It's been nearly 40 years since Deborah Ann Brooks was abducted near her Northeast Washington home and murdered. Her killer was never found, but detectives are not giving up on her case.
On Nov. 13, 1980, Brooks left her home in the Brookland neighborhood of Northeast Washington after she realized a prescription her mother picked up for her had not been filled properly. The 17-year-old, who was affectionately called Missy, hurried out of the door to get the correct prescription.
That was the last time anyone saw her alive.
"I remember it vividly," Brooks' younger brother, Paul Brooks, said. "How my mother felt, how I felt, how her death impacted the family. And I've carried it with me all these years."
The next day, two hunters found Missy's partially clothed body under a pile of drywall in a wooded area off Shapersville Road in Charles County, Maryland.
"Before we could celebrate the holidays, we had to mourn my sister's death, and it just cast a shadow over every single holiday since then," Paul Brooks said.
Her killer was never found, but the cold case has new life. Detectives are still coming back to the area where Missy was found and talking with people who knew the teen. The Charles County Sheriff's Office says advances in DNA technology have also allowed for more testing of evidence in the case.
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"A lot of the time, the suspects are found in the case file. That being said, we have a number of individuals that we are looking at," said Sargent Patrick Tona with the Charles County Sheriff's Office.
Paul Brooks says someone must stand up and tell the truth.
"Right before my mother passed, she said that she regretted that we were never able to find out what happened to my sister," he said. "It won't bring her back, but it will give my family the satisfaction of knowing the persons responsible have been dealt with."
Anyone with information that can help police is asked to call 1-866-411-8477.
