On Sunday, March 18, 1990, 15-year-old fraternal twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, left their apartment on Cooney Circle in Augusta, Georgia, and walked to their godfather’s home. The girls borrowed money to ride the bus back and forth to school. He gave them some extra money to buy treats.
Around 4:30 p.m., the twins stopped at a Pump-N-Shop gas station at 12th Street and Milledgeville Roard (now MLK Boulevard) and purchased chips and drinks. The gas station attendant later said the girls appeared fine.
Dannette and Jeannette left shortly afterward, never to be seen again.
Shortly after they vanished, the girls were seen in a white truck with a white male. Other than that, no additional information regarding their fate is known.
In April 2023, the twins’ younger sister, Shanta Sturgis, told NBC’s Dateline that the family learned later from other family members that the twins had stopped by a cousin’s house and their older sister’s home on the way back from their godfather’s. They asked if someone could accompany them back home.
Per Dateline, Shanta said it was an odd request because the twins were familiar with the area and had walked alone before.
“I’m gonna assume something had to [transpire] for them to want somebody to walk home,” Shanta said.
The girls had no previous run-ins with the law or a history of running away.
In 2013, Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree decided to reopen the investigation. He discovered that shortly after the girls went missing, someone removed their names from the national missing person database. Furthermore, the case files were missing and were never found.
Roundtree had no previous knowledge of the case and had little to work with. He located the now-retired investigator who handled the case and interviewed the detective and others close to it. He had the girls reentered into the national database and a DNA sample from the twins’ mother. Roundtree also checked unclaimed remains (Lohr 2013).
What came from Roundtree’s interview with those close to the case is unclear. However, nothing has come from his efforts in finding the girls, and they remain missing today.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
There were no witnesses to an actual abduction. The girls disappeared in broad daylight. So, maybe the girls willingly went with someone they knew and trusted. Perhaps the guy in the white truck. Or maybe the guy in the white truck was at the gas station and offered them a lift, and they accepted because he appeared friendly.
Because someone took both girls, I wonder if this was a human trafficking abduction. According to the Department of Justice, Atlanta is the nation’s number one human and sex trafficking hub. I’m not sure that was the case in 1990, but human trafficking was happening even back then.
I don’t believe the girls ran away because they took nothing with them when they left their apartment – no clothes or other personal belongings.
Source
Lohr, David. “‘Terrible Injustice’ Prompts Sheriff To Reopen 1990 Case Of Missing Twins, Dannette and Jeannette Millbrooks.” Huff Post Crime, August 16, 2003.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/16/dannette-jeannette-millbrooks-missing_n_3762972.html
9 comments
From a strong source of information the last person with their case file was ( Leroy Westbrook) a juvenile probation officer. Who has passed away. But the girls wasnt never ever on any probation. (INVESTIGATOR SHIPP) leader of the case told my family that they were found and brought back home. Well ok THEN WHERE ARE THEY? WHAT ADDRESS WAS THEY RETURNED TO? WHO RETURNED THEM AND WROTE IT UP AS > CASE CLOSED< WHEN THEY WERE NEVER FOUND? AND MAINLY THE TWO HE DID FIND AND RETURNED WAS NOT THE TWINS/ ACTUALLY HE RETURNED THE WRONG GIRLS WHO WAS NOT AT ALL MISSING. I WONDER DOES HE REMEMBER WAS IT MY GRANDMOM OR AUNTIE HE TALKED TO THE DAY HE RETURNED WITH THE WRONG GIRLS,, 3WORDS UMPH, UMPH UMPH. I CAN GO ON FOR DAYS WITH QUESTIONS CONCERNING MY MISSING LOVE ONES.
As soon as I heard about this case on the podcasts I started googling about it. I’m just a psychiatric nurse practitioner who’s done lots of elective projects on antisocial personality disorder, but I independently arrived at same gut hunt as author of this entry: that the original case file disappeared & the girls were removed from the missing database seems too statistically improbable to have happened by chance. Someone or some people wanted the investigation shut down – someone with some kind of authority within the investigative system, itself. So so so frustrating.
this isn’t related to the twins’ disappearance, but I’m curious what your thoughts are on Sky Metalwala? That case has fascinated me from the beginning. (I just found your blog today…I’m a fellow true crime junkie and I’m binging on your website today 🙂 )
Lol enjoy the posts!
Honestly, I had never heard of Sky until you’re comment! Why haven’t I? That is crazy! So I had to look him up. Well, from what I read, it appears to be obvious – the mother is involved. Can’t keep her story straight at all! I’m going to do more reading up on it tomorrow, though.
I just looked up Sky’s case and cannot fathom how his mother hasn’t been charged with anything! She’s as shady as it gets! I don’t think she sent him overseas with her family because her little girl is still in the states. What do you think?
I was reading more about him today and I definitely think the mother did something to him. I don’t think she sent him overseas at all either. Many inconsistencies in her story. Not many, if any, mothers would’ve left him in the car by himself. She’s lying big time.
Sounds like shitty police work to me, I can’t imagine the pain these girls’ families have been in all this time. Hopefully whoever reopened the case up will be able to solve it and give them closure, if there is such a thing after all this time. I would really like to know who removed their names and more importantly, why? As always, fabulously written post.
Thanks! I completely agree with you about the police work. That’s just messed up!
Yes its very strange that their name and whole case file has been swiped clean away. I have 2 people in mind, and yes they both work for RICHMOND CO. SHERIFFS OFFICE. One is deceased and the other one as you read the article still till this day works there. My family and I are still waiting on them to walk thru any door at any giving time just like we have been waiting now for over 20 years,,, I LOVE AND MISS YOU BOTH DANNETTE AND JEANNETTE I WILL AWAYS KEEP SEARCHING FOR YOU BOTH