The house where Brianna Maitland's car was found

This is the location where Brianna Maitland's car was found.

It is situated at 3451 North Main Street in Enosburg Falls, Vermont.

Maitland's green 1985 Oldsmobile Sedan 88 Royale was found backed into an abandoned house on Route 118, roughly 8 miles east of Enosburg.

These days, the rural, boarded-up property no longer exists, as a group of teenagers set it on fire in July 2016.

Maitland was a 17-year-old who went missing after leaving her workplace at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery on Friday, March 19th, 2004.

She indicated to her coworkers that she was planning on driving directly to her friend's house, where she had been staying for the past few weeks. Her friend, Jillian Stout, lived in a small town called Sheldon, which was 30 minutes away.

Maitland was working two part-time jobs at the time of her disappearance. One was at the inn in Montgomery. The second was at KJ's Diner on South Main Street in St. Albans.

By all accounts, she was eager to drive straight back to Stout's place and get some sleep, as she was scheduled to work at the diner early the next morning.

At around 11.20 p.m., she got into her car and drove out of the Black Lantern Inn parking lot by herself, heading west along Route 118 toward Sheldon.

What happened next remains a mystery.

The following morning, a group calling themselves "the World Travelers" were driving to Jay Peak Ski Resort when they noticed her vehicle lodged in the side of the abandoned Dutchburn house, 1.5 miles west of the inn.

It seems as though Maitland did not get very far after leaving her workplace, as the property was just a two-minute drive away.

The Vermont State trooper who responded to the scene assumed that a drunk driver had ditched the car following an accident.

A broken necklace, a disposable coffee cup, some loose change, and a water bottle lay on the ground beside the Oldsmobile. There were two uncashed checks from the Black Lantern Inn sitting on the passenger seat. A squeezed lime wedge was also found on the trunk.

The keys were not present. They remain missing to this day.

When the trooper visited the inn, he found that it was closed. Although he had the car towed, it appears as though he made no attempt to contact Maitland's mother, who was the registered owner of the car.

Before starting her shift at the inn, Maitland had left a note for her friend saying that she'd be back later that night. However, Stout was visiting her sister in St. Albans that weekend.

Consequently, her disappearance was not fully noticed until the following Tuesday—four days after she was last seen.

Maitland's parents, Kellie and Bruce, contacted the police on March 23rd, 2004. Two days later, they were shown a photograph of the crashed Oldsmobile, which they immediately identified as belonging to their daughter.

During an inspection of the vehicle, investigators found the teenager's ATM card, migraine medication, and a case for her contact lenses.

The police and hundreds of volunteers scoured the fields surrounding the Dutchburn house. A K-9 unit and a helicopter from the National Guard were also used in the search. Rivers and ponds were combed, but nothing of note was ever found.

Witnesses

A number of passing motorists noticed the vehicle that night. One said that the headlights were on. Another reported that the blinker (directional indicator) was flashing.

None of these witnesses saw anyone at the scene.

Some have theorized that she was killed elsewhere and that the car was staged to make it appear as though Maitland had been in an accident. However, the first reliable sighting of the Oldsmobile took place at around midnight, which was only 40 minutes after she had left her workplace.

This rules out the possibility that she traveled very far. It also means that the offender had a very limited timeframe to move the car and stage an accident.

Complicating matters even further is the fact that they would have likely needed a willing accomplice to pick them up.

Theories

Although there were claims that she had overdosed at a party or fallen victim to local drug dealers, these failed to hold up to scrutiny. Once investigated, these tips proved to be based on hearsay rather than fact.

Rumors about unsolved cases are incredibly common, as people are curious creatures who like to speculate about mysteries. Over time, one person's conjecture can be passed on and retold in so many different ways that it gradually becomes treated as fact.

If you look at the recently solved murder of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, you'll find that many of the theories about her disappearance were similar to the ones that currently surround Maitland's case.

There were allegations that Drexel was being held captive at a stash house. In March 2004, an anonymous tipster said that two drug dealers named Ramon Ryans and Nathaniel Jackson were holding Maitland against her will at a house in Berkshire.

There were claims that Drexel was fed to alligators. Maitland, on the other hand, was supposedly fed to pigs.

Sex trafficking is also mentioned as a possibility from time to time. Traffickers, however, tend to use far more insidious methods than abducting random women in public. They usually weasel their way into their victims' lives before manipulating them and subjecting them to coercive control.

In Drexel's case, the truth was far more predictable: she had crossed paths with a sexual predator.

Shopping incident

Maitland's mother, Kellie, said that her daughter became agitated while they were shopping for clothes on the afternoon of her disappearance. After excusing herself, she went outside for a brief period of time.

Kellie noticed that she seemed slightly nervous upon her return.

Much has been made of this incident on social media and online discussion forums. However, it is now believed that it may have been blown out of proportion. Her father, Bruce, suspects that she stepped outside to sneak a cigarette, as she didn't want her mother to know that she was smoking.

Israel Keyes was ruled out as a suspect in Maitland's disappearance

The authorities investigated whether serial killer Israel Keyes was near Montgomery at the time of Maitland's disappearance. He owned a property in Franklin County, New York, and had confessed to the 2011 murders of Bill and Lorraine Currier in Essex Junction, Vermont.

The possible connection was quickly discounted, however, as the FBI uncovered financial records that proved he was elsewhere in March 2004.

James Robitaille

Maitland's on-and-off boyfriend, James Robitaille, is also regularly put forward as a possible suspect in online discussions.

This is understandable, as the 17-year-old claimed that he saw her abandoned vehicle on the side of the road that night. He also gave two conflicting times. At first, he said that he spotted the Oldsmobile at 4.30 a.m. Later, he claimed that it was actually 2.30 a.m.

He told investigators that he pulled over at the Dutchburn house when he realized that the car belonged to Maitland. At the time, both of the car doors were open, and the headlights were on.

After walking over to it and seeing that nobody was around, he switched off the lights, closed the doors, and then left the scene.

Not only did Robitaille give conflicting times, but he also provided false information about where he was that night.

He said that he didn't contact anyone because he had been driving home drunk from a bar in Canada. However, it was later determined that he was actually at a friend's house in the area.

Although Robitaille's story does raise eyebrows, it is important to point out that he was heavily investigated. It is unclear whether he gave the police a valid reason for why he wasn't upfront from the beginning. For example, there may have been personal reasons why he didn't want people to know where he was that night.

The police questioned him at length and were apparently satisfied with his final version of events. It is also very likely that they scrutinized his alibi and phone records, as they did not consider him to be a viable suspect.

Those who knew him described him as a naive teenager who sometimes got involved in petty crime. There doesn't seem to be any indication that he was controlling or violent. It also appears as though his relationship with Maitland wasn't very serious.

On July 3rd, 2019, Robitaille was killed in an early morning traffic accident in Newport Center. The father-of-two was 33 years old.

Abduction

If Maitland's abductor was a stranger or a man on the periphery of her social circle, then it is likely that he followed her after she left the Black Lantern Inn.

It is hard to imagine a sexual predator drawing attention to himself by flagging down random vehicles at night, especially in such a rural, close-knit community.

Waving at traffic from the side of the house would have also been awkward due to the bend in the road.

If this was an abduction, then it is likely that he watched as she walked over to her Oldsmobile in the parking lot and drove away.

The fact that the kidnapping happened so close to her workplace lends credence to this theory.

There is no evidence that her vehicle was rammed or physically forced off the road. This is unsurprising, as such a move would have been incredibly risky on the offender's part.

Maitland had left work roughly 1-2 minutes prior. Furthermore, she had no cellphone. If a car did catch up with her and start flashing its headlights on that dark, rural road, she may have presumed that it was a coworker. "Maybe I forgot something." "Maybe my next shift has changed." "Maybe there is something wrong with my paycheck."

Abductions can happen in the blink of an eye, as the offender is usefully mindful of the fact that someone may happen upon the scene at any moment.

When Maitland pulled over near the Dutchburn house, it is possible that her abductor blocked her in and then immediately jumped out of his vehicle. Seeing an unknown (or unexpected) face get out and rush towards her in such a manner would have undoubtedly filled her with panic.

This may explain why the car was found backed into the side of the house. Judging by the wheels and the direction in which the car was pointed, it is possible that Maitland attempted to quickly reverse to the left so that she could pull off sharply to her right.

Stranger abductions are difficult to solve unless there is trace evidence or security footage that connects the offender to the victim. Cell tower data can also be useful. Although the police did find DNA at the scene, there doesn't seem to be any indication that it belonged to the killer.

Considering what we've seen in previous cases that frustrated law enforcement and went unsolved for lengthy periods of time, it would not be surprising if the killer's name has never been mentioned in connection with Maitland's disappearance.

Sometimes, the culprit is an individual who lucked out and flew under everyone's radar.

Fortunately, we are living in an age where advancements in technology, touch DNA, and genetic genealogy are quickly putting these kinds of cases to rest. If this man is still alive and has managed to escape the justice system, then it may just be a matter of time before police cruisers pull into his driveway on a random Friday morning.

We confirmed many of the facts above by reading The Hunt for Brianna Maitland. The family's private investigator, Greg Overacker, released the book in 2023. It is a must-read for anyone who is looking for a factual and detailed overview of this case. Note that Overacker may or may not agree with some of the analysis above.

Photos

Photos of the house and other related images.

Aerial photograph of the old Dutchburn house

The fields around the Dutchburn house were heavily searched. A metal detector was also used to try and locate Maitland's car keys.

Brianna Maitland left the Black Lantern Inn at 11.20 p.m.

The offender may have watched as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed west.

Of course, he would have likely waited a few seconds before he followed suit.

Maitland's work colleagues had invited her to stay and eat with them. However, she was eager to get home, as she had to work at KJ's Diner early the next morning.

Coordinates: 44.901274, -72.640176

Google Maps

KJ's Diner

She was also working part-time as a waitress at KJ's Diner in St. Albans.

Coordinates: 44.809518, -73.083307

Google Maps