SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: April 27, 1998 from Shawnee, Kansas
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: August 22, 1981
Age: 16 years old
Height and Weight: 5'7, 115 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Brewer has scars on her left knee, on her left hand and under her right eye. One of her ears is triple-pierced, while the other ear has a single piercing. Brewer has the initials "TD" on one of her ankles. Her skull and left wrist were previously fractured as the result of a near-fatal car accident that occured when she was fourteen years old. A wire was inserted into Brewer's jaw after an additional injury prior to her 1998 disappearance. Her nickname is Tabby.
Details of Disappearance
Brewer visited her father and stepmother at their apartment complex in Shawnee, Kansas on April 27, 1998. Her 19-year-old boyfriend, Nicholas Travis, accompanied her during the late evening hours. A photograph of Travis is posted below this case summary. The couple was last seen departing the residence with a friend, Brandon B. Howell, at approximately 12:00 a.m. They were going to run an errand together. A photograph of Howell is posted below this case summary. He told authorities that he dropped Brewer and Travis off at the Circle K convenience store near 75th Street and Interstate 35. They never returned home.
Authorities initially assumed the couple ran away together, but soon discovered foul play was likely involved in their disappearances. Both Travis and Brewer's charred identification and Brewer's purse, with her jewelry and pictures of her family inside, were discovered in a dumpster on the corner of 55th Street and Paseo Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri approximately three days after they vanished. There were no other signs of Brewer or Travis at the scene.
Travis's body was discovered in August 1998, buried in a shallow grave in the 5400 block of the Paseo in Kansas City, Missouri. His corpse was only found a few hundred feet from the location where the couple's belongings were located more than one year earlier. He was the victim of a homicide; he had several fractures in the back of his skull. There was no sign of Brewer at the scene. She has never been heard from again.
Brewer and Travis had been dating for over a year prior to their disappearances; both lived with Brewer's mother. They had both dropped out of the alternative high school they attended. Brewer's mother stated her daughter had wanted to marry Travis and have his children. Brewer is a good typist and was employed as a secretary at a mortgage company at the time of her disappearance.
Authorities identified Howell as a suspect in Brewer's disappearance and Travis's murder not long into the investigation. Travis's body was found buried in Howell's father's backyard, and inside the home, blood spatters matching Travis's DNA were located. There was a scuff mark like a shoeprint on the underside of the Howell's car trunk lid as well.
Investigators initially lacked the evidence to charge Howell. He was convicted of kidnapping, aggravated assault, attempted aggravated robbery and animal cruelty and has been incarcerated since 1999. The charges stemmed from a home invasion robbery. In 2006, eight years after Travis and Brewer disappeared, Howell was charged with the murders of both of them when witnesses came forward with additional information.
A witness stated that on a night in April 1998, they heard Brewer's voice from inside Howell's father's home, then a man and a woman screaming, and after that the witness saw Howell with blood on his shirt. Howell had also allegedly spoken to several people of a plan to kidnap Brewer and Travis and rob and kill them. Brewer had received a $40,000 car accident settlement shortly before her disappearance, but the money was held in a trust fund and she did not have access to it.
Howell is awaiting trial for the murders. Brewer has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her disappearance due to the circumstances involved.
Left: Howell; Right: Travis
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Shawnee Police Department
913-631-2151