Florida Firefighter Is Still Missing 9 Years Later

Nine years ago today, Brandy Hall left her Florida fire station and vanished
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 17, 2015 8:50 AM CDT

On the evening of Aug. 17, 2006, Florida firefighter and mother of two Brandy Hall left her night shift at the Malabar Fire Station early, at about 10:45pm. She was never seen again—at least by anyone willing to admit it. Her pickup truck, stained with lots of her blood, was found the next morning in what Florida Today calls a "remote pond," but little other physical evidence has been found. As if the vanishing act itself isn't strange, many peculiarities persist. Hall had said she was on her way to her husband Jeffrey Hall's sentence hearing (the former Osceola fire chief ran an illegal marijuana business; she was to testify on his behalf). She obviously never showed. Neither did Palm Bay Fire Capt. Randall Richmond who, crying, called Jeffrey Hall to say his wife didn't want him to testify. Richmond and Brandy Hall had been having a long-term affair.

And while the FBI, expert profilers, and a cold case squad all say Richmond is key to the case, he refuses to talk with investigators further, even though his first two interviews vary widely from each other. (Richmond, for instance, said he hadn't spoken with Brandy Hall in more than a week, even though she made an 11-minute call to him at 11:06pm on the night she disappeared.) Meanwhile, everyone who knew Brandy Hall, described as a devoted mother, says she would never leave her kids behind. A backpack containing some of her things was found in July 2007, in a canal that has been fully drained after her disappearance, suggesting it was placed there a minimum of a few weeks after she went missing. It didn't contain her firearm or her medication. "That’s all kind of curious," says Detective Ernie Diebel, who is about the retire and has been plagued by the case. Florida Today has more. (This sunken car's remains may help solve an even colder case.)

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