MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — 11 years. That’s how long a Mobile County mother has been missing. So many people are still asking “What happened to the young mother and will she ever be found?” This is the story of Brittney Wood.
WKRG News 5 is looking back at the crimes that shocked the Gulf Coast. Brittney Wood’s story is the twenty-seventh in the series.
Brittney Wood was a 19-year-old single mother when she was last seen on May 30, 2012. On that day, Brittney left her mother’s home and headed to visit her uncle Donnie Holland. She never returned home. Two days later, Holland was found in his truck off of a beaten path with a gunshot to the head.
In an interview, Brittney’s mother Chessie Wood said Holland was found by his wife and a family friend. She said Holland’s wife did some suspicious things before calling the police about her dying husband, including deleting four text messages off of his phone. Police were eventually dispatched to the scene, however, Holland died in the hospital a few days later. His death was ruled a suicide.
In the wake of Brittney’s disappearance, 11 people were arrested on sex abuse charges, including members of her family and family friends. Some of those people include:
- Mendy Kent — second-degree sodomy, sex abuse – child less than 12
- Billy Brownlee — second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy, first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, sex abuse – child less than 12
- Randall Wood — second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy, enticing child to enter
- Wendy Holland — second-degree sodomy
- Dustin Kent — first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy
The lead prosecutor in the case previously told WKRG, “Pretty much everyone in this extended family was having sex with one another and having sex with the children.”
In July 2020, an aged progressed photo of Brittney was released by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A week after the photo was released, Mobile Police received a tip about her remains, leading detectives with MCSO to search an abandoned trailer in Grand Bay. Nothing came from that search.
‘Monster in the Shadows‘ is a three-part docuseries about Brittney’s case that was released on Peacock in 2021.
Anyone with information regarding the Brittney Wood case is asked to contact their local law enforcement agency.
