Dannette Latonia Millbrook

Left and Center: Dannette circa, 1990

Right: Age Progressed to age 39

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: March 18, 1990

Missing From: Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia

Classification: Endangered Missing

Date Of Birth: April 2, 1974

Age: 15 years old

Height and Weight: 5’6″ and 130 pounds

Distinguishing Characteristics: African American Female, Black hair, Brown eyes, Dannette has a scar near her navel and a scar on her navel which resulted from a hernia removal operation that was performed shortly after she was born, she is bowlegged and her ears are pierced one time each, her hair was styled in a shoulder length Jheri curl at the time of her 1990 disappearance

Clothing/Jewelry Description: A white shirt with the cartoon character “Mickey Mouse” imprinted on it, a pair of white jeans, and black shoes

NCMEC Number: 736454

Details of Disappearance

Dannette was last seen with her fraternal twin sister, Jeannette, in Augusta, Georgia on March 18th 1990. According to reports, the two sisters went to a local restaurant called “Church’s Chicken” for lunch. They the returned to their family’s apartment located in the 1800 block of Cooney Circle off Olive Road. Once they got there, they reportedly told their mother, Mary, that they saw a man in a van following them for part of their walk.

The incident didn’t seem to phase them as they walked to their godfathers home later in the day in order to borrow money so they could take a city bus to school the following week. They had to take the bus since the twins had recently moved apartments and their new one was farther away from school. After they received $20 from him for the bus and a little extra money for snacks, they left.

The twins then went to their cousins house and asked her to walk home with them. Their cousins mother would not allow her to do so since it was almost dark outside. They then made a stop at their older sisters home and stayed at the residence for approximately fifteen minutes and they asked her as well to walk with them. She declined the request since she had recently given birth.

They both went to a local Pump-N-Station gas station located on the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. There, they bought chips, candy, and soda. The clerk who worked at the store, Gloria, knew nothing of the sisters and said they appeared normal at the store. She was the last confirmed person to see them both alive.

The girls never returned home and were never seen or heard from again. Their family attempted to file a missing persons report when they discovered them missing initially but were told to wait 24 hours before calling. Not much is known about the original search for the missing sisters because for unknown reasons, the girls names and information was removed from the National Missing Children’s Registry.

In addition to that, the missing persons case was closed and the original investigative files were lost over time. There have been many explanations as to why the case was originally closed. Their family stated that the police told them the case was closed because the girls had reached seventeen years of age. They stated use or the age, the girls didn’t have to be legally returned home.

The original investigators who looked into the case claimed a juvenile case officer told him that both girls had been located. He said this is what led to the case being closed in 1991 and their removal from the missing persons database. The family was adamant on finding out where the two girls were despite the case being closed in 1991. They continued to call regarding the girls whereabouts for years.

The family was apparently given many excuses regarding the closing of the case. One of these reasons was that the girls had been removed from the home and placed in foster care before eventually being adopted into another family. Investigators have since discovered this to be false. A relative of the two sisters had children in foster care and the family believes this to be the source of the confusion with that lead.

The family’s calls to bring the girls home ultimately led to their decades old case being reopened in 2013. The police stated that a terrible injustice occurred for the past two decades and that it has fueled their interest to find both girls and bring them home to their family. Investigators have no explanation as to how both girls disappeared.

The family and investigators to not believe either girl ran away. They had no history as runaways and neither girl had any behavioral issues. There was one instance where the girls got in trouble at a busy stop because one of the twins was being bullied. They also had no motive for running away. Investigators believe it’s likely the girls met with foul play on the evening of their disappearance.

Investigators have considered the possibility that serial rapist and murderer, Joseph Patrick Washington, was possibly involved in the twins missing persons case. He worked at a brick yard in August which was not art from where the girls lived and he would’ve had to drive on the same road they lived on to get to and from his job.

Washington was known to drive three vehicles but none of Tennessee were vans like the van that was following the twins earlier on the day of their disappearance. He would have had access to more types vehicles since he worked in transporting in the brickyard. He was known to attack women in the early 1990s. He preferred young black women who ranged from their teens to their thirties and had short hair.

Both Dannette and Jeannette got his victim description and they disappeared when he was active in the area. He was said to abduct his victims and take them to another location where he would shoot them in the stomach and rape them. Some of his surging victims claimed that he would hold his shirt up with his teeth so it wouldn’t get blood on it.

He would reportedly tell his victims that he received an HIV from his ex girlfriend and that the rapes were his way of seeking revenge against women. He was sentenced to seventeen consecutive life sentences in 1995 for several kidnappings which took place between 1991 and 1993. He was additionally found guilty of sexually assaulting five women. He apparently shot three of these women but they survived.

Washington was also going to stand trial for the murders of Marilyn Denise Kelly and Loretta Dukes. Both women were murdered in 1991. He was also a primary suspect in the 1991 murder of another woman. He was never indicted in that case due to lack of evidence. He died in 1999 before he could stand trial. He is believed to have passed away from AIDS related causes.

On January 25th 1993, the skeletal remains of a young woman were discovered in Aiken County, South Carolina. The decedent was described as a being an African American Female. The victim is described as being between the ages of 25 and 32 and she stood between 5’4″ and 5’7″. She also weighed approximately 125 to 140 pounds. Investigators narrowed down her time of death to between 1987 and 1992.

Investigators believe she may have been a victim of Washington due to her description and her time of death. She is believed to have been the victim of a homicide. The Millbrook family believes the facial reconstructions of the victim resembles Jeannette and have given their DNA to be tested against the remains. Results of the testing has not been released yet as the DNA was given in 2017.

At the time of their disappearance, the sisters were both 9th grade students at Lucy Laney High School in 1990. They were both described as well behaved teenagers with no history as troublemakers. Mary and their sister Shanta have both been active in searching for the girls and hope to bring them home. Their cases remain unsolved and foul play is suspected.

Suspect Information: