TX Brenda Moore, 19, Austin, 7 March 1976

[hanpap]

*NO IMAGE AVAILABLE*

Name: Brenda Moore
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: March 7, 1976
Location Last Seen: Austin, Travis County, Texas

Physical Description
Age: 19 years old
Race: Black/African American
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown


Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance
Brenda was last seen by co-workers on March 7, 1976 around 3:15 p.m. Her car was found by her co-workers on March 12, 1976 in the 1900 block of Coleto St. The keys were left inside the car.

Moore was married to Willie P. Moore and according to him, he and Brenda had been separated for about four months. He thinks she skipped town with another man.

Moore had a new boyfriend who drove a blue Chevy pickup truck.

Two other young African-American women, Jennifer Barton and Debra Stewart, both disappeared from Austin in the spring of 1976, and it's possible the three cases are related. Debra vanished on May 21, 1976; she was last seen leaving the Sears on May 21, 1976. Friends say she was not feeling well. After that, no one heard from her again. Police found her car abandoned in the 1800 block of Ferdinand Street in East Austin-- less than a block from where Moore's vehicle was found, Her car keys were still in the ignition.

There is no hard evidence that Moore, Barton and Stewart's disappearances are connected, but police are looking into the possibility

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Austin Police Dept.
Agency Contact Person: Detective Tonya Jefferson
Agency Phone Number: 512-974-5250
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1976-920065316

Sources:
3876DFTX - Brenda Moore
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Unsolved: Young, black and vanished

 

[cody22]

Samuel Little was in the Houston and Wichita Falls, Texas area killing mainly young black women during this time period, 76-77.

 

[hanpap]

From 11th Street to Guyana, oldest cases yield few clues
Austin American-Standard - online archives

BYLINE: Claire Osborn
DATE: May 10, 1999
PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman (TX)
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Metro/State
PAGE: B3

Three women disappeared separately from Austin in the spring of 1976, and none has been found. They are the Austin Police Department's oldest open missing-persons cases. At one time, police speculated that the three disappearances were linked, even following leads that two of the women might have disappeared in the mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. But police never confirmed any connection.

Brenda Moore, 21, was reported missing on March 12, 1976, after she failed to show up for her job at Cresthaven nursing home.

Police don't have a photograph of her and have little information except that she was a nurse's aide with a history of depression, said Sgt. William Bastow of the Austin Police Department. Her car was found in the 1900 block of Coleto Street in East Austin with the keys still in the ignition.

Another abandoned car with the keys in the ignition was found two months later two blocks away, Bastow said. The car belonged to Debra Stewart, a 19-year-old University of Texas student last seen leaving her job at Sears in South Austin on May 21, 1976.

Stewart, a communications student, lived in an apartment in the 2700 block of Manor Road. She supposedly left Sears to go see a doctor because she hadn't been feeling well. She had a chronic kidney condition, relatives had said. Her abandoned car was found two days later.

No signs of foul play were found in her car or apartment.

Investigators searched in several states. Her parents hired a private detective, who was unable to turn up additional clues.

``Police even called a psychic, but none of the stuff she said was true,'' Bastow said.

The FBI checked for Stewart's name among the more than 900 people who died in Jonestown in November 1978 after their leader, the Rev. Jim Jones, persuaded them to drink cyanide.

``Cults were big back then, and there was a lot of fear of them,'' Bastow said.

He said that, primarily on the basis of her age, Stewart fit the profile of many of the victims in Jonestown, but she was never found among the dead.

Five days after Stewart disappeared, another young woman was reported missing. Jennifer Joyce Barton, 20, was last seen on May 15 outside a bar on East 11th Street, getting into a brown van with California license plates .

A dropout from Reagan High School, Barton had a record of prostitution arrests. Friends said she had appeared distraught after a friend was killed in February, and her apartment was broken into shortly afterward, police said at the time.

On the day she disappeared, she and a friend were headed up 11th Street to see a movie, police said. She was short of cash and stopped at a bar to get money from friends. She met two men in the bar and later left in their van.

Friends said Stewart knew people in the 11th Street area and may have known Barton. Police never found any proof that the two missing women were acquainted. Detectives also checked for Barton's name among the victims of the Jonestown mass suicide, but it wasn't found.

Bastow said no information in Moore's file indicated that police had searched for her name among the dead in Jonestown.

Moore, Stewart and Barton are among the 20 people reported missing to the Austin Police Department since 1976 whose cases remain unsolved

Porchlight International for the Missing & Unidentified-Barton, Jennifer May 16,1976

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

www.tapatalk.com

 

[cody22]

Thank you for the added info..... Austin was a much smaller town/city in 1976 than it is now. The ages and occupations sure fit into Samuel Little's desires..... Surely the Austin LE has looked into Mr. Little by now.

 

[madamx]

Bumping for Brenda!!!!! It's been way to long her anniversary is upon us again

 

[Moonwalker9]

What was her maiden name? I wish there was a photo. I wonder if her case is connected to Barton and Stewart that both went missing in Austin TX 1976.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[hanpap]

I reached out to the family and was told they lost their Photos in a fire. The maiden name is Breedlove I believe..

 

[Moonwalker9]

Yearbook photos? Can we find out which school she attended. They may be available online.

 

[hanpap]

Yearbook photos? Can we find out which school she attended. They may be available online.

I believe I checked and the school didn't have the years she attended. It may be under her married name since she only 16 when she married

 

[big_wig]

Here is her marriage license record - it's in Milam County (not Travis). Very small place only 6 high schools with less than 1600 kids overall (Top Milam County Public High Schools (2020-21)). Based on the a marriage announcement in the Cameron Herald, I would guess maybe here? C. H. Yoe High School - Wikipedia

MOORE WILLIE L 21
BREEDLOVE BRENDA J 16
5/26/1972
MILAM 048487

Texas Marriage Records | Search County Records for Marriage License Documents | CourthouseDirect.com

 

[MadMcGoo]

I wonder if it’s Willie L or Willie P. Must be a typo someplace?

 

[Justin537]

I found a Brinda Jean Breedlove at The Texas Birth Index at FamilySearch.org which gives a DOB of March 1, 1956 in Burleson County, Texas. I don't know if the first name is a typo or not. Parents were Ernest Breedlove Jr. and Norma Jean Batiste. She had three siblings born in Texas: James Edward Breedlove (B. 16OCT59), Kara Von Breedlove (B. 09AUG51), and Jack Leon Breedlove (B. 28JUL58).

 

[HopeRains]

I believe I checked and the school didn't have the years she attended.

Public libraries often have copies of local school yearbooks.

 

[Murkywaters]

Brenda has been added to The Charley Project.

Brenda Moore – The Charley Project

Missing Since: 03/07/1976
Missing From: Austin, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex:Female
Race:Black
Age: 19 years old
Height and Weight: 5'0, 125 pounds
Medical Conditions:Moore has a history of depression.
Distinguishing Characteristics: African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance

Moore was last seen on the east side of Austin, Texas at 3:15 p.m. on March 7, 1976. She has never been heard from again. On March 12, her coworkers found her abandoned vehicle in the 1900 block of Coleto Street, with the keys locked inside it.

At the time of her disappearance, Moore worked as a nurses's aide. She was married, but she and her husband were separated and she was seeing another man who drove a blue Chevrolet pickup truck. Her husband said he thought she had simply left town with another man.

Two other young African-American women, Jennifer Barton and Debra Stewart, both disappeared from Austin in the spring of 1976, and it's possible the three cases are related.

Barton was a prostitute who frequented the 11th Street area. Stewart wasn't a prostitute, but she was drawn to the nightlife in the 11th Street area and she and Barton did have friends and acquaintances in common. It's not clear whether Moore had any connection to Barton, Stewart or the 11th Street area.

There is no hard evidence that Moore, Barton and Stewart's disappearances are connected, but police are looking into the possibility. All three cases remain unsolved.

 

[Crimhorra]

Bumping for Brenda

 

[Diane Redfern]