Deceased/Not Found VA - Melissa Brannen, 5, Lorton, 3 Dec 1989 *C. Hughes guilty*

[spring24]

Wayners at the time they were playing a map on the news of how far he could possibly have gotten. The area was extensively searched.... My thoughts are that either:
1) They missed her (be that she was hidden so well, or it wasn't as extensive as they claimed)
2) The wife lied about the distance
3) She was moved
4) She was handed off to someone else
5) She was put in the water and her body moved elsewhere by current so she is no longer within the radius

 

[imamaze]

http://www.leagle.com/decision/19931337431SE2d906_11296


HUGHES v. COM.

Caleb Daniel HUGHES v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

BARROW, Judge.

This criminal appeal is from a conviction of abduction with intent to defile for which the defendant was sentenced to fifty years in the penitentiary. The jury's verdict rested upon circumstantial evidence linking the defendant with the unexplained disappearance of a five-year-old child.

We address the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the conviction, the admissibility of certain carpet fibers, the admissibility of statements the defendant made to the police, and the discovery of certain materials that the prosecution failed to provide the defendant. In doing so, we hold that: (1) although evidence supported a finding that the defendant abducted the
[431 S.E.2d 909]
child, it did not support a finding that he did so with intent to defile her; (2) carpet fibers found in the defendant's car had no probative value because they did not tend to prove or disprove that the child had been in the car; (3) the defendant's statements to the police were admissible because he was not in custody at the time he made them; and (4) certain statements by witnesses to the police were exculpatory and should have been produced by the Commonwealth's attorney. Finally, because our holdings require that we reverse the defendant's conviction and remand the matter for a new trial, we do not consider whether the trial court should have granted a new trial on the grounds of after-discovered evidence and the failure of the Commonwealth to provide Brady material.

Much much more!

 

[watcher9]

Earlier today, a Forensic Files show on HLN featured this sad story.

Found a copy of the show on youtube for anyone who wants to watch it again.

[video=youtube;6wpBtXjn6IE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wpBtXjn6IE[/video]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Melissa_Brannen

 

[Ozoner]

Wayners at the time they were playing a map on the news of how far he could possibly have gotten. The area was extensively searched.... My thoughts are that either:
1) They missed her (be that she was hidden so well, or it wasn't as extensive as they claimed)
2) The wife lied about the distance
3) She was moved
4) She was handed off to someone else
5) She was put in the water and her body moved elsewhere by current so she is no longer within the radius

I read somewhere that the wife claims not to have specified exactly 51 miles but instead said something like "an extra 50 miles," which would mean something like 60 miles driven between the time he left the complex and the time he arrived home.
At least he received 50 years for abduction despite the lack of a body. I wish that would happen more often.

 

[watcher9]

From the Virginia Inmate Locator...

Offender Name: Hughes, Caleb Daniel
DOC Number: 1058054
Inmate Number: 173330
Gender: Male
Race: White
Location: Bland Correctional Center
Projected Release Date: 02/22/2018

Source:

Commonwealth of Virginia - Department of Corrections - Offenders, Offender Locator

LINK:

http://www.vadoc.virginia.gov/offenders/locator/results.cfm

If this release date of 02/22/2018 is correct, he will be out in a year and a half?
OMG!

 

[spring24]

If this release date of 02/22/2018 is correct, he will be out in a year and a half?
OMG!

I don't think it's accurate, searching now I'm getting release 08/02/19. I swear I searched years ago and also had a date that should have since passed. Not sure what it means that it keeps changing, but I don't think its accurate.

 

[0101ABA]

Daughter reunited with family 18 years after being kidnapped, Madison mom reacts

Madison resident Tammy Brannen turned away from her 5-year-old daughter Melissa for just a moment 27 years ago.

Tammy hasn't seen Melissa since.

She celebrates homecomings like this for other mothers.

She also said a lot has come from Melissa kidnapping in the late 80s. It was one of the first times they tried a case based on forensic evidence. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children dedicated its forensic imaging unit in honor of Melissa Brannen.

 

[watcher9]

Daughter reunited with family 18 years after being kidnapped, Madison mom reacts

Link no longer works. I'm assuming this linked article had to do with Tammy Brannen reacting to the discovery of Kamiyah Mobley who had been taken from a hospital in Jacksonville FL 18 years before and that Tammy's daughter Melissa is still missing.

Melissa's story was shown again on Forensic Files tonight.
Hughes should have to serve his whole 50 year sentence before they even think of letting him out.

 

[Ozoner]

Melissa would be turning 34 next month (on April 13).

We need to keep a close watch on CH's release date.

 

[BethAnn777]

Does anyone know why the full name of the person arrested is not listed in the title? I have always wondered that.

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

One of the cases that I watched on Forensic Files and will always remember.

 

[slowcar281]

I was only 3 when Melissa disappeared but I just happened to see an episode of Forensic Files that portrayed this case. I lived just 10 minutes north of the Woodside Apartments from 89-04 and I remember my mom telling me about it for years after she went missing. I still drive by there twice a week for work and always think about what really happend to her.

It definitely sent shock waves through the community for sure, I remember my mom telling me about them putting the yellow ribbons in the trees and how Tammy pleaded for her daughter to be returned. It’s a really sad story. I’m surprised that Caleb Hughes never ever would tell what he did with Melissa. I don’t know how anyone could possibly carry that guilt around for years like that.

I always thought he might have taken her south. I lived in stafford for a few years and commuted to lorton and back and it was 31 miles door to door. If he had in fact driven an extra 50-60 miles that night that would make sense.

Anyone who is familiar with the wide water, triangle, Aquia area knows there is a lot of dense woods and undeveloped areas even today once you get off route 1. Even more so back nearly 30 years ago. He could have dumped her off anywhere back there and headed back north to where he lived in lake ridge. I seriously doubt he would have taken her north up route 1 towards Maryland.

I don’t know how true tarot card readings are but if you search you can find one where someone claims that her body is located south near water.

 

[Ozoner]

I was only 3 when Melissa disappeared but I just happened to see an episode of Forensic Files that portrayed this case. I lived just 10 minutes north of the Woodside Apartments from 89-04 and I remember my mom telling me about it for years after she went missing. I still drive by there twice a week for work and always think about what really happend to her.

It definitely sent shock waves through the community for sure, I remember my mom telling me about them putting the yellow ribbons in the trees and how Tammy pleaded for her daughter to be returned. It’s a really sad story. I’m surprised that Caleb Hughes never ever would tell what he did with Melissa. I don’t know how anyone could possibly carry that guilt around for years like that.

I always thought he might have taken her south. I lived in stafford for a few years and commuted to lorton and back and it was 31 miles door to door. If he had in fact driven an extra 50-60 miles that night that would make sense.

Anyone who is familiar with the wide water, triangle, Aquia area knows there is a lot of dense woods and undeveloped areas even today once you get off route 1. Even more so back nearly 30 years ago. He could have dumped her off anywhere back there and headed back north to where he lived in lake ridge. I seriously doubt he would have taken her north up route 1 towards Maryland.

I don’t know how true tarot card readings are but if you search you can find one where someone claims that her body is located south near water.

BBM

He isn't carrying any guilt. He's a sociopath who doesn't feel guilt over anything. To him, what he did was no big deal. He will try to get away with a similar crime once he's released. He's had almost thirty years to fantasize about how to abduct. rape. and murder a young girl without getting caught.

[PS-Tarot card readings are silly. The people who do those are either con artists or nut jobs (or both).]

 

[LadyL]

Melissa Brannen’s abductor, Caleb Hughes, will be freed from prison after 29 years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/crim...4E4o36jUGgwRcdnaY9T2oY&utm_term=.2cde38e37ac0

 

[LadyL]

Though the Virginia parole board rejected Hughes for parole in 2017 and 2018, he is being granted a mandatory release on Aug. 2 after receiving more than two decades worth of “good conduct allowances.” He will have served more than 29 years of a total 54-year sentence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/crim...4E4o36jUGgwRcdnaY9T2oY&utm_term=.2cde38e37ac0

 

[LadyL]

delete

 

[Ozoner]

Melissa Brannen’s abductor, Caleb Hughes, will be freed from prison after 29 years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/crim...4E4o36jUGgwRcdnaY9T2oY&utm_term=.2cde38e37ac0

Infuriating.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Infuriating.

Wow. Lots of comments on that article. This poor family.

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

What???

 

[Criminal Justice mom]

With so many advances in DNA testing is there anything left that could be tested to see if it was a match for bodily fluids of any kind from Melissa? What evidence was preserved? Is his wife at the time waiting to welcome him home? I think her opinions on his guilt or lack of would be interesting.