The daughter of a woman missing since June believes someone in the Winchester, Virginia, community must have key information to help find her.
Nanci Britner visited one of her four children and three of her 13 grandchildren the morning of June 28, as she usually did.
“When she was walking out, she was like, ‘I love you guys. Be back later,’” said her daughter Kelsi Britner.
She then went to Relax Inn, a residential motel, to visit her sister who lived there.
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Britner’s sister told police she last saw her about 11 p.m. that night as Britner was calling around to find a ride home. Her sister fell asleep and assumed Britner got a lift.
The next morning, Britner and her two cellphones were gone. The last cellphone ping came from Relax Inn.
Britner’s daughter worried right away.
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“My beliefs are that something definitely bad happened at that hotel that night,” she said.
Winchester police began working the case in early July, also turning to the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office for assistance and alerting other departments to keep a look out.
“We’ve spoken with many of her family members, conducted massive interviews with each one of them to make sure that we are doing our part to make sure she’s found,” Winchester police Sgt. Chaz Niang said.
Kelsi Britner believes someone, maybe even a family member, is holding back information.
“Our big fear is that we’re never going to find her, I mean, alive or not alive,” she said. “Just always, for the rest of my life, just not knowing what happened to her.”
She hopes putting a bigger spotlight on the disappearance will turn up the pressure.
“Honestly, putting more pressure on people to see that it’s getting out there and it’s not something that’s going to go away and we’re going to give up and stop,” said her friend Emily Lawrence. “Eventually, the truth needs to come out.”
Police agree someone in Winchester may have the information needed to break the case and end the mystery.
“If there’s something that you may have seen her or you may know of how her disappearance had taken place, any amount of information could be helpful,” Niang said.
In the meantime, Nanci Britner’s absence is hard on the grandchildren. Kelsi Britner’s daughter keeps texting messages to her Nana, writing in one, “I hope that you know I love you. Come back to me one day.”
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