LIVE OAK, Fla. (WCTV) - It’s a question being asked across the nation, catching the attention of thousands of online web sleuths in chat groups, podcasts, and YouTube videos: What happened to Kelley Brannon?
On Wednesday night, WCTV aired the first part of this Unsolved Florida case involving the disappearance of Kelley Brannon, which you can watch by clicking here.
Brannon and her boyfriend, Eddie Emerson, were ready to start fresh last July. They packed up their things in Micanopy, just south of Gainesville, each in their own car headed up Interstate-75 toward Detroit, Michigan, where they planned to buy a home.
But, only a short drive into their journey, Eddie had car trouble, landing them about an hour outside Tallahassee in Live Oak. July 15, 2020, outside the Sunshine Inn is the last time and place Brannon was heard from.
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In an interview with Emerson just days after Brannon vanished, he told WCTV the story of what he said happened.
“We were driving up, and my transmission burned up about an hour and a half up the road,” described Emerson.
While waiting for the car to be fixed, the couple had spent several nights camping out, but after a few days, Emerson said they decided to “get a hotel room” for a night.
The pair checked into Room 70 at the Sunshine Inn, a low-cost motel off one of the main arteries into town, and quickly began to argue.
“She was crying,” Emerson said. “She was miserable. She was drunk. I didn’t comfort her. I just took her keys off her waist and I said, ‘you can’t drive right now, alright?’”
Emerson admitted to locking Brannon outside the motel room.
“I just went back in the room. Stupidly, I just went back in the room,” Emerson recalled.
Screenshots of the texts they exchanged that night show the argument went on for hours as well as Brannon threatening to leave.
“She’s texting me and calling me, and I’m answering and hanging up because it’s just mean stuff. She’s getting drunker and drunker. I’m just trying to sleep,” said Emerson.
Surveillance from the motel that night shows Brannon walking through the parking lot in the hours before she disappeared. A final voicemail from her was left on Eddie’s phone just before 1 a.m. might have included a clue to her whereabouts.
“You know, I’m sick of your abuse.....Oh, I’m getting in a car right now. Bye,” said Brannon before the voicemail ended with a click.
Detectives, who have pulled phone records, said those words 10 months ago are the last known from her.
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Her purse, ID, and credit cards were left behind. Rountree said that there are unverified reports that her cell phone last synced with Google about an hour after that voicemail was left in the area of Dowling Avenue, less than a mile away from the Sunshine Inn. But, there’s been no activity since.
The couple has a rocky past with domestic violence issues in Gainesville, which is documented by court records, police reports, and 911 calls.
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- Kelley Brannon, 37 years old (36 at time of disappearance)
- White female
- Brown eyes and black hair with gray streaks
- Height: 5′4″
- 130 Lbs
Kelley Brannon, 36, was last known to be at the Sunshine Inn Hotel in Live Oak, Florida on the evening of July 14, 2020
Just before 1 a.m. on July 15, she left a voicemail for her boyfriend stating she was “getting in a car.” Her purse with money and ID were left behind in her own car at the hotel, but her phone and guitar were missing.
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