MI MI - Jody Brant, 16, Erie, 27 May 1994

Jody Lynn Brant, Missing since May 27, 1994


DOB: Feb 16, 1978
Missing: May 27, 1994
Age at time: 16
Age Now: 27
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 122lbs
Missing From: Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia
Endangered Missing

Jody traveled alone from Georgia and was heading to Pontiac, Michigan to stay with family. At some point during the trip she contacted her family stating that she was lost. That was the last time anyone heard from Jody. Her vehicle, a 1987 Ford Escort, was located burned in Erie, Ohio.

http://www.doenetwork.org/
Case File 1097DFGA
This case never received a lot of press. Anyone familiar?

what parent lets a 16 year old drive that distance alone?

I am about the same age as Jody and lived in the same area of Georgia. It is a straight shot up I75. At 16 could not even drive into Atlanta by myself.

Brie said:

what parent lets a 16 year old drive that distance alone?

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I agree. That is too far for someone that young to drive alone,
What a sad story.

I just put up a myspace page for her on behalf of Lighting the Way Home. If you are on MS please send a friend request.... I need a case manager for this one! Any takers?? I don't have many pics of her but did create a flyer for her.....

http://www.myspace.com/jodylynnbrant

He did clear up some things for me and I hope he will be joining us here soon. As far as her parents letting her drive to Michigan, it was just her mom and Jody just left without telling anyone. The family is originally from Michigan and the dad still lives there but has nothing to do with his children. He stated she was on her way to visit her cousin who lives in Michigan and never made it. When she did not show up the family was contacted by the cousin and they filed a missing person report the next day and that is when they found out that her car was found charred on a desserted road in Ohio.

georgiagirl said:

He did clear up some things for me and I hope he will be joining us here soon. As far as her parents letting her drive to Michigan, it was just her mom and Jody just left without telling anyone. The family is originally from Michigan and the dad still lives there but has nothing to do with his children. He stated she was on her way to visit her cousin who lives in Michigan and never made it. When she did not show up the family was contacted by the cousin and they filed a missing person report the next day and that is when they found out that her car was found charred on a desserted road in Ohio.

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I am so happy to hear that he contacted you. I really hope he will join here. I pray that we will get some answers concerning Jody's disappearance one day soon .

Brie said:

what parent lets a 16 year old drive that distance alone?

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that was my first thought too!

I've never seen this case in the media, just through my own random digging in the Charley Project files. According to the Charley Project, her car was found only 2 miles outside of Toledo, Ohio and barely into Michigan state off a rural road in Ottawa Lake. The area is described as being near I-75. The first call she made when lost was in Erie, Ohio, which appears to be the area just East of the Toledo area. She didn't really get that far.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/brant_jody.html

This sounds to me like she either got lost again or was having car trouble and exited the interstate, then someone took advantage of the situation. I don't know why she would have called and told a friend she'd made it to Pontiac. But, as they mention, maybe the call was made under duress. Or, maybe she just meant that she had it into the state of Michigan at that point (not specifically Pontiac yet) and just stated she had arrived safely figuring it would be smooth sailing from there.

Anyway, it's unfortunate all the way around. She shouldn't have been traveling alone and we shouldn't live in a world where there are creeps who prey on women in these situations. This definitely sounds like the type of case where they could find more leads by comparing it to other disappearances or attacks in that area, possible serial killer who maybe never came up on the radar as being a suspect.

It is a shame so much time has past since she disappeared. She may have even been abducted from a rest stop asking for directions. She would have been an easy target for a predator. Being a teenager lost and so far from home.

georgiagirl said:

He did clear up some things for me and I hope he will be joining us here soon. As far as her parents letting her drive to Michigan, it was just her mom and Jody just left without telling anyone. The family is originally from Michigan and the dad still lives there but has nothing to do with his children. He stated she was on her way to visit her cousin who lives in Michigan and never made it. When she did not show up the family was contacted by the cousin and they filed a missing person report the next day and that is when they found out that her car was found charred on a desserted road in Ohio.

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Any new information for this case?

bumping

I set up a myspace page for her awhile back and really need someone to take it over or at least help me keep it up until someone else can step in. I just checked it and a couple of her family members had sent messages. Let me know if you are interested in helping me maintain this page!

Thanks for keeping her story alive Jody was my cousin by marriage. She was a nice girl and her disappearance devistated her mother. Her brother is a great guy and I am sure he is glad people are still looking for her. When I saw Jaycees story it reminded me of her because they look so similiar. Wonder what happend to her.

I learned about Jody's case for the first time yesterday, and it has really been on my mind. I live only a few miles from where her car was found. I'm shocked that I haven't heard about her story before! Though I would have been away at college at the time she disappeared, so perhaps that's why?

I noticed some inaccurate information in her missing persons profiles, but I'm not sure how to get that corrected? (I browse this sort of information frequently, but I'm not a terribly active poster.)

For example, her car was found off US-23, not I-75. (US-23 branches off I-75 in Perrysburg, Ohio - just south of Toledo. It would be very easy for someone on northbound I-75 to accidentally end up on US-23 northbound at the split. That could be one reason why she felt like she was lost.)

Also, the profiles state that she called from "Erie, Ohio." Has anyone considered the possibility that she was calling from Erie, Michigan? Erie, Michigan is a small community just across the Ohio-Michigan border. I-75 does run through that community. Also, Erie, MI and Ottawa Lake, MI (where her car was found) are only 12 miles apart, in the southern part of Monroe County, MI. Its literally just across the Ohio border - its very possible that she assumed she was still in Ohio, but was in Erie, MI instead.

It makes so much more sense that she was in Erie, MI, which is 12 miles from where her car was found. I don't even think that there IS an "Erie, Ohio." (There is an Erie County, Ohio, but that's located near Sandusky. I-75 doesn't even run near there - from I-75, you'd have to take the Ohio Turnpike a good 40 miles east to get to Erie County. I'd find that hard to believe - you have to pay tolls to get on the Turnpike, and I have a hard time believing that someone raised in Michigan would hop on the Ohio Turnpike east on a drive to Pontiac! Erie, Michigan makes so much more sense!)

Those are just some thoughts I have off the top of my head, just having learned about her story. I've unknowingly driven past the spot where her car was found hundreds of times - I guess having a local with some geographic insight thinking about this stuff couldn't hurt, right?

I'm looking through the Google news archive for stories about Jody from the Toledo Blade:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MUAxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BQQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2981,1684788&dq=jody+lynn+brant+missing&hl=en

I wonder if the local media and police attention to Jody's case was compromised by the fact that 3 year old Jamel Williams disappeared from Toledo, Ohio on 5/25/1994...just 2 days before Jody's disappearance.

Local police were actively searching for the little boy, along with the FBI's assistance. The media was actively covering his story as well. There are many, many archived stories about the investigation into Jamel's disappearance in the local media, but very few references to Jody.

(Sadly, Jamel has never been found either. No one really knows what happened to him.)

The first local news reference that I found to Jody was on June 2, 1994 (Thursday).

It states that Jody's car likely set on fire some time after 10 pm Saturday night (5/28) - it was discovered by a passerby at 7 am on Sunday (5/29). Police were not aware until Wednesday June 1st that the car belonged to Jody.


http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LkAxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BQQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5203,600278&dq=car+burned&hl=en


Jody was last heard from on May 27th,and her car wasn't set on fire until after 10 pm on May 28th.


Here's another article from June 3, 1994 about the search for Jody.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=L0AxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BQQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1774,700570&dq=car+burned&hl=en

By the way, the area code for Monroe County has changed from 313 to 734 in the time since Jody's disappearance. The Michigan State Police number is still listed as 313 on most materials related to Jody, but should be 734.