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

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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August 26, 2014

MOBILE, Alabama — Brittney Wood, the missing Mobile County woman whose family is accused of having sex with underage relatives, was molested when she was a young girl, AL.com has learned.

In 2003, when Wood was 11 years old, she accused Ronald Robertson, the former boyfriend of her maternal grandmother, of sexually abusing her on several occasions when she was about 9 years old, according to Mobile police and court records. AL.com does not routinely identify victims of sexual assault, but sees the disclosure as warranted in this high-profile case.

A Mobile County jury convicted Robertson, 53, on May 18, 2005, of first-degree rape and first-degree sex abuse. He was sentenced to life in prison on the rape charge and a consecutive 10-year sentence on the sex abuse charge. AL.com discovered court records after receiving a tip about the abuse. Robertson also tried unsuccessfully to have his conviction overturned.

Robertson is serving his sentences at the Fountain Correctional Facility near Atmore. He is scheduled to have a parole hearing June 1, 2020.

Robertson denied abusing Wood when police interviewed him in 2003 and when he testified during his trial.

Mobile County Assistant Attorney Nicki Patterson said Wood's abuse as a young girl has had no bearing on the Wood family sex abuse investigation that has resulted in 11 arrests in Mobile and Baldwin counties since 2012.

"Although, it is kind of interesting that even back then it was in family," she said.

Wood, who has been missing since May 30, 2012, was last seen alive leaving the Theodore home of her mother, Chessie Wood. Officials say they fear Brittney Wood, who was 19 years old when she disappeared, is dead.

About 1½ months after Brittney Wood's disappearance law enforcement started making arrests in connection with the family sex abuse investigation.

The 11 people arrested include Chessie Wood, 39, Derek Wood, 23, Brittney Wood's brother, as well as uncles, aunts and other relatives. Friends of Wood family members also have been charged.

Of the 11 people arrested, four have accepted plea agreements. Charges still are pending against the remaining people arrested in the investigation.

Patterson said she could not discuss how long sex abuse has been happening in the Wood family.

"We have some information on that," she said. "We will likely have a lot more soon."

Brittney Wood's sex abuse as a child came to light after she reported it to the then-daycare director at Travis Road Baptist in Tillman's Corner.

"She said Brittney asked her if she could talk to her, but she was afraid that someone would get hurt," according to the Mobile police report. "She said Brittney wrote a note and told her, 'He touched me in a bad spot.'"

When Brittney Wood was 12 years old, she testified during Robertson's trial. She testified about times when she was abused, including once when she told Robertson that she was thirsty in an effort to try to get away from him.

"Finally, he told her to get something to drink and come back to the room," according to the court records. "She left the bedroom and attempted to hide from Robertson to call her grandmother. Robertson, however, found her naked hiding by the garbage and told her to get back in his room."

Robertson lived with Brittney Wood's grandmother for about 14 years. He was at the hospital when Brittney Wood was born, according to the court records.

"I helped raise the mother of this child," Robertson said during a post-conviction hearing that was conducted May 28-29, 2009.

Robertson said during the second day of the hearing that he wished Brittney Wood and her mother were there.

"I'm sorry about what happened," he said. "If I hurt them in anyway, I apologize."

When the judge asked Robertson why was he apologizing if he didn't do anything, Robertson said: "Well, evidently, I am convicted of it, OK? I don't remember doing a thing to her. And I loved these kids like they were my own the whole time I was with their mother and grandmother."

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Ugh. Scummy trashy people. Makes me ill!!!

August 31, 2014

The search for an Alabama woman missing since 2012 has been cast in an even more sinister light this week with the news that she was raped and abused by her grandmother's boyfriend when she was a young girl.
Young mother, Brittney Wood, was raped for two years on and off by, Ronald Robertson, 53, until in 2003, when she was 11-years-old, she accused him of attacking her.
Indeed, since 2012, eleven members of Wood's family have been arrested for having sex with underage relatives in Mobile County.
Robertson was convicted in 2005 and is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree rape charges.

Since her disappearance in May, 2012, after leaving her mother's home, 11 people including her brother, aunts and uncles have been arrested in connection with a huge family sex abuse investigation.
Police have said in the past that they fear that Wood is dead.
The large investigation is still continuing and seen the arrest of Chessie Wood, 39, Derek Wood, 23, Brittney Wood's brother.

The recently released files from 2003 show that Wood's sexual abuse first emerged after she reported it to a day care director at a local Baptist church.
'She said Brittney asked her if she could talk to her, but she was afraid that someone would get hurt,' according to the Mobile police report.
'She said Brittney wrote a note and told her, 'He touched me in a bad spot.'
When she was 12 years old she testified at Robertson's trial and revealed horrifying details about the case.

She said that once, she tried to evade Robertson by telling him she was thirsty.
'Finally, he told her to get something to drink and come back to the room,' according to the court records.
'She left the bedroom and attempted to hide from Robertson to call her grandmother. Robertson, however, found her naked hiding by the garbage and told her to get back in his room.'
Robertson had know Brittney from birth and had lived with her grandmother for 14 years.
'I helped raise the mother of this child,' said Robertson.
'I'm sorry about what happened,' he said. 'If I hurt them in anyway, I apologize.'

The arrests are linked to missing mother-of-one Brittney Wood, 19, who hasn’t been seen since she left her Theodore home, just outside Mobile, to visit her uncle, Donnie Holland, in the Styx River area, on Thursday May 31, 2012.
She was last seen in a car with Holland at Tillman's Corner. Two days later he committed suicide using a gun which Brittney owned.

Since then 11 people, either members of the Wood family, or with direct links to it, have been arrested on charges including rape, sex abuse with children under 12, incest and sodomy.
The suspects in the sex ring include Brittney’s mother, Chessie Wood, her brother, Derek Wood, Nelton ‘Butch’ Morgan, Dustin Kent, William ‘Billy’ Brownlee, Mendy Kent, Wendy Holland, James Cumbaa, Randall Scott Wood and Jennifer Moore, the most recent arrest.
Detectives believe that Brittney may have gone to visit her uncle to confront him about sex abuse and have voiced their frustration that the one person who may be able to shed light on the alleged crimes has disappeared.
Detective Eric Winberg told Fox 10 news in April 2013: ‘We often (sic) times look for that golden nugget. That one person that can make the difference in your case.

‘In this particular case, Brittney Wood was that person. She was the person that could tell the whole story.’
Police were investigating the abuse before Brittney's disappearance.

Detectives say Brittney exchanged messages on Facebook on May 27, 2012, with one of the alleged victims, in which abuse was discussed.
After Brittney asked ‘how are you? Tell me what's going on. I don't know what's true and what you said’, the victim claimed to have been raped by Randall Scott Wood, Dustin Kent, and Donald Holland.
‘I love you, I’m sorry,’ Brittney replied.
The alleged victim wrote more messages to Brittney on May 28 and May 30, but did not receive a reply.

In October 2012 a police detective testified in the case against Dustin Kent.
The court heard that Kent raped a relative at the age of 13 in 2008 while her father watched.
According to the detective, the father took the young girl out in his truck claiming they were going to buy a hamster from a pet store.
Instead they picked up Kent and drove to an industrial park.

When the car pulled over, Kent took off her clothes and performed a sex act on her before raping her as her father watched, Sgt. Scott Congleton testified.
'She kept telling him to stop. He did not,' the detective said.
According to AL.com there are at least four victims of alleged abuse. Officers claim some of the victims were under the age of 12 when the attacks took place and are related to those arrested.
Lead prosecutor Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson told the website that suspected victims have been placed in foster care where necessary.
'This is a more layered group than we have seen or uncovered here in Mobile,' Patterson said.
'Family members sharing their children, unfortunately, is not new. It is not that unusual from what we know.'
'If you’re getting to a third generation and people are still choosing to abuse, sometimes these networks take place'

'Everybody's main interest here is to protect these kids and do the best job that we can.'
'Most of these children are no longer with their immediate family members. They are either in foster care or with extended family.'
Speaking to WKRG.com, she added: 'Pretty much everyone in this extended family was having sex with one another and having sex with the children",
Det. Terri Hall of the Mobile County Sheriff's Office said: 'For just your everyday person, you just can't understand how a family operates the way they operate. You just can't. I can't even think of a word to describe this family.'
Chessie Wood has accused her deceased brother-in-law of killing Brittney.
She maintains her innocence on the sex abuse charges she faces.
The accused are currently awaiting trial.

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The poor children in this family were destined to become victims. Surely Brittney must have been concerned about what might happen to her own daughter.

Chessie Wood, Brittney's mother: Two counts of sodomy and sex abuse of a child less than 12.
Derek Wood, Brittney's brother: Second degree rape and second degree sodomy.
Nelton ‘Butch’ Morgan: Rape and sex abuse of a child under 12.
Dustin Kent: Two counts of rape, sex abuse, sodomy and production of obscene material of a person under 17. He allegedly raped a 13-year-old while her father looked on
William 'Billy' Brownlee: Two counts of rape, sodomy and sex abuse.
Mendy Kent: Sodomy and sex abuse.
Wendy Holland: Sodomy, sex abuse and child torture.
James Cumbaa: Rape, sodomy, and sex abuse.
Randall Scott Wood: Second degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter and second degree rape.
Jennifer Moore: Production of pornography involving minors and second-degree child abuse.
Donald Holland Jr: Incest and second degree rape

Source: Fox 10


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By Hal Scheurich
Published: September 22, 2014, 12:26 pm Updated: September 22, 2014, 6:36 pm
7 324

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WALA) -Wendy Wood Holland, aunt to missing single mother, Brittney Wood was back in a Baldwin County courtroom Monday. This time she was arraigned on four new sex abuse charges against a minor. Holland and nearly a dozen other relatives of Brittney Wood are suspects in a child sex ring in Mobile and Baldwin Counties.

Holland has spent the better part of the last two years behind bars. She faces multiple sex abuse charges in both Mobile and Baldwin counties, all against minors. Even as her trial date nears, she found herself in court again facing additional charges in Baldwin County. The new charges stem from the ongoing investigation into all of Brittney Wood’s relatives who are charged with sex crimes against minors.

“Any time we have an investigation that is this voluminous, you have different information that comes in bits and pieces and this was just another piece off the puzzle,” said Baldwin County Assistant DA, Theresa Heinz.

Holland’s part in that puzzle began with the disappearance of 19 year old Brittney Wood in May of 2012. Her husband, Donald Holland, Sr. was found dead with what authorities say was a self-inflicted gunshot…the gun belonging to Wood. Wood hasn’t been seen since and most fear she is dead. As the investigation into her disappearance began authorities say they uncovered a twisted trail of sex, incest and betrayal within the family across both counties. These new charges are just the latest to come to the surface.

“Once we got the information, we acted quickly on it and presented it to a Grand Jury,” said Heinz.

Holland faces one count of second degree rape, two counts of second degree sodomy and one count of second degree sex abuse. Prosecutors say the new charges are unrelated to existing ones and involve a different victim…a male who was under the age of 16 at the time. As trial dates for many of the suspects approach, the investigation into Wood’s disappearance and her family’s alleged sex crimes against children continue.

“We’re not going to stop until every person is charged and brought before the court to answer for their charges. Any new information that comes, we’re going to act on it just as thouroughly and as quickly as we have with all the other information,” Heinz explained.

The District Attorney’s Office anticipates Holland going to trial sometime in December, but whether she goes to trial under these new charges or the ones she already faced is yet to be determined.

Before Holland goes to trial, the DA’s Office says another person in the child sex ring case will go to trial in October. William Brownlee rejected a plea deal in August and will be tried on charges of sodomy second and sex abuse second. Brownlee also faces charges in Mobile County.

Holland is the aunt to missing person Brittney Wood. Wood went missing in May 2012. She was last seen with her uncle, Donald Holland, Sr. 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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video..above link.

By Hal Scheurich
Published: October 15, 2014, 11:34 am Updated: October 15, 2014, 6:12 pm

Sodomy, sex abuse suspect rejects plea agreement, will face trial
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) – Testimony got underway Wednesday,October 15, 2014 in the William Brownlee sex abuse trial. Brownlee along with nearly a dozen other people who are either family members of family friends of missing teenager, Brittney Wood is accused sex crimes against a child. He faced his accuser in court.

William “Billy” Brownlee sat almost statuesque throughout the day’s testimony, taking periodic notes along the way. He and the jury of seven men and seven women listened to the graphic testimony of his alleged victim. That witness, now 16 is related to Brittney Wood. She described in graphic detail numerous occasions where Brownlee allegedly performed sexual acts on her against her will.

The alleged victim said she was 11 or 12 when the abuse began, but her recollection of specific time frames was cloudy. She testified that a close family member forced her to perform sexual acts with Brownlee multiple times at two locations in Baldwin County and at Brownlee’s home in Mobile. The witness testified that the family member that made her perform the acts always watched.

The prosecution played two recorded interviews for the jury. The first was an audio recording with Baldwin County Sheriff’s investigators. In that interview, Brownlee adamantly denied ever touching the alleged victim. But in a second video interview with Mobile Police investigators, Brownlee broke down crying, saying that he did have contact with the alleged victim, but it was against his will and he only did it because he was intimidated by the alleged victim’s family member.

The prosecution called two other female witnesses who say they were victims of sexual assault by Brownlee when they were juveniles. Those incidents are unrelated to this case, but Judge Jody Bishop allowed the testimony since they would show the passion and propensity to commit abnormal sexual relations.

The prosecution rested its case late Wednesday afternoon. The defense rested without calling any witnesses. Closing arguments are set to begin at 9:00 a.m. Thursday.

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video above link.

1/15/15
Heart wrenching details of sexual child abuse in this article. Such a twisted up family. I truly believe that Brittney was murdered because she was threatening to alert authorities to the family's crimes against children and attempting to protect her own daughter from also becoming a victim.

An Alabama woman has been sentenced to 219 years in prison for her role in an incestuous sex ring accused of molesting children for years.
Wendy Holland, 35, showed no emotion as the judge condemned her on Thursday to what amounts to a life sentence. She must serve at least 50 years in prison before parole consideration, a prosecutor said.
Jurors convicted the woman of sodomy, sexual abuse and other charges last month.

Another defendant, William Brownlee, got a 20-year prison sentence. Brownlee, 50, was convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse in the fall.
The two were among 11 people charged with sex crimes following the disappearance in 2012 of a suspected victim of the ring, 19-year-old Brittney Wood. She remains missing and is presumed dead.
Baldwin Council Circuit Judge Jody Bishop gave both Holland and Brownlee the maximum sentence and said each deserved more time. Each still faces additional charges involving other alleged victims.

In a letter read in court, the underage female victim in both cases said years of abuse left her traumatized. She has a hard time trusting anyone, gets angry easily and rarely feels safe.
'I was a little girl being held down and raped,' wrote the victim, who was in court.
Authorities said the two were part of a group of relatives and friends who sexually abused children and swapped their own kids for sex for years.

Holland is the widow of the alleged leader of the group, Donnie Holland, who was Brittney Wood's uncle.
The teen went missing around the time Holland was found with a gunshot to the head; his death was later ruled a suicide.
Wendy and Donnie Holland's 22-year-old son Donald Paul Holland Jr. — charged with incest, rape and sexual abuse as another alleged participant in the ring — appeared before the judge in a closed hearing after his mother's sentencing.
He was seen being arrested and led away in handcuffs afterward, but the outcome of his case wasn't made public because he was handled as a youthful offender following a request by the defense.
Even without Brittney Wood to testify, two of her uncles and an older brother already pleaded guilty to sex charges before juries convicted Wendy Holland and Brownlee.
In the letter read in court, the underage teen abused by both Holland, a relative, and Brownlee, a family friend, compared her youth to being lost in a maze.
The teen said she felt like she was constantly looking into shadows around corners in fear of more sexual torture.
'The people who were supposed to protect me were the ones hurting me,' she wrote in the letter.
Last month a jury took just two hours to find Wendy Holland guilty of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment.

The trial gave no clue as to the whereabouts of the presumed dead family member Brittney Wood, but it did give voice to abuse victims who claimed the sexual torture started when kids were still in diapers and involved family six-ways.
A teenager testifying to being part of a family sex ring told jurors Tuesday that she was first molested while still in diapers.
The young woman, who is still a minor, said her earliest memories include having sex with adult relatives — one of whom was Holland. Despite that, the teen tearfully said she still loves Holland 'with all my heart.'
The state rested its case following a session during which the teen testified that her relatives often had group sex. She said it sometimes including Holland's missing 19-year-old niece Brittney Wood.
'We would be in a circle and we'd all switch up,' the girl testified.
Prosecutor Teresa Heinz asked how often such things occurred.
'It happened a bunch,' she said. A male relative who pleaded guilty later testified he once had six-way sex with a group of relatives that included the girl and Holland.
Crying, the teen had to stand up to see over the judge's desk to identify Holland as one of the people who abused her.
Holland dabbed at her eyes and looked at the girl only briefly.

Nephew Andrew Aikin, 23, who escaped the abuse, told MailOnline: 'Donnie was the cool uncle.
'We used to have huge barbecues. Donnie would invite us all out there.
'Us kids would to swimming and tubing and there were jet-skis. We had a lot of fun.'
But in February 2012, at aged 50, the facade began to fell apart - and within months Donnie was dead and a horrific trail of abuse beginning to unravel.
The first chink in the wall of silence came in March 2012 when Randall Scott Wood, then 42, alerted the authorities that a 13-year-old family member, with whom he admitted he was having a sexual relationship, was being abused by others.
Wood, a former member of the National Guard, had moved to Mobile to take up a well-paid job at the city's steel mill. His sister - Wendy - was Holland's wife.
What he told police was deeply unsettling - but as they began to investigate a far clearer picture of depravity emerged.
In fact, his testimony against a relative lifted the lid on an horrific lifestyle going on at Donnie Holland's home.
The innocent barbecues were only part of the truth - there were barbecues, but what happened later was not innocent.
Fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters would end the evening revelling in group sex with children as young as four.
Groomed almost from birth the young victims would be told to watch the scenes of depravity from the end of the bed until they were deemed old enough to take part.
Mobile Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson told MailOnline: 'What is so disturbing with this case is that we have so many people involved.

'They led a swinger's lifestyle. They would engage in adult group sex but Donnie Holland would involve the children frequently.
'There were children who were 14 or 15 years old which may have appeared to be young adults but there also there were children who were clearly prepubescent – as young as nine years old.'
She added: 'They barbecued a lot. They would have parties and then they would end up in bed together.
'Some of the kids' earliest memories at three or four years old are of abuse.
'Some of the women used sex toys on the kids to get them ready for sex. It was a very important thing within the family. They put an enormous effort in to get the children ready. It was very thought out.
'The mom, the aunt and children would get into bed and Donnie would tell them what to do.'
Donnie would often film the sex scenes to create pornographic movies.
One of the victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was abused so regularly it became her normal life.
Baldwin District Attorney Teresa Heinz told MailOnline: 'For these children this is what happened at the weekend. They did not know that other kids did not do this.
'The kids would be offered trinkets – more TV time, credit for their cell phone, presents – if they took part and punished if they did not.
'Brittney Wood was a victim as early as four, or five years old.
'Another girl was French kissed for the first time at the age of four. The sexual abuse started soon after.
'One girl told her mom, but there was such a colony of abusers there was no one to turn to.
'They were not held down and forcibly raped but coerced and indoctrinated.'

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Chessie Wood, Brittney's mother: Two counts of sodomy and sex abuse of a child less than 12.
Derek Wood, Brittney's brother: Second degree rape and second degree sodomy.
Nelton ‘Butch’ Morgan: Rape and sex abuse of a child under 12.
Dustin Kent: Two counts of rape, sex abuse, sodomy and production of obscene material of a person under 17. He allegedly raped a 13-year-old while her father looked on
William 'Billy' Brownlee: Two counts of rape, sodomy and sex abuse.
Mendy Kent: Sodomy and sex abuse.
Wendy Holland: Sodomy, sex abuse and child torture.
James Cumbaa: Rape, sodomy, and sex abuse.
Randall Scott Wood: Second degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter and second degree rape.
Jennifer Moore: Production of pornography involving minors and second-degree child abuse.
Donald Holland Jr: Incest and second degree rape

OMG!!! Don't know how I missed this!!! Extremely difficult to read!!! My God, this is horrendous!! Nite, I completely agree with you!!!

Mobile County court cases to move forward in Wood family sex ring, while Brittney Wood's stepmom continues public awareness push

January 21, 2015 at 5:53 PM

Members of an incestuous family sex ring facing criminal charges against children will have their cases scheduled in Mobile County Court during a March 19 status hearing, Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson said Wednesday.

The scheduling session will take place after Randall Scott Wood, 45, 1656 Darwood Drive, Mobile, goes before Judge Roderick Stout for an 8:30 a.m. court appearance on charges of rape, sodomy and enticing a child for sex. Wood is scheduled for a plea hearing.

The Mobile County cases are following court action in Baldwin County. Wendy Wood Holland, 35, was sentenced Jan. 15 by Baldwin County Judge Jody Bishop to 219 years in prison on charges of sodomy, sexual torture, and sex abuse to a child under age 12. She faces two sodomy counts in Mobile County.

Holland is believed to be one of the ring leaders of the illegal sex ring, which is accused of victimizing children for years.

Two others in the family sex ring will be sentenced in Baldwin County Court on Feb. 26: Wood and Dustin Kent.

The latest in the Mobile County Court hearings comes as more attention continues to surface on the whereabouts of Brittney Wood who, in 2012, went missing and was last seen by Donnie Holland Sr., who was married to Wendy at the time.

Donnie Holland was found dead with a bullet wound to the back of the head a short time after Brittney Wood disappeared. She was 19 years old at the time.

His death has since been ruled a suicide and Wood is presumed dead.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Hanke -- Wood's stepmother who has lead a public awareness campaign in the search for the missing woman - will speak about the case during an appearance on True Crime Radio.

The show will air at 7 p.m. Thursday.

"My goal, really, is that I don't want Brittney to ever be forgotten," Hanke, who keeps the public updated about the case on Facebook, said Wednesday. "I want to make sure Brittney's name will always be known. If nothing else, I don't want anyone to forget the name, 'Brittney Wood.'"

Hanke said she believes family members know the woman's whereabouts and are not talking.

"I think the ultimate goal, just the way everything seems to be laid out, is to get rid of her and blame everything on Donnie and that everything would go away," Hanke said. "It backfired."

Hanke said Brittney's daughter, Payton, "is going to know what her momma went through and she is not gone and forgotten."

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3/26/2015

One of the ring leaders of an incestuous sex ring was sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison.

Wendy Wood Holland, 35, received the punishment after she pleaded guilty to sodomy on Thursday in Mobile County Circuit Court.

In December, a Baldwin County jury found Holland guilty of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture, and endangering the welfare of a child in December. She was sentenced to 219 years in prison in that case.

William Brownlee, a family friend, received 20 years in prison during the same sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors said the sexual abuse spanned at least three generations within the same family and that the defendants, in some of the cases, might have been victims themselves more than 30 years ago.

The more recent crimes occurred inside homes in Stockton and Fairhope. Other offenses occurred inside homes in Mobile and in a hotel in Saraland.

Defendants Brownlee, Nelton Morgan, Mendy Wood Kent, James Cumbaa, and Chessie Wood are set to appear back in Mobile County Circuit Court in July.

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March 29, 2015

MOBILE -- The mother of a missing teenager says she won't plead guilty to being part of a family sex ring in south Alabama.

Chessie Wood of Mobile says innocent people don't make plea deals.

Wood is the mother of 19-year-old Brittney Wood, who hasn't been seen since 2012 and is presumed dead. The teen disappeared as authorities investigated incest involving her family.

Brittney Wood's mother is among those now charged and appeared in court with other defendants Thursday. She made her comments outside the courtroom.

An aunt of the missing youth pleaded guilty during the hearing, but others are headed toward trial. Chessie Wood's trial on sodomy and sex abuse charges is set for Oct. 5.

Six people have been convicted so far. Authorities believe Brittney Wood was among the victims.


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October 08, 2015

It was a bout of jealousy that sparked the now-3-1/2-year-old investigation into one of the most bizarre sex crimes to unravel in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

But it's the mysterious whereabouts of 19-year-old Brittney Wood that keeps a spotlight shining on a case involving incest and perversion within a network of her family and friends.

The latest legal developments came Tuesday, when Mobile County jurors convicted 36-year-old Mendy Kent of Mobile of sodomy and sex abuse of a child under age 12. Kent, Brittney Wood's aunt, awaits sentencing on Nov. 12.

Wood's disappearance in 2012, occurring under peculiar circumstances, has long intrigued and unnerved coastal communities. "Anytime you have people who truly believe foul play was involved and we can't solve it and can't make progress on it, it's incredibly frustrating," said Nicki Patterson, assistant district attorney in Mobile County.

The search to learn her fate has long been assumed to be the catalyst for the discovery of the sex ring.

But Patterson said it was 45-year-old Randall "Scott" Wood who got the investigation rolling.

Wood, in 2012, had been accused of several sex crimes. Rather than stay silent, he opened up to tell of sex crimes being committed by others.

According to Patterson, Wood was in love with a girl who was being sexually abused. He began talking to law-enforcement officers about what was going on.

Said Patterson, "A report was made to DHR that the child was being abused by family members. When Baldwin County DHR began the investigation, they kept finding more and more layers off the onion."

It was a few weeks after Randall Wood's revelations that Brittney Wood vanished on May 30, 2012, according to Patterson.

By most accounts, Brittney Wood was visiting her uncle Donnie Holland near Fairhope the night that she went missing. Holland, considered by investigators to be a ring-leader in the sex crimes, was found dead, shot in the head at a clearing overlooking the Fish River.

At that point, he was already under suspicion in a child-molestation case.

Holland's death was ruled a suicide, but questions have surfaced over the years about the location of the gunshot wound to the back of his head. Suicide gunshots to the head, experts say, are more likely to occur in the right temple, mouth or forehead, not in the back.

"Baldwin County had every reason in the world to think of it as a suicide," Patterson said. "At that time, there was no indication at the depth of what we were looking at. And no one was aware that Brittney was missing."

Baldwin County Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack said that the circumstances of Holland's death received close examination. The suicide ruling remains intact, "based on all available evidence," Mack said.

"They came across a body with a gunshot wound to the head that appeared to be self-inflicted and he was being investigated for molesting," Patterson said. "His wife said they were out looking for him because he threatened to commit suicide."

Stephanie Hanke, Brittney Wood's stepmother, feels certain that someone in the family knows what happened to her.

Hanke has attended almost all of the court appearances involving family members with hopes of hearing hints or clues. Thus far, there have been none.

Baldwin County Assistant District Attorney Teresa Heinz said, "We remain hopeful that one day, that someday, someone with information as to Brittney's whereabouts will come forward. ... Until then we will continue to work."

Mack expects that Brittney Wood is dead. Early in the search for her, he said, law officers held out "the possibility she was alive."

"All of those leads which could be followed up on have been to date," Mack said. "It is our belief she is deceased and her body has been concealed."

He said in a statement, "Closure will only come when Ms. Wood's killer (or killers) are indicted and Ms. Woods' body is located."

The case remains open, receiving attention from Mobile police and from sheriff's offices and district attorney's offices in both counties.

Meanwhile, prosecutors push for lengthy prison terms for the sex case suspects.

Among those sentenced thus far, Wendy Wood Holland of Irvington – Donnie Holland's wife – has been punished the harshest. She was sentenced by a Baldwin County judge in January to 219 years in prison. She is not eligible for parole.

In a two-day trial, she faced charges of sodomy, sexual torture and sex abuse of a child. One of the witnesses, age 16, fighting back tears, described being sexually violated by Wendy Holland for years.

Testimony also revealed that sexual atrocities against children had occurred for three generations in the family, possibly longer.

Patterson said, "We have some evidence to this. There are certainly stories that would support that."

She said, "You have a perfect storm where you have different individuals from damaged backgrounds themselves who had developed an interest in relationships with children and found one another and sort of fed off one another's fetishes."

A long list of suspects in the investigation either await sentencing or a court appearance. Among them:

*Dustin Kent, 39, of Mobile, Mendy Kent's husband, will be sentenced Oct. 22 in Baldwin County court on charges of sodomy and incest. And he's set for sentencing Nov. 5 in Mobile County court on sodomy and rape.
*Chessie Wood, 39, of Mobile, Brittney Wood's mother, is scheduled for trial in Mobile County on March 28, 2016. She maintains her innocence and plans to fight charges of sodomy and sex abuse of a child.
*Randall Wood is scheduled for a court appearance on Nov. 5 in Mobile County. He is charged with rape, sodomy and child enticement. He was given a 15-year split sentence in Baldwin County earlier this year following a sodomy conviction.
*William Brownlee, 51, of Mobile, is scheduled for jury trial on Jan. 11, 2016, in Mobile County on multiple charges of rape, sodomy and child sex abuse. He was sentenced in Baldwin County court earlier this year to 20 years in prison for his role in committing the sex crimes inside Wood family homes in Stockton and Fairhope.
*James Cumbaa, 34, of Wilmer, a Wood family friend, is scheduled for jury trial on Aug. 15, 2016, in Mobile County court on charges of sodomy, sex abuse of a child and rape.
*Nelton "Butch" Morgan, 49, of Theodore, who also has connections to the Wood family, is scheduled for a March 28, 2016, jury trial in Mobile County on charge of child sex abuse and rape.

Patterson said she hopes for plea agreements in some of the outstanding cases. "Each individual defendant has an absolute right to have the state prove they were involved beyond a reasonable doubt," Patterson said. "That's our constitutional system. But it's always frustrating for the state and government when you have repeated trials on the same facts."

Patterson said for now, her office will deal with each case as it surfaces. She said someone in the Wood family or a family friend will be going before a judge or going to trial "about every 10 weeks" for the next year and a half.

"I've had some pretty bizarre cases in my day, but what makes this so appalling is that most child sex abuse cases are done in secret ... someone is sneaking around with a child and trying to get the child not to tell," Patterson said. "This was so out in the open and so blatant and was a secret shared by so many people before it came forward."


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November 12, 2015

BAY MINETTE, Ala. | The aunt of a missing south Alabama teenager believed to be a victim of a family child sex abuse ring was sentenced Thursday on sodomy and child sex abuse charges.

Mendy Wood Kent was sentenced Thursday to 20 years on each charge, according to Mobile County Circuit Court records. Her sentences will run consecutively.

Brittney Wood, 19, was last seen in 2012 and is presumed dead. Authorities believe she was among the young victims of a group of relatives and friends who sexually abused their own children and swapped them for sex for years.

The teen was last seen with her uncle Donnie Holland, who was found with a gunshot to the head and died in what was ruled a suicide days after Wood disappeared.

Mendy Wood's attorney, John Grow, has filed a motion for a new trial, saying the court should have granted a motion for a mistrial. The motion says an unnamed source said a juror "stated that he had made up his mind on day one."

Several of the teen's relatives — including two uncles, her older brother and a cousin — have already been sentenced in the case. Some have yet to go to trial.

Wood's mother, Chessie Wood, was charged with sodomy. Mobile County court records say her trial is expected to begin March 16.


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