By Steve Huff
 |
| Heather Brianna Wilkins |
LIVINGSTON, Mont. (Crime Library) — When Heather Brianna Marie Wilkins, age 17, disappeared from Livingston, Montana (MT) on January 11, 2006, the Livingston Police were not particularly concerned. They had their reasons. Just a few days before, at around 10 pm, a patrol officer spotted Brianna walking on a remote country road outside of town. The officer gave her a ride into Livingston, but at her request, did not drop her off at her mother's house. So at first, Brianna's vanishing on the 11th seemed to be part of a typical pattern of behavior. Speaking to Court TV, Livingston Chief of Police Darren Raney said that Brianna's being missing on the 11th might seem weird, but "...Not unusual, for her."
Brianna "Bri" Wilkins was indeed legally emancipated from her parents, so while serious search efforts were mounted in the days following her disappearance on the 11th, using planes and all-terrain vehicles, there wasn't much to track, and many were not too concerned that the slender, 5'8" blonde teenager was truly in danger. At that time, the weather for that part of Montana was unusually temperate, so there was no snow on the ground that might aid searchers by holding a record of footprints. As it was, Brianna Wilkins had traveled the country with 16-year-old boyfriend Montana Standish for the past year or so perhaps she'd taken off on her own 'spiritual quest.'
Brianna's mother, Chera Walsh, publicizing her daughter's disappearance to local and regional press was a first. Brianna's relationship with her mom, who also gave the name Chera Wilkins to at least one media outlet and was named Cheryl Bartha and Cheryl Walsh in Montana State Supreme Court legal documents found online, was not great. Additionally, around the same time Ms. Walsh began contacting the press, she was discussing her daughter's disappearance with people Livingston, saying she feared she was dead. Walsh's statements to the Bozeman, MT Daily Chronicle and TV station KTVQ were along similar lines. People familiar with Walsh and her oldest daughter wondered why she feared such a tragic outcome this time, when Brianna had left before, and she'd been troubled in other ways, as well.
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