Where is Brittney Wood? Alabama Teen Missing Since May of 2012

 BrittsStepMom!  Thank you so much for coming here and posting. I will look for a link for this..or if you have one, can you please post?

Wrapitup wrote: BrittsStepMom!  Thank you so much for coming here and posting. I will look for a link for this..or if you have one, can you please post?

I've been looking on all the local stations but nothing yet. I have a screenshot of the docket list but I can't figure out how to post it. Sorry, still feeling my way around here. From what the BC clerks office told me it was for both sides to make sure they are ready for trial and start picking a jury.

Thanks Wrapitup for the welcome!!!

Fox10 just said during their broadcast that it was reset for Oct 7th. I'm floored, I guess that meant someone was not going to be ready for trial for Aug 19th.
 

 to VH BrittsStepMom! I wish it was under different circumstances that brought you here and I'm so sorry for what you are going through. If we can help you do anything please do not hesitate to ask.

NiteSpinR wrote:Please allow me to help with the screenshot. ^^^^Look on the toolbar ^^^^ just above the post a reply box.

In the 5th box, click the 1st button called "Host an image" if you do not currently have an image server, just follow the directions there to register for one. Once you've registered
Click the "Host an Image" button on toolbar, a popup box will appear, click "Browse file", go to the file where you have the screenshot saved (my pictures perhaps)(you can only post 1 picture at a time), now click "Host Image" another popup will appear highlight the code in the 2nd box and right click mouse to copy, go to the reply post box here and paste it. You can then check to see if it worked by clicking the preview box before you hit send.

Thanks!!

This is a short interview i did with Jon Liberman on Liberman live @ 5 Monday 7/29/13. Wasn't sure if y'all follow the FB's pages we have set up for Brittney?

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"What Happened to Brittney Wood?" BlogTalkRadio on August 2:

Join me as I talk with mom of missing Brittney Wood, Chessie Wood-about her the disappearance of her daughter. Brittney was just 19 years old & the mother of a 2-yr-old little girl when she went missing on May 30/12.

There is scandal involved with some of Brittney’s family members & things were starting to come to light. Five members of Brittney’s family were arrested & when you hear the story of what Brittney was doing up to the day she disappeared you will definitely come to your own sad conclusion. That Brittney might have been taken away or killed to keep her quiet.

NiteSpinR wrote:

BrittsStepMom wrote:This is a short interview i did with Jon Liberman on Liberman live @ 5 Monday 7/29/13. Wasn't sure if y'all follow the FB's pages we have set up for Brittney?

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Hello Today,
If the facebook pages you mentioned are not already here, would you mind adding a link to them? Thank You!

Sure here they are!
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Also twitter @MissingBrittney

 

Wrapitup wrote: 

 

This link is to Fox10's continuing coverage of everything Brittney. They have been GREAT keeping her name out there so she wont be forgotten.

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Wrapitup wrote:

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I am Speechless!! Thank you for this link! Poor Brittany!

And she has her prelimin trial on Aug6th as soon as the link is updated I will post it. I believe she will wave her prelimin like some of the others have and just have it sent straight to grand jury. That link has 5 pages of news reports that cover Brittney and the sex crime caseS.

Chessie Wood's interview with talk radio. It is embedded in this link for those that didn't get to listen.


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On Friday 8/2/13 I spoke with Baldwin Co's clerks office and they said that Derek Wood, Dustin Kent, Donald Holland Jr. & William Brownlee are scheduled for trial on 8/19/13

Wendy Wood Holland & her brother Randal "Scott" Wood are scheduled for trail 10/7/13. As soon as it shows on the docket I will post it.

NiteSpinR wrote:Thank you for the updates BrittsStepMom! The names and court dates have been added to our Calendar.

 

And please call me Steph.

Chessie Wood's prelimin was rescheduled.
The hearing was postponed until August 14 because a court reporter was not present and the defense agreed to pay for one.


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Updated: Tuesday, 06 Aug 2013, 11:10 AM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 06 Aug 2013, 11:10 AM CDT

Steve Alexander
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Chessie Wood was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Tuesday, August 6 in Mobile.

The hearing was postponed until August 14 because a court reporter was not present and the defense agreed to pay for one.

The mother of missing teenager Brittney Wood has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first degree sodomy and one count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12.

Investigators say the child was 10-years-old at the time of the alleged incident. The alleged victim is now 14-years-old.

Wood joins six other suspects including her son, brother and sister who are charged in an alleged child sex abuse ring spanning Mobile and Baldwin Counties.

FOX10 News Reporter Steve Alexander talked with Nicki Patterson with the Mobile County District Attorney's Office about that development and what the delay means to the case. He'll have a report on FOX10 News at 5 p.m.

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Aug 14, 2013

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Chessie Wood appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Wednesday, August 14.
Wood is charged with two counts of first degree sodomy and one count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12.
Judge Jay York bound her case to a grand jury.

Wood is free on bail and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Before the judge made his decision, Wood's defense attorney Michael McDuffie told the court there was not enough evidence to move the case forward.
The detective, who interviewed the alleged victim, told the court the details of the allegations against Chessie Wood.
Assistant District Attorney, Nicki Patterson says the charges stem from a one time incident involving a child who was 8-10 at the time.

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Another Source

Shocking details of sex abuse with a child emerged Wednesday morning during the preliminary hearing of Chessie Wood, who is accused of sex crimes.
She mother of [url=http://topics.al.com/tag/Brittney Wood/]missing teen Brittney Wood[/url].
And based on testimony by a youth-crime investigator, Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Jay York ordered the charges held over to a grand jury.
During the hearing in York's courtroom, Cpl. Terri Hall testified that Chessie Wood and the late Donald Holland -- who committed suicide in June 2012 -- sexually abused his daughter, who was between 8 and 10 years old at the time.
Hall, a veteran with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, investigates youth crimes through the Child Advocacy Center.
Under questioning by Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson, Hall said that the alleged occurrence of abuse happened a single time, and at Wood's west Mobile home.
Defense attorney Michael McDuffie took strides to point out that the case rested solely on the word of the youth making the accusations, and during cross-examination verified through Hall that the allegation was the only one the child mentioned involving Wood.

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Aug 14, 2013

MOBILE, Alabama -
A day in court for a woman who's daughter has been missing for more than a year.   A judge has decided a grand jury will hear the child sex abuse case against Chessie Wood, the mother of Brittany Wood.
Chessie Wood is charged with two counts of sodomy and one count of child sex abuse.
Proseuctors say she sodomized a ten year old child.  "This is a family of three generations of abused children.  The pretty much everyone in this extended family was having sex with one another and having sex with the children", said Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson.
Chessie Wood's defense attorney claims his client is innocent.

video at this link
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October 09, 2013

MOBILE, Alabama -- A man accused of sex crimes in an multi-county investigation surrounding the family of missing single mother Brittney Wood appeared in front of a judge on a new charge Wednesday.

William "Billy" Brownlee, 49, was arraigned in Mobile County District Court Judge Jay York's courtroom, and had a preliminary hearing date set for Oct. 21

He was one of three men arrested by Bayou La Batre Police officers late in the evening on Oct. 4, outside an area business. Brownlee is charged with second-degree burglary and first-degree criminal mischief.

According to court records, Brownlee and co-defendants Michael Edward Hanson, 40, and Alex Noah Balkcom, 75, were arrested after police were called to a reported burglary at 14562 Shell Belt Rd. on Oct. 4. When officers arrived they found Balkcom outside. He put his hands in the air before telling police he would be reaching for his pistol, which he surrendered.

Police found Brownlee standing at the end of a 16-foot trailer loaded up with 31 12-foot long stainless steel pipes. The pipes were stolen from inside the business, where officers found Hanson, according to an affidavit filed in court.

In an incident report, police said Brownlee and Hanson caused an estimated $20,000 worth of damage to an ice machine. In an affidavit, a Bayou La Batre police officer said two large commercial ice machines were damaged.

Balkcom is set to be arraigned on Oct. 21, and Hanson -- a registered sex offender -- has not had a court date set yet.

Though currently still in Mobile County Metro Jail, Brownlee could be released on $10,500 bail. At the time of the Oct. 4 incident he was out on bond, having been released in January.

In Baldwin County he stands accused of sex crimes involving a 12-year-old Fairhope girl. On Monday, Baldwin County prosecutors filed a motion to have Brownlee's bail revoked in light of his most recent arrest.

That motion is still pending in Baldwin County.

Brittney Wood's brother, Derek Wood, and uncle, Randall "Scott" Wood, are also facing sex abuse charges in relation to the Fairhope girl. Brownlee has been described as a close friend of Donald "Donnie" Holland, Wood's uncle and allegedly the last person to see her alive.

Holland killed himself within days of Brittney Wood's May 2012 disappearance.


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Oct 22, 2013

More than half a dozen people face sex abuse charges tonight, and they all have one thing in common: Brittney Wood. She's the young Mobile County Mother who's been missing for more than a year and a half.

Most of the people that were arrested have actually been taken into custody before, including Brittney Wood's mother, Chessie Wood. She was arrested in a misdemeanor case.

A total of seven people were arrested Tuesday night. Charges range from sodomy and rape to sexual abuse. Investigators say these arrests stem from victims ranging from ages 6 to 13 years old.

Detectives say they've been working this case for over a year and say they've never seen anything else like it.

Officials say the crimes took place in locations across Mobile and Baldwin County. Four agencies were involved in rounding up these family members.

MOBILE COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE:

James Cumbaa relative by marriage of Brittney Woods)
1. Rape 1st,
2. Sodomy 2nd
3. Sexual Abuse of a Child less than 12
Nelton "Butch" Morgan (family friend of Brittney Woods)
1. Rape 1st,
2. Sexual Abuse of a Child Less than 12

MOBILE POLICE DEPARTMENT:

Wendy Holland (Brittany Wood's maternal Aunt)
1. Sodomy 2nd
Mendy Holland (Brittany Wood's maternal Aunt)
1. Sodomy 1st,
2. Sexual Abuse of a Child Less than 12
William "Billy" Brownlee (friend of the deceased Donald Holland)
1. Rape 1st (x2)
2. Sodomy 1st
3. Sexual Abuse of a Child less than 12
Dustin Kent, 5/27/76: (Brittany Wood's uncle by marriage)
1. Rape 1st
2. Sodomy 1st
3. Production of Obscene matter of person under 17
4. Sexual Abuse of a Child less than 12

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October 29, 2013


Chessie Wood, mother of Brittney Wood, speaks during a press conference with her attorney Michael McDuffie, on Oct. 29, 2013.

Come what may, Chessie Wood wants her trial on sex-abuse charges -- as well as those connected to her by blood or friendship -- to start as soon as possible.

The mother of missing Mobile woman Brittney Wood said on Tuesday she feels like the court cases are taking the focus away from the search for her daughter, where it should be.

"I believe my daughter deserves more than that," Wood said during a press conference held at her attorney, Michael McDuffie's, office.

Brittney Wood has been missing since May 30, 2012, and in the months since the single mother disappeared, several members of her family -- including her mother, Chessie, and brother, Derek -- have been charged with sex-abuse crimes involving children, some of whom are younger than 12 years old.

Some of those cases were filed in Baldwin County, and some of the family members, and friends of the Wood family, are charged by authorities on both sides of the bay. Chessie Wood is charged with sodomy and sexual abuse.

For more than a year, she has been the only one of the accused who has spoken with the public about the accusations, although she primarily focuses on her daughter Brittney's case.

But those two major developments intersect, and standing at that crossroads is her sister, Wendy Wood Holland, she said.

Holland's husband, Donnie Holland Sr., was supposedly the last person to see Brittney, and shot himself in the head not long after she went missing, dying several days later. Authorities have said they sought him for questioning in at least one sex-abuse case, but he died without ever giving an official statement.

Chessie Wood said she feels like her sister knows something she isn't sharing about Brittney.

"I begged you, Wendy, to tell me where my daughter is, and you won't," Wood said. "Please tell me where my daughter is."

Although Brittney Wood spent time with her uncle Donnie Holland occasionally, her mother said she believes her daughter went to see him for a different reason on May 30, 2012.

"I believe my daughter went to confront him about other victims and it backfired on her," Chessie Wood said. "She was a fireball and she found out some information that she couldn't handle.

"I believe Donnie killed my daughter over the sex crimes."

And as for the sex crimes she's accused of committing, Wood said the only way there could be evidence is if it happened, which it didn't. But, the sooner the trials get started, the sooner she may have some answers about Brittney's whereabouts, she said.

"I have been hoping and praying to God above that something about my daughter will come out in one of their trials," Wood said. "So, throw it in front of a judge and see what happens."

Chessie Wood's next court date has not been set. Last week, several of her family members and others connected to her family were in Mobile County District Court Judge Jay York's courtroom, receiving bail amounts on new charges linked to two new victims in the cases.

In all, there are seven family members, or friends of the family, that face sex-abuse charges on one side of Mobile Bay or the other.

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October 24, 2013

In the ongoing criminal narrative surrounding family members of missing woman Brittney Wood and their friends, five individuals accused of various child sex-abuse charges were granted bail by District Court Judge Jay York on Thursday.

Dustin Kent, Mendy Wood Kent, Wendy Wood Holland, James Cumbaa and William “Billy” Brownlee had hearings before York, who levied bail amounts of $60,000 per class-A felony and $30,000 per class-B felony, with the stipulation that, should any individual make bail, they would be required to wear an ankle monitoring device.

Randall Scott Wood was released on bail Wednesday night, according to Mobile County Metro Jail records.

Some of the individuals already face similar charges in Mobile and Baldwin counties, and the newest charges are a result of two new victims coming forward in Mobile County, according to Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson, who is prosecuting their cases. One victim is under the age of 12, and the other was under 12 when some of the events occurred, she said.

She said that brings the total number of Mobile County victims to four.

“Both of these additional children were related to some of these defendants,” Patterson said.

Dustin Kent is charged with five class-A felonies and one class-B; Mendy Kent faces two class-b felonies; Wendy Holland is charged with one class-B felony; James Cumbaa faces two class-A felonies and one class-B; Randall Wood faces two class-B felonies and one class-C; and William Brownlee is charged with three class-A felonies and one class-B.

In all, there are seven family members, or friends of the family, that face sex-abuse charges on one side of Mobile Bay or the other. A complete breakdown of the charges can be found here, and an updated timeline exists here.

On Monday, Homer Brownlee III, brother of William Brownlee, was arrested on one count of second-degree rape involving a young girl he knew. Mobile police say the arrest is not related to the larger sex abuse investigation.

Authorities are still searching for at least one suspect, 47-year-old Nelton "Butch" Morgan, a Wood family friend. On Tuesday night, five of the accused were arrested on the new charges and booked into Mobile County Metro Jail.

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November 14, 2013

MOBILE, Alabama -- Six defendants in what prosecutors allege is an inter-family ring involving children being "shared" for sex were in front of District Court Judge Jay York on Thursday for preliminary hearings.

The cases involving each of the six defendants, related by either blood or fellowship to missing Mobile woman Brittney Wood, were bound over to a grand jury by the judge during a proceeding that required two tables be placed together to accommodate all of the accused. The respective attorneys for William Brownlee, Dustin Kent, Mendy Kent, Wendy Holland, Nelton Morgan and James Cumbaa had to stand behind and beside them in the cramped space.

During testimony, investigators recounted the allegations of sex abuse from two underage victims -- one boy, one girl -- which involved individual and group acts between the children and the defendants. According to the testimony, the earliest of the alleged abuses came when the boy was as young as 7 and the girl as young as 9, and in cases of some defendants continued for several years.

Attorneys for the defendants pointed out that, at this point in the process, all the allegations hinged on the word of two children, and no physical evidence.

Charges levied against some of the accused are first- and second-degree sodomy, first-degree rape and sexual abuse, involving children younger than 12 and no older than 16. A complete breakdown of the charges, in both Mobile and Baldwin counties, can be found here.

John Grow, the attorney for Mendy Kent, whose husband Dustin Kent is also accused of sex abuse, said that when dealing with interviews of young children, it’s possible they could be coerced by investigators or led toward a necessary conclusion.

“We could all go to prison for lengthy periods based on that,” Grow said. “The fact that you have a large group of people that are accused, it just doesn’t make sense to me.”

For Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson, the size of the group -- and the fact that all are closely known to one another -- paints a different picture.

“Here we have a group of adults who would get together, frequently, and molest children,” Patterson said. “The allegations here are that this was a group of family and friends who passed their children back and forth (for sex).”

“This was the normal family interaction for them.”

In some of the scenarios recounted by the investigators, the alleged acts involved multiple defendants together. Households where the children said they were abused involved the Kent, Cumbaa and Morgan families, they said.

Attorney Jeff Deen, who is representing Nelton “Butch” Morgan, said there’s no reason his client should even be lumped in with the other defendants.

“Mr. Morgan is not part of this family, he’s not in some ring with anybody,” Deen said.

Like Brownlee, Morgan is an old friend of the late Donnie Holland, who is thought to be the last person to have seen Brittney Wood alive in May 2012 before he killed himself a few days later. Holland was suspected of being involved in similar acts before his death.

In the end, Judge York ruled there was sufficient evidence to bind all six defendants’ cases over to the grand jury for possible indictments. When York ruled on Cumbaa’s case, his mother, Martha Cumbaa, broke down in tears before, suddenly, standing up and calling Patterson an expletive.

She was ordered by York to stay in the courtroom after the hearing and eventually apologized after being appointed an attorney and learning of the seriousness of a contempt of court charge.

York also heard the attorneys’ arguments for a bail reduction for each defendant. Currently they are being held on $60,000 bail for each class-A felony and $30,000 for each class-B. According to their attorneys, several of the accused are already out on bond on related charges in Baldwin County, and some are subject to GPS monitoring, making additional high bail amounts and conditions redundant.

The judge said he would consider the motions to reduce bail and rule on them at a later date.

Patterson said the bail amounts were appropriate, not just for ensuring the defendants would return to court, but also as a protective measure.

“This continues to grow in seriousness,” she said. “Part of this is to protect our community from them trading any other children while these cases are going on.”

A seventh member of the alleged sex ring, Randall Scott Wood, is also charged in this recent round of allegations, although he was not scheduled to be in court on Thursday. According to Patterson, Wood will have a bond hearing scheduled in the near future.

Brittney Wood's mother, Chessie Wood, also stands accused of sex-abuse crimes but was not included in the most recent round of arrests.

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(This article is from a Blog site and shouldn't be considered as a factual media source)

Dec 11 2013

The mother of missing Brittney Wood today made an extraordinary appeal to her own sister to tell her where her dead daughter's body is hidden.

Chessie Wood, who is linked to an alleged child sex ring involving 11 people - all members or friends of her Alabama family - told MailOnline that she accepts her 19-year-old daughter is dead almost 18 months after she disappeared from home.

Wood called on the one person who could reveal her daughter's grim fate to 'end the lies'.

She pointed the finger at her sister Wendy Holland who was married to Donnie Holland, the uncle Brittney went to confront with sex abuse claims on the day she vanished.

He killed himself two days later.

Chessie, a mother-of-five, said: 'I know who can tell me what happened to Brittney. It is my sister Wendy. She knows what took place and I just beg her to tell the truth. No more hiding and no more lies.

'No mother should lose their daughter, but it is even worse when there is no body. We just want to mourn. All I want is to be able to say goodbye to my daughter and to end the agony of not knowing', said Chessie.

'I know in my heart that my daughter is dead and not ever coming back, but as a parent I want to be able to say goodbye one last time.'

The heartfelt appeal will have a hollow ring for those close to Brittney.

Chessie, 43, has been charged with sodomy and child abuse of a minor - one of 11 arrested in what police sources have called 'the most depraved family in America'.

In fact, such is the shocking scale of the alleged abuses, Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson. reflecting on the blizzard of charges leveled against members of Brittney's family, said: 'Pretty much everyone in this extended family was having sex with one another and having sex with the children.'

For example, Chessie's eldest son Derek is also facing rape and sodomy charges. Wendy Holland is charged with sodomy, sex abuse and child torture.

Her twin sister Mendy Kent, is accused with sodomy and sex abuse. Mendy's husband, Dustin Kent, is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl while her father looked on after luring the victim with a pet hamster.

Even local scout leader Jennifer Moore is accused of child pornography production and sex abuse.

All those charged deny the allegations.

More are expected to be charged as police talk to five young victims who are alleged to have suffered a catalog of abuse and degradation over a number of years that in a modern society almost defies belief.

A trial to begin early in 2014 will hear stomach-turning allegations involving children being passed from adult to adult with the abuse being filmed and the videos kept as trophies.

Some of the claims are so vile they cannot be published by MailOnline. But at the center is petite teen Brittney who vanished on May 30, 2012.

Against a backdrop of trailer parks, drugs, grinding poverty and above all secrecy, Brittney was a troubled teen who dropped out of high school at the age of 14 and became pregnant when she was 16.

Brittney allegedly grew up in a family where sex between adults and children was almost a routine occurrence and was not prepared to stay silent.

According to family members, she was poised to speak out and end what prosecutors say was a cycle of abuse stretching back generations - and paid with her life.

On the day she disappeared, she told her mother she was going to meet uncle Donnie and was picked up outside her her home in Theodore, a suburb of Mobile, Alabama.

Just days earlier she had exchanged messages on Facebook with a teenage relative who had claimed she had been raped by a family member.

From interviews with members of Britney's family in Alabama, MailOnline has established that the teen had planned to confront Holland with the allegations and even go to the police.

She never had the chance. She went missing and two days later Holland was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound fired from Brittney's handgun.

Family members MailOnline interviewed believe Holland killed Brittney to stop her exposing the pedophile ring.

'The reason Brittney was taking a stand was that as a young girl she too had been abused,' according to her aunt Kim Aitken. 'When she was nine she was raped by her grandmother's boyfriend.'

'She did not tell anyone until she was 12-years-old when she drew what happened on a piece of paper for a youth pastor. It was just heartbreaking,' said 53-year-old Aitken.

Brittney gave evidence at the trial of her attacker Ronald Robertson and he was jailed for 25 years to life.

Kim believes it was this experience that drove her to confront Holland having heard he was abusing a younger relative.

She said: 'Brittney was standing up for what was right. She could not stand that someone close to her was being abused. She was a strong person. I called her a pocket stick of dynamite. She was only 5ft 1in but she was such a force.

'Brittney would have been sticking up for her relative and she would have gone to the police.That is why she was killed.

'It pains me to say it as I don't want to give up hope, but I know she is dead.'

Kim's view is echoed by her mother Chessie Wood who agreed to speak with MailOnline despite initially declining to be interviewed unless her lawyer was present.

Chessie, who is out on bail looking after two young children aged two and three, talked on the front lawn of her home that adjoins a rundown trailer park where dogs run loose and where the residents greet visitors they do not recognize with suspicious stares.

Christmas decorations of white flashing reindeer adorn the lawn while a faded yellow ribbon, put up when Brittney went missing, hangs limply from a tree overshadowing the home.

In the front corner stands a memorial to her missing daughter. A floral arrangement made into the letter B stands over the white stone memorial which reads 'Brittney Nicole Wood - Until We Meet Again'.

Chessie, whose palid skin and voice, raspy from smoking, makes her appear much older than her 43 years, was happy to talk about her daughter.

According Chessie, her daughter was silenced because she was about to tell police what had been going on for as long as eight years.

'My daughter died because she was going to stand up and tell the truth', she said. 'My daughter died protecting people she cared about. I don't care what other people say she was doing the right thing.

'There are people who know what happened to her and I want them to tell. Ever since Brittney went missing my life has been on hold. It is only right that we know what has happened to her. I want to be able to tell her daughter Payton about her mother.'

Chessie, who refuses to talk about her arrest of sex charges, gave birth to a daughter, Zoe, four days after Brittney had her own daughter Payton.

She believes she has been wrongly charged and is confident that they will be dropped before ever coming to trial. Her lawyer Michael McDuffie insists his client will be exonerated.

'There is not proof whatsoever to the charges,' he said.

Back in 2012, Chessie had led search teams to look for Brittney around the Styx River area of Mobile where her cell phone was last known to have 'pinged' a signal to a tower.

No trace has ever been found of her.

Her stepmother Stephanie Hanke, who is married to Brittney's father Wallace, also played a key part in trying to find her.

She launched a Facebook page in the hope of using social media to alert members of the public to the missing teen.

Chessie often made TV appearances to try and jog people's memories about the day she went missing.

What the family did not know at the time as they frantically looked for the teen was that police had wanted to talk with Brittney. They had been tipped off about the family sex abuse by another of her uncles.

In the months following Holland's suicide, police began to round up suspects after two victims came forward and gave detailed statements.

Holland's wife Wendy was arrested along with her sister Mendy and her husband Dustin.

Brittney's brother Derek was held along with her cousin Donald Holland Jr. Family friend William Brownlee was arrested and another close friend of the family, Jennifer Moore, a scout leader, was held on child porn charges.

Two others Nelton Morgan and James Cumbaa, close friends of the Holland, were also arrested. All are being held in jail awaiting trial.

In a jailhouse interview given to a local TV station earlier this year 21-year-old Derek Wood, Brittney's brother, even confessed to turning from abuse victim to an alleged abuser.

He said the abuse began when he was seven-years-old and named his uncle, Donnie Holland, as the person who lured him into the sordid practices.

Family members interviewed by MailOnline portray Holland as the ringleader of the alleged sex ring.

'He is without doubt the most evil of them all,' said Kim Aitken, Brittney's aunt. 'He was manipulative and was the one person who ran all of this. It all started with him.'

Detectives with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office had been wanting to talk with Brittney about the goings on within her family when she vanished.

For months police in Mobile and Baldwin County, where some of the accused lived, had refused to link the disappearance of Brittney and the death of Holland.

That ended last month after they asked a judge in Alabama County Court for a search warrant to go into a trailer home and remove a computer and HTC smart phone.

A copy of the warrant, which was carried out, obtained by MailOnline contains allegations that Brittney was being abused by Holland.

The warrant says: 'Two other defendants in my investigation admitted to law enforcement officials that Donald Holland showed them videos on his computer of (named redacted) and Brittney Wood, at various ages all under 13, engaging in sexual activity with different adults.'

Family members claimed the search warrant proved what they had suspected all along, that Holland killed Brittney to silence her before she could go to police.

Against this backdrop of arrests Stephanie has tried to maintain a semblance of normality for perhaps the youngest victim in the sordid saga, Brittney's daughter Payton.

The toddler's legal guardians are Payton's paternal grandparents Denis and Maxwell Harris.

They look after the happy, blonde toddler during the week but she spends most weekends with her other grandparents, Stephanie and Wallace.

Stephanie said at the age of three she is too young to be told what has happened to her mother.

'To be honest she thinks Brittney works for the TV station because that is where she sees her photograph most of the time,' said Stephanie.

'She knows her mother is missing and has gone away, but does not know the exact circumstances.'

Stephanie, who works in a medical office, said like other family members she knows she will never see Brittney again.

'I think we have long ago accepted that Brittney is not coming back', she said.

'It would be nice to know what happened to her and where the body is. I would like Payton to know the truth about what happened to her mother.'

Prosecutors have spent months building the case against the 11 family members and six are due to stand trial in the New Year.

Mobile County Sheriff's Department were contacted by MailOnline on several occasions but they failed to respond to requests for a comment.


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Jan 03, 2014



MOBILE, Alabama - The search for missing mom Brittney Wood had seemingly stalled out, but Friday new leads led detectives  to a wooded area near Theodore.

“What we are doing is teaming up with klaas kids and following up on some anonymous tips that we have gotten and following up with those leads,” said Mobile Police Lt. Sonja McLeod.

Officers, deputies and volunteers from the Klaas Kids Organization search the area between Travis Road and Quimby Drive. But at the end of the day their search came up without discovery.

It’s an area familiar to investigators and one they have combed over before. Its right behind the home Brittney shared with here mother.

“I am ready to find my daughter, but I think I would have known if she was this close,” said Chessie Wood.


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March 5, 2014



The mother of missing woman Brittney Wood says she passed a polygraph examination with flying colors, some 9 months after she was arrested in an elaborate child sex ring investigation.

During the exam, which Wood paid for and had independently administered by a licensed polygraph examiner, she was asked a total of 10 questions, only 3 of which were relevant to her charges.

The report states she answered those questions truthfully, denying allegations of sex abuse.

Chessie Wood is one of 11 suspects accused of abusing at least one child in the family who is also related to her missing daughter, Brittney.

A 19-year old Brittney Wood was last seen with her uncle Donald Holland on May 30, 2012.

Authorities said Holland killed himself shortly after with Brittney’s gun.

After his suicide, nearly a dozen relatives and family friends were arrested and charged with various sex crimes against children in what some law enforcement officials have called the worst child sex ring in the state of Alabama.

Court documents show Chessie Wood’s attorney is trying to enter her polygraph results into evidence.

When asked if she would allow the state to administer a polygraph exam, Chessie Wood responded “No.”


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The last sentence speaks Volumes!!

March 13, 2014

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – On Thursday, March 13, Judge Jay York ruled a private lie detector test taken by Chessie Wood will not be entered as evidence in her alleged child sex abuse case.

“Problem with this test is it’s not the test itself, it’s the results of the test. Now all of a sudden the test is inadmissible,” said Wood’s attorney Michael McDuffie.

McDuffie said he was angry that the judge barely let him talk. The test was paid for by Wood, and involved 10 questions. Three of those questions were relevant to Wood’s case. Wood is charged with sex abuse and sodomy.

Assistant DA Nicki Patterson said in court with lie detector tests like these, both the prosecution and the defense have to agree and the state adamantly does not.

“He, in my opinion, is attempting to manipulate public opinion and the potential jury pool by putting this out in the news. Polygraphs are not admissible in the state of Alabama because they have been ruled scientifically unbelievable,” Patterson said.

Patterson said she can’t comment on state administered polygraphs.

“The state isn’t allowed under our rules of ethics to comment on whether someone has taken a polygraph, been offered to one to take, or has failed a one,” she said.

Wood has told Fox10 that she would not take a polygraph if offered one by the state.

Wood is one of 11 suspects accused of abusing at least two minor family members. Wood is also the mother of Brittney Wood. Wood went missing on May 30, 2012. At the time, she was 19-years-old.

Brittney Wood was last seen with her uncle, Donald Holland. Authorities said Holland killed himself shortly after with Brittney’s gun.

After his suicide, nearly a dozen relatives and family friends were arrested and charged with various sex crimes against children in what some law enforcement officials have called the worst child sex ring in the state of Alabama.

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May 15, 2014



Family and friends related to missing mother Brittney Wood were in Mobile County court Thursday, May 15 where they entered a plea of not guilty to charges surrounding a sex ring involving children.

Wendy Wood Holland, William Brownlee, Dustin Alton Kent, Mendy Wood Kent, James Cumba, Nelton Lloyd Morgan and Chessie Wood are all accused of sexually abusing children.

The district attorney’s office said Randall Wood, who is also facing charges in this, case waived his right to an arraignment but did enter a plea of not guilty.

A then 19-year-old Brittney Wood was last seen with her uncle Donald Holland on May 30, 2012.

Authorities said Holland killed himself shortly after with Brittney’s gun.

After his suicide, nearly a dozen relatives and family friends were arrested and charged with various sex crimes against children in what some law enforcement officials have called the worst child sex ring in the state of Alabama.

They are expected to appear in court again August 7.


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My heart goes out to BrittsStepMom.

So many members of this 'family' are deviants..it's hard to wrap your mind around it. I don't think she will ever be found..So Damned SAD!!

OMG this family is like something you see in "The Hills Have Eyes" movie. I am honestly not naïve but some of the details of this case just SHOCK me.

July 1, 2014

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A split decision in court Tuesday morning for twin sisters accused of being part of an alleged child sex ring spanning Mobile and Baldwin Counties.

It’s a story we’ve been following for more than two years and involves nearly a dozen people.

BACKGROUND

Wendy Wood Holland and Mendy Wood Kent asked a judge to reduce their bonds.

They are the aunts of Brittney Wood, a single mother who disappeared nearly two years ago and is feared dead.

Wendy Wood Holland and Mendy Wood Kent have repeatedly tried and failed to get their bonds lowered.

But now that the sisters have been indicted, a new judge, Rick Stout, is presiding over the cases.

KENT’S BOND WAS NOT LOWERED

First, Mendy Wood Kent appeared in court from jail.

She is charged with sodomy and sex abuse and her bond has been set at $60,000.

Kent’s attorney, John Grow, asked her bond be reduced, in part, because he claims she is indigent, has to take care of an elderly mother, and is no risk to leave the area.

Grow said, “She was on her own with no charges for one year pending. She didn’t go anywhere. There’s no reason for her not to be on bond. She’s no risk to the public at large. She has no criminal history.”

But, Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson argued Mendy Wood Kent’s bond needed to remain unchanged because her case is a serious one that is still developing.

Patterson said, “Given the nature of this case, we are still getting information from witnesses and informants almost daily.”

Judge Stout kept the bond at a $60,000.

HOLLAND’S BOND WAS REDUCED

Then, Wendy Wood Holland had her hearing.

Judge Stout reduced her bond, which was $20,000 in Mobile County, to $5,000.

Patterson said the judges decision was reasonable, because Holland had already made bond in Baldwin County.

She said, “The bond was reduced, but, with conditions that the state requested, including electronic monitoring, no contact with minor children, and no contact with any of the co-defendants.”

STATUS HEARING SCHEDULED
A status hearing is set for August 7th where we could learn if the prosecution had made offers to each of the defendants if they wish to plead guilty.

Patterson said, “There are witnesses and informants that go, for instance, to one defendant that we don’t want to release, to another defendant, and just, we’ve reached the point of sitting down on the floor and going through sheet of paper by sheet of paper, and making sure that we get it right.”

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Good. I hope the investigators really stick it to this twisted bunch of pervs.

By Jonathan Andrews
Published: July 31, 2014, 11:01 am Updated: July 31, 2014, 2:45 pm

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WALA) – Dustin Kent pleaded guilty to charges of rape and sodomy in a Baldwin County courtroom Thursday morning, July 31.

FOX10 News Reporter Kati Weis was in the courtroom on Thursday morning for Kent’s hearing. Kent entered a plea deal Thursday that allowed him to drop charges of incest by pleading guilty to rape in the second degree and sodomy in the second degree.

Kent is implicated by investigators in Mobile and Baldwin Counties in a sex crime ring, along with a number of family members.

Kent faces a number of charges, including sodomy and rape, among others.

Brittney Wood, now 20-years-old, went missing in May 2012, after investigators say she left the home of her uncle, Donald Holland, who later apparently committed suicide. Following her disappearance, several family members, including her brother, mother and the wife of Donald Holland were arrested on sex crimes charges.

Kati Weis @KatiWeis
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Kent will be sentenced October 23, and his bond was revoked. Kent could face up to 20 years in prison. @FOX10News
11:55 AM - 31 Jul 2014

FOX10 News will have more on this story as updates are available.

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August 6, 2014

One of the suspects in an alleged child sex abuse case has rejected a plea agreement by the state to second degree sodomy and sex abuse charges.

William Brownlee’s lawyer, Thomas Pilcher, said his client changed his mind and told him he didn’t want to go to jail for something he claims he didn’t do.

Brownlee, along with several other family friends and that family’s relatives, have been arrested on sex crime charges in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

In May 2012, Brittney Wood disappeared. Since then, the case has taken several turns.

Investigators said she was last seen with her uncle, Donald Holland, Sr. They said he committed suicide with Brittney’s gun just days after she was reported missing.

Since then, her relatives and family friends were arrested.

Dustin Kent and an uncle, Randall Scott Wood, were arrested, along with Brittney’s mother, Chessie Wood, cousin Donald Holland, Jr., Aunts Wendy Holland and Mendy Kent, and brother Derek Wood.

Family friends arrested were Jennifer Moore, James Cumbaa, Nelton Morgan and Brownlee.


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