By Chuck Hustmyre
LIVINGSTON, Mont. (Crime Library) — In the weeks before she disappeared, 17-year-old Heather Brianna Marie Wilkins, became captivated—possibly even obsessed—by a new sense of spirituality. She practiced deep meditation, took long walks alone to conquer her fear of the outdoors, and listened to tapes by new age guru Eckhart Tolle. She stopped washing and combing her hair and quit using toothpaste.
Then she vanished.
On Jan 11, three hours after meeting her boyfriend at the bus station in Livingston, Brianna borrowed her mother's ankle-length sheepskin coat, a pair of boots, took her boyfriend's wallet and the $200 it contained, and walked away, according to her mother, Chera Walsh.
"Maybe she had a psychotic break," Walsh speculated.
Walsh has also considered darker, more sinister reasons for her daughter's strange disappearance. "It's really a mystery that she went off like this and that she hasn't at least called to say that she's okay. At this point, with no communication, my thinking is there must be some foul play."
Brianna spent much of last year traveling around the country, often in the company of her boyfriend, 16-year-old Montana Standish. She lived briefly in Texas, South Carolina, and Washington state. During that time, Brianna never went more than a few days without calling home, Walsh said.
Although she left without her purse, wallet, or identification, Brianna has her mother's telephone calling card number memorized, Walsh said, so there is no reason for her not to call her family, unless she either doesn't want to call or can't call.
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