Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. eventAction: 'view' He's known to have killed 2 women possibly three and was arrested in 1993 and died in 1999. hitType: 'event', [5] Dannette and Jeannette have 8 siblings. When they returned, they informed their mother, Louise, that a man in a van had followed them for part of their walk. With rare access to the twins family,LauraandPageconsult with various experts close to the case, speak with eyewitnesses and confront local law enforcement to finally give this case the attention it deserves. She has been very involved in trying to find her daughters. window.adsContainer = {"positionAfterTitle":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position2":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position3":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Below_Next_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position4":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position5":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle1_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position6":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle2_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position7":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle3_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position8":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle4_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position9":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position10":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle6_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position11":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle7_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position12":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle8_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position13":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle9_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position14":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle10_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position15":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle11_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position16":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle12_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"positionTop":{"code":"Article_Desktop_970x250_Header_Rel","isOrganicUserAd":false,"max_width":970,"max_height":250},"positionBottom":{"code":"Article_Desktop_Sidebar_Bottom_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":300,"max_height":600},"positionBottomRight":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280}} Im the reason why they said they reopened the case, Shanta told Dateline. },false) ga('ads.send', { }); Disappearance On March 18, 1990, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook walked to the local Christ Presbyterian Church on Laney Walker Boulevard. In a sad twist, Louises eldest daughter, the one whose DNA was submitted in 2017 to help with Dannette and Jeannettes case, died the following year on the twins birthday. }); She was an alcoholic and suffered from depression. Its one of the only cases of missing twins in American history, but their case was scarcely investigated and most of the country has never heard of them. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Chris Harris has been a senior true crime reporter for PEOPLE since late 2015. [10], The producers of the podcast The Fall Line have taken an active role in the search for Dannette and Jeannette, and helped raise a $10,000 reward. hitType: 'event', The case may have been neglected on TV, butinevitably it became ideal fodder for the ongoing true crime bonanza. Shanta saw a video on TV of the newly-elected Sheriff of Augusta-Richmond County, Richard Roundtree. Watch S1 E1. ", (E! She could not remember which way the teens had walked off, or if they had gotten into a vehicle after they left. BREAKING:Treasury Department says U.S. could hit debt ceiling as soon as June 1, sooner than expected. the state?wasn't explained) and that was all they needed to consider the case closed, barely a year after Dannette and Jeannette first went missing. An eye-witness, Vaughns was around 12 years old at the time and recalled the names of "Lil Cheese" and "Oodle Boy" as being present at the scene, along with John. Watch S1 E1 Home Watch When you birth two kids at the same time, and then they grow up to 15 years old and now they're 45 years old and you haven't seen them since they were 15, that's hard. hitType: 'event', Now, a new two-hour television special attempts to answer the still-lingering questions surrounding the case. Dateline reached out to Scott Peebles, who remembered having a conversation with Shanta, but would not comment on the case as he is now Chief Deputy of the Richmond County Marshals Office and the twins case is being handled by the sheriffs office. According to Shanta, on the day of their disappearance, Dannette was wearing white jeans with a white Mickey Mouse shirt and Jeannette was wearing a khaki skirt and a white turtleneck. It hurt every day I had to see my mom upset and crying. Shanta said about growing up. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Now, former prosecutor Laura Coates and retired detective Page Reynolds examine the case in a search for justice. [1] Dannette was last seen wearing a white shirt with an image of Mickey Mouse, white jeans, and black shoes. [8] In media releases the sheriff was quoted as saying, We think a terrible injustice has been done for the last 20 years which helped to fuel interest in the new investigation. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. }); But"every time you think you got somebody to help, and you think you take a step forward, you got to take a step back. [3], Next, they continued on to a local gas station, where they bought chips, candy, and soda. I thought, you know, by them opening it, maybe they could have found out what happened to them, she said. Teens, 3rd Suspect at Large: 'These Kids Had a Full Life Ahead of Them', 15-Year-Old Goes Missing in Chicago After 2 Women Found Dead in Same Area, An Ohio Art Student Mysteriously Vanished 12 Years Ago. Shanta said her mother and eldest sister gave DNA samples to authorities in 2017. Shanta told Dateline that something later stood out to the family about the sisters walk home from their godfathers place that day. Adds Dannette and Jeannette's sister Shanta, "Anybody that was our color was a runaway.". The fraternal twins were last seen on March 18th, 1990, by an employee who worked at this gas station. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! I don't think they think my children were important enough to go out and look for. Their surname is often misspelled as "Millbrooks" and Jeannette's middle name is often given as "Latressa" due to errors on police reports. [14], The twins mother isMary Louise Sturgis. A nationwide search came back empty. Later in the day, the twins walked to their godfather's house to borrow money for a city bus to school the following week, as the teens and their family had recently moved to a new apartment further from their school. Dateline reached out to the Richmond County Sheriffs Office to discuss the case and the search efforts that were done following the twins disappearance and in the years since and received an email from Sergeant Randall Amos, saying, At this time I am going to respectfully decline to comment on this case. In a follow-up email, the sergeant said that his office is willing to look into any new evidence/leads that become available.. We don't have the kind of money needed to pay a private detective, so there is only so much we can do.". The Richmond County Sheriffs Office states ontheir websitethat the girls left the area at around 4:00 p.m. on March 18. Although they are . }); hitType: 'event', eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, 15-year-old fraternal twins, vanished off the streets of Augusta, Georgia, on March 18, 1990. [9] The current investigating agency is the Richmond County Sheriff's Office. Statistics show that kidnappings account fora minuscule portion of missing kidsin 2018, less than 1 percent of more than 25,000 reported cases where characterized as non-family abductions, according to the National Center for Missing & ExploitedChildrenbut Mary didn't think for a second that her daughters had taken off by themselves. Shanta told Dateline that when the twins didnt arrive home that night, their mother got nervous and began calling around town seeing if anyone had seen them. He lived in Hale street near the Pump-n-Shop where the girls were last seen and would be seen on the Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard. [3] The case of the twins disappearance has been discussed on several other podcasts including My Favorite Murder, Thin Air, The Trail Went Cold, Unresolved, and Crime Junkie. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), In 1978, her5-day-old sonwas taken from her Atlanta homeby a woman she had just befriended at the hospital. }); media-tech companies with hubs around the world. Jeannette and Dannette left their godfather's place on Forest Street and made at least two more stops, to see a young cousin and their older sister. On Demand programming varies by level of service; pricing, ratings and scheduling are subject to change. Internet Service Terms Meanwhile, their father, John Millbook, "never wanted to look for them,"according to Shanta Sturgis, who says that he told her older sister to tell police he was dead if they came looking for him. [3][12] As of March2018[update], a little over $2,500 was raised and plans were in motion to create the billboard.[12]. If he had located them, he said he couldnt make them come back home because they were 17 years old, Shanta recalled. The letter had been submitted to the Richmond County Sheriff's office two years ago, but they heard nothing at all after that. In today's episode, we discuss the Freeway Phantom, an unidentified serial killer, who was active in Washington D.C. from April 1971 through September 1972. He was actively attacking women in the early 1990s around the same time that the girls went missing. The special, for the first time in 30 years, digs deep into the story of the two teens who went missing on March 18, 1990, and have not been seen or heard about since. ga('ads.send', { He preferred African American women with short hair. [3][11] A meeting with the sheriff's department led the Millbrook family to believe the reward would be officially announced and matched by the sheriff's department, but the sheriff's department denies making this commitment. He faced the death penalty in the murder of Marilyn Denise Kelly and was suspected in the murder of Loretta Dukes but died in 1999 before the trial started. After lunch, they set out for his house, which was only a short walk away. Published on November 5, 2019 10:00 AM It was nearly 30 years ago that 15-year-old twins Jeannette and Dannette Millbrook vanished from the streets of Augusta, Georgia, without a trace. He was known to pick up women at gunpoint, take them to another location, sexually assault and sometimes murder them. Itwould be more thantwo decades beforethe twins started getting the amount ofattention that Mary and Shanta felt should have been paid to them from the beginning. Briefly discussed The Fall Line podcast and the case, did not cover as a featured story. When they had reached out to him to see if they had heard about the twins, he had written them a letter that said that he had some information. "We've reached out to John Walsh, Montel Williams and Oprah Winfrey, but none of them would help us. The twins left the house againat around 3 p.m. and headed to their godfather's houseto getmoney for their bus fare, riding the city bus being how they got to and from school. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { Period. She told us what they bought. TheFutonCritic.com is the web's best resource for breaking news and press releases about primetime television. } "We think a terrible injustice has been done for the last 20 years," he told the Huffington Post at the time. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Richmond County Sheriffs Offices Missing Persons page, Missing Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook. Despite being one of the few cases of missing twins in American history, their disappearance gained little media attention and many question whether it was properly investigated. [3][4] They also requested that their older sister walk with them, but she declined due to recently giving birth. The remains were found near Shaw's Creek off of Highway 191 in Aiken County, South Carolina. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. Shanta told Dateline that when their mother called, she was told she had to wait 24 hours before filing a missing persons report for the girls. You wont see nothing pertaining to their names until 2013.. Examining the disappearance of the Millbrook twins, who were dismissed as runaways. Mom Vanished 6 Weeks Ago, Car Found Abandoned with Phone Inside, Mother of Athena Strand, 7, Joins Child's Father in Suing FedEx After Their Daughter's Death, Suspect in Mich. State Mass Shooting ID'd, Caller's Tip Led Police to Him. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! A fan of the American Revolution and Civil War, Hall traveled around the Midwest for historical reenactments where he would often abduct, rape, torture, and murder girls and women, typically teenagers or young . Anyone with information or concerns about the case can reach out to the Sheriff's office at 706-821-1000. When the original investigation was opened in 1990, the detective on the case Jim Ship had dubbed them as runaways and shutout the family from any information regarding the case. }); Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. ", Shanta, who maintains a Facebook page dedicated to keeping Jeannette and Dannette's names out there,added, "They're my sisters, but they're her daughters, you know. hitType: 'event', [3][1][2][6][7], Despite the case being closed in 1991, family members continued to persistently contact the sheriff's department to inquire about the whereabouts of the twins over the years. The attendant there recognized her daughters and let her know that they had indeed stopped by the store that day. TV-14. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He said that they were "known" and that he had thought the mother's "IQ" was the problem so he hadn't updated her. "Police didn't do nothin'," Mary, who many call Miss Louise, recallsin the new Oxygen special The Disappearance of the Milbrook Twins, premiering Saturday at 7 p.m. Im gonna assume something had to [transpire] for them to want somebody to walk home, Shanta said. Its one of the only cases of missing twins in American history, but their case was scarcely investigated and most of the country has never heard of them. Moreover, the mystery surrounding the girls' removal from the national registry of missing children remained unsolved, with Roundtree unable to find out who had made the call or why. Now, former federal prosecutor Laura Coates and former homicide detective Page Reynolds attempt to unravel the mysterious unsolved case in the hopes of finally finding justice forDannette and Jeannette. She had turned her back for a minute to ring a customer and it seemed like they just disappeared into thin air. Shanta says the twins made it to his home, collected the bus fare, and were given a few extra dollars to get some treats for their walk home. ga('ads.send', { 'Stop it!' When they returned, they informed their mother, Louise, that a man in a van had followed them for part of their walk. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ March 18, 1990, started as a normal day for 15-year-old twin sisters Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, according to their younger sister, Shanta Sturgis, who was 12 at the time. Nearly thirty years ago, 15-year-old African American twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, vanished off the street near their home in Augusta, Georgia. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. "I know about cold cases, and if they don't stay active, they stay cold," Greentold NewsChannel 6. One moment, they were buying chips and soda at a Pump-N-Shop gas station on the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard around 4:30 pm and the next, they were gone. Shanta also said that The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children updates Dannette and Jeannettes age progression photos every five years. [1][2], Dannette and Jeanette were enrolled as students at Lucy Laney High School. [2] Dannette has been described as "bowlegged". JEANNETTE MILLBROOKS", "UPDATE | Family of missing twins meets with sheriff", "Twins Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook Went Missing 30 Years Ago. According to Shanta, after the twins vanished, the arriving officer misspelled her sisters names, and mis-recorded their date of birth. Shanta had known "Lil Cheese" as a known drug dealer and that they knew him when they were kids. He also said that "Lil Cheese" had sexually assaulted one of the twins. And get this - "Oodle Boy" had a white van. Nearly thirty years ago, 15-year-old AfricanAmerican twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, vanished off the street near their home in Augusta, Georgia. Their disappearance remains the only case of . IE 11 is not supported. John Millbrook was married to the twins' mother, who described him as a violent and cruel man, who she split up with after she feared he would hurt her daughters. reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. This caused some confusion after their disappearance, as their sister was often mistaken as one of the twins.[3]. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. But she didn't give up, and on June 5, 2013, Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtreewho had just been elected in 2012announced he was reopening the case. Nearly thirty years ago, 15-year-old African American twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, vanished off the street near their home in Augusta, Georgia. The Fall Line was able to interview Shanta and Ms. Louise and dig into the discrepancies that have plagued this case for years. Their Family Still Wants Answers", "28 years missing: The Millbrook twins' family still searching for answers", "Missing twins' family to fundraise for reward in 1990 case", "Woman's slaying in 1992 thought to be by serial killer", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disappearance_of_Dannette_and_Jeannette_Millbrook&oldid=1149892365, "The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins - Part I", This page was last edited on 15 April 2023, at 02:56. Nobody. He also mentioned Merry Brothers Brickyard - a place surrounded by dense flora and a potential body dumpsite. But mine still havent. And so, she says, she talks to anyone and everyone she can about the case. ga('ads.send', { },false) Oxygen Media aired a two-hour television special on the case, which premiered on November 23, 2019.[15]. Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, 15-year-old fraternal twins, vanished off the streets of Augusta, Georgia, on March 18, 1990. The family reports that they were told the case was closed when the girls turned 17 because they had reached an age at which they could no longer be legally forced to come home if found. I called down there once again after all them years and finally somebody called me back, she said. The case remains cold to this day, but the Oxygen special enlists former federal prosecutor Laura Coates and former homicide detective Page Reynolds to take a fresh look at it in an attempt to find justice for Dannette and Jeannettes relatives, who refuse to give up hope that they may still be alive. They were put on the news once.. Sign in to watch thousands of shows and movies available anytime. You know, if something were to happen to her, I want her to be able to rest knowing that she found out what happened to her daughters, Shanta said. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! },false) MEAWW is an initialism for Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. At this time there is a $50,000 reward for information that helps resolve the case. [4] She is the last person to see Dannette and Jeannette. He also confirmed that he had called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and told them they had found the twins, based on hearsay. [1] At the time of her disappearance, she was 5'4, and 125 lbs. EPISODE 1. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? [8] As of August2017[update], the coroner's office reportedly has plans to compare DNA from the Aiken County Jane Doe to familial DNA. The Fall Line, a podcast focused on cold cases in marginalized communities in the Southeastern United States, premiered with a season devoted to the Millbrook twins in 2017, and Michael Whelan consulted hosts Brooke Gently-Hargrove and Laurah Norton for his owncoverage ofthe casefor his podcast,Unresolved, in early 2018. "We exhaustively searched for the answers to this incomprehensible tragedy, while offering hope to a family that is struggling for closure.. In 2019, inspired by the podcast, there was an Oxygen Network Special called "The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins." 2023 E! They would be 49 years old today. Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, 15-year-old fraternal twins, vanished off the streets of Augusta, Georgia, on March 18, 1990. The whole year of 1990, we didnt get no information, you know, about them, Shanta said. How much did racial and socioeconomic divisions in Augusta come into play in determining how Jeannette and Dannette Millbrooks' case was handled? In the same area that the girls went missing from or were taken away lived a serial killer by the name of Joseph Patrick Washington. Shanta told Dateline that the reward will be reduced to $11,000 in August 2023 if they do not reach a resolution in the case before then. Now, a. At the beginning of the documentary, host of 'The Fall Line' and a case expert Laurah Norton says, "I've seen wonderful investigations, I've seen moderate investigations and here, there was no investigation.". In 1990, twin sisters Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook disappear in Augusta, GA; law enforcement dismiss the girls as runaways; now, former prosecutor Laura Coates and retired detective Page Reynolds examine the case in a search for justice. They got it in the system now but nobodys -- nothing has come of it, she said. The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins: After three decades, investigators dig deep into one of the most baffling missing cases By Priyam Chhetri Published on : 19:00 PST, Nov 23, 2019 Nearly three decades ago, 15-year-old African American twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, vanished off the street in Augusta, Georgia. Her Fianc Was Just Charged with Murder, Man Connected to Death of Ga. Father Found Rolled Up in Carpet Taken into Custody, Ga. Father Who Vanished on Business Trip Found Dead in Louisiana Rolled Up in Carpet, Wrapped in Plastic, Police Say No Signs of Foul Play in Death of Georgia Man Found Wrapped in Carpet and Plastic, More Than 15 Years After Madeleine McCann's Disappearance, Questions Remain Unanswered: 5 Things to Know, Father of Missing Tenn. "Jeannette, she was a cautious person and she was a good student,"Mary recalled to localNewsChannel 6in 2018. It is situated at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 12th Street in Augusta, Georgia. }); Nearly three decades ago, 15-year-old African American twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, vanished off the street in Augusta, Georgia. [3] The twins were known to be good teens and were not troublemakers; they did not have a history of running away and there appears to be no motive for their disappearance. [3] These calls ultimately led to the case being reopened in 2013. Girl Who Vanished a Year Ago Speaks Out After Jail Release, Parents of Missing N.C. The van or the man in it was never identified or tracked down. [1][3] The clerk, Gloria, was familiar with the twins. 15 year old twins Jeanette and Dannette went missing on March 18, 1990 in Augusta, Georgia. Listen to this episode from Criminal Curiosity on Spotify. gads_event = event; And they're said to be the only set oftwins to go missing in the United States whose disappearance remains unresolved. If they did, it would be, you know, all of us together with my mom.. Their 16th birthday came and went. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of Its one of the only cases of missing twins in American history, but their case was scarcely investigated and most of the country has never heard of them. Shanta told Dateline that, as usual, the family went to church in their hometown of Augusta, Georgia and then returned home to have lunch. Oxygen Media, the destination for high-quality crime programming, searches for answers in the upcoming two-hour special The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins premiering onSaturday, November 23 at 7pm ET/PT. The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins will debut on Oxygen on November 23 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. A prison informant claims he knows what happened to Jeannette and Dannette Millbrook. document.querySelector("#ads").addEventListener('click',function(){ Roundtree, whowasn't familiar with the investigation, interviewed the by-then retired lead detective, and got the girls' DNA as well astheir mother's into their database. Reality 2019. Once again, the family is left with questions about what happened to their twins. There is also a local billboard that directs people tothemillbrooktwins.com, where they can submit tips in the case. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. [2] At the time of her disappearance, she was 5'6 and 130 lbs. . They ended up at gas station convenience store near the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where they bought chips and a drink. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. pg.acq.push(function() { This is a tragedy that cuts deep into Americas never-ending struggle with race and class. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), They planned to murder her and use the internet to do so. [1] Their case was closed in 1991 and was reopened in 2013.[3]. Exclusive access to work with the first African American sheriff in Augustas nearly 300-year history - a man who grew up just blocks away from the Millbrook family home - will reignite the investigation into the twins disappearance for the first time since they went missing in hopes that answers are on the horizon. However, the family was not given a reason why. The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins. pg.acq.push(function() { So far, the stories and investigations about the case have talked of the same old leads - the girls had seen a white van follow them home from Church the day they had disappeared. So for the last 20 years they have not been in the system. After that, the trail runs cold. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ When the family asked if the girls had been acting strangely, the attendant told them they had not been. [2] Both girls had pierced ears, shoulder-length hair styled in Jheri curls, and they both have a scar near their navels from a surgery shortly after birth. They were 15 years old and freshmen atLucy C. Laney High School. Nobody but family.". The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, 15-year-old fraternal twins, vanished off the streets of Augusta, Georgia, on March 18, 1990. "For nearly three decades the family of Jeanette and Danette Millbrook have been waiting for them to come home," said Will Packer, Executive Producer of ". Apple TV & Privacy