Monday4 the Missing ~Brandy Hanna~

Someone driving along Dorchester Road, in South Carolina might read this Restaurant sign, and wonder....WHO is Brandy? The chances are, unless that person was a local, they wouldn't know that the 1 year mark has come and gone...2 years ago!
Nor would this someone know that the family of Brandy has just suffered through another birthday of hers, not knowing where she is.

Brandy's missing persons report reads something like this:

Name:
Brandy Renee Hanna

Classification:
Endangered Missing Adult
Date of Birth:1972-11-16
Date Missing:2005-05-20
From City/State:Charleston, SC

Age at Time of Disappearance:32
Gender:Female
Race:White
Height:69 inches
Weight:115 pounds
Hair Color:Sandy
Eye Color:Blue
Complexion:Light

Identifying Characteristics:
Tattoo of a "sun" on right shoulder, tattoo of a "heart" between thumb and forefinger of right hand, three piercings in left ear, two piercings in right ear, gap in upper front teeth, crooked upper teeth, missing molars.
Clothing:
Possibly wearing a light blue shirt, blue jeans, white athletic shoes.
Jewelry:
Diamond ring (very small diamonds make up the shape of a flower).

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Unknown. Brandy was last seen after 10:00pm on May 20, 2005 at her residence in the vicinity of the 3300 block of Florida Ave. in Charleston, SC. All of her belongings were left behind.

Investigative Agency:
North Charleston Police Department
Phone:
(843) 745-1015
Investigative Case #:
2005019398
NCIC #:
M-384945907

Information and Photo from
National Center for Missing Adults

BUT ...
With all of the above information, does any of it truly indicate WHO Brandy Renee Hanna really is?
After reading Brandy's profile, I googled for more information. SOMETHING that would tell me WHO Brandy is.
Clicking on The Brandy Hanna Website,
I read the following:

Please take the time to explore this website and get to know Brandy, and her family.

Did YOU know that her favorite soft drink was Mello Yello? OK...I have to admit, I'm a Pepsi kind of person, but to each their own!
Brandy loved cats and dogs, chicken nuggets, and scary movies.
I see a T-shirts she wears in one of her pictures, and can't help but think, "Ok, I used to listen to Skid Row too!" I read how Brandy had only a small circle of friends, and I again relate. Brandy is only a few years younger than I am!

The Post and Courier
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
By Brian Hicks (Contact)

They will light candles, release balloons and silently wonder once again what happened that led them to this sad ceremony.

It has become, unfortunately, a regular event.
On May 20, 2005, Hanna disappeared from her North Charleston apartment.

Since that time, there have been no answers, no leads, no clues — nothing but the vigils. And Donna Parent, Brandy's mother, always dreads it.

"It's not something you want to do," Parent said, "it's something I have to do. If I don't remind people she's missing, I'm afraid they'll forget."

Monica Caison, director of the CUE Center for Missing Persons, said these things do more than just provide comfort for the families of missing adults, they sometimes stir up witnesses.

"It does happen," Caison said. "There's somebody out there they haven't reached, somebody who hasn't realized they've seen something."

It is all the hope Brandy's family and North Charleston police have these days. Investigators have learned little beyond what they knew from the first.

On the day she vanished, Brandy worked her shift at Alex's Restaurant on Dorchester Road, got a ride to her apartment and talked to her mother on the phone in the early evening. She had big plans for the weekend — shopping Friday, the beach Saturday, breakfast with her mother and brother Sunday. But sometime that evening, the 32-year-old walked out of her apartment, leaving her money, her clothes, her entire life, behind.

Parent said after three years she still struggles with the questions, but deals with it as best she can, working and spending time with her grandchildren. But every day she wonders.

"I know in my heart there's got to be one person who could break this open," Parent said. "I wish they knew how important it could be to one family's life."
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Vigil marks 3rd anniversary of woman's disappearance