-Wood-Uncle-Dustin-Kent-arrested-time-months-charges-rape-sodomy.html#ixzz22ayPA4tV


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183524/Missing-teen-Brittney-Wood-Uncle-Dustin-Kent-arrested-time-months-charges-rape-sodomy.html#ixzz22ay94it3


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183524/Missing-teen-Brittney-Wood-Uncle-Dustin-Kent-arrested-time-months-charges-rape-sodomy.html#ixzz22axyUNwS

allowing a 19 yr old to carry a weapon is asking for trouble. protection orders work great if they r taken out and both parties stay away from each other. this case is just too hinky. i wont give my thoughts on it because my opinion has been getting blasted alot lately.

This is such a weird case. I can't even follow what's going on as there are just too many relatives involved in the allegations of sexual abuse and incest. I hope and pray Brittney is found but it's not looking good.

How does a 17 year get a gun let alone carry it? It sounds like she was running around with a rough crowd if she needed a gun. I'm glad her child is safe and wasn't with her when she went missing.

Fifth family member of missing teen facing charges in Baldwin County

Posted: Thursday, August 23, 2012 9:03 am
By The Independent Staff

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- A fifth family member of a missing teen last seen in the Styx River area has been arrested in an ongoing sexual abuse investigation in Baldwin County.

Maj. Anthony Lowery with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday, the arrest of Wendy Wood Holland, 33, of Bay Minette, on misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child. Records show she has been released on a $1,000 bond.

According to published reports, Wednesday’s arrest was the sixth in connection with an investigation involving Randall Scott Wood, 42, of Athens, Tenn., and Dustin Alton Kent, 36, of Mobile, who has been arrested twice in the case, and is not related to the May 30 disappearance of 19-year-old Brittney Wood, who is the niece of Randall Wood and Dustin Kent.

Brittney Wood’s brother, Derek Thomas Wood, 21, who is listed on the Baldwin County Department of Corrections website as homeless, remains in jail on a $20,000 bond after he was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Facility on Friday, July 13, facing felony charges of second degree rape and second degree sodomy.

Her cousin, Donald Paul Holland Jr., 20, of Daphne, was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Facility on Tuesday, July 17, and is facing felony charges of incest and second degree rape, along with a misdemeanor charge of second degree sexual abuse. Records show he has been released on a $10,000 bond.

More than 200 volunteers, including rescue squads from Escambia County in Florida and Monroe, Mobile and Baldwin counties in Alabama, turned out to the Rosinton Fire Station June 6 and 7 to help search for the teen, who was reported missing on June 2.

According to her parents, she left their Tillman’s Corner home on May 30 and said she was going to a friend’s house. When they had not heard from her by June 2, they called and reported her missing.

Wood's family members reported her last cell phone transmission was located less than a mile away from her uncle's home in the Styx River area. Concern escalated when the uncle, Donald Holland Sr., reportedly Wendy Holland’s husband and the father of Donald Holland Jr., was found dead at his Fairhope home about a week later of an apparent self-inflicted gun-shot wound.

Volunteers conducted a two-day search with the help of California-based organization KlaasKIDS Foundation, combing an area within a five-mile radius of the uncle’s home.

Randall Wood and Kent were arrested less than two weeks later, on June 19, the result of a three-month investigation in and around the Marlow community, according to reports.

Randall Wood was booked on felony charges of second degree sodomy and incest and a misdemeanor charge of second degree sexual abuse. He was released on $25,000 bond.

Kent was booked on felony charges of first degree sodomy and second degree rape and was released on $10,000 bond. Records show he released again on a $10,000 bond after being booked July 16 on charges of second degree rape, second degree sodomy and incest.

According to reports, the investigation is ongoing and one more arrest is expected in the case.

http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/area_news/article_5f54f564-ed2b-11e1-87a4-001a4bcf887a.html

Brittney Wood Still Missing After Four Months

10/01/2012



TILLMAN'S CORNER, Alabama --

It's been four long months since Brittney Wood was first reported missing, and her mother still has no idea where she might be.

"I don't sleep. I don't eat. I have to comfort my other children
because they're so in pain from missing their sister," said Chessie
Wood.

Chessie Wood says the pain of not knowing whether or not her daughter is alive has only worsened over time.

"Half of me is having faith that my baby is alright somewhere, and then the other half of me is realistic."

The now 20-year-old Brittney Wood was last seen at the end of May,
after visiting an uncle's house in Baldwin County. Soon after, that man
committed suicide using Brittney's gun. The family has had their fair
share of legal troubles since then. Several family members have been
arrested and charged in lewd sex abuse scandals.

Mobile police say they've received tips about Brittney from all over the country, but all they ever lead to are dead ends.

One recent tip came all the way from North Carolina. Officers thought
they had found Brittney in one of their jails. But police here say
although the girl did look a lot like Brittney, it wasn't her.

"We get tips, and we follow up on every single one of them," said
Corporal Chris Levy with the Mobile Police Department. "None of them
have resulted in anything, but we've put her into a national database."

Brittney's mother says she'll never stop searching for her daughter.

"I will never stop looking for her as long as I'm breathing. We will
never stop looking for her. Her daughter deserves her, and she gives me
most of my motivation to keep looking."

If you know anything about this case, call Mobile Police.
http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2012/oct/01/3/brittney-wood-still-missing-after-four-months-ar-4665289/