Melissa Brannen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | April 12, 1984 Virginia, U.S. |
| Disappeared | December 3, 1989 (aged 5) Lorton, Virginia, US |
| Status | Missing for 34 years, 10 months and 18 days |
| Parents |
|
Caleb Daniel Hughes | |
|---|---|
 Hughes shortly before he was released from prison in 2019 | |
| Born | January 1966 (age 58) Virginia, U.S. |
| Criminal status | Released |
| Conviction(s) | Abduction with intent to defile |
| Criminal penalty | 50 years imprisonment |
The disappearance of Melissa Brannen occurred on December 3, 1989, at the Woodside Apartments in Lorton, Virginia, United States. The five-year-old daughter of Michael and Tammy Brannen, she was raised by her single mother who lived in the complex. She disappeared while attending a party held at the complex for its residents. Caleb Daniel Hughes, a handyman for the complex, was convicted of abduction with the intent to defile and sentenced to 50 years in prison.[1][2] Her body has never been found, she has never been proven to be dead, and murder charges have never been filed.[3] The case is considered an unsolved homicide by local police.[4]
- ^ "USDOJ/OIG FBI Labs Report". oig.justice.gov. U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
- ^ Schneider, Karen S. (April 29, 1991). "Seventeen Months After Her Daughter Disappeared, a Mother Gets Justice but Not Peace of Mind". People. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011.
Last month, in Fairfax County (Va.) Circuit Court, Caleb Hughes, 25, a slight, former grounds keeper, sat expressionless as the verdict was delivered: guilty of abduction with intent to defile.
- ^ Davis, Patricia (November 27, 1999). "Mother's Memory Has Never Faded". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
- ^ Jackman, Tom (December 10, 2019). "Fairfax police still seek killer of 5-year-old Melissa Brannen, who vanished in 1989". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.