She Expressed Feeling Depressed Before She Mysteriously Vanished 14 Years Ago: Most Of Her Belongings, Including Her Car And Phone, Were Found At Home, But Exactly What Happened Remains Unclear
I can’t imagine the anxiety people must feel after someone they knew expressed how unhappy they were before vanishing and not being heard from again.
The people close to Marsha Brantley, a woman who went missing from her home in Tennessee 14 years ago, know that feeling all too well, as she expressed feelings of depression before vanishing without a trace or warning.
Before she went missing, Marsha lived in Cleveland, Tennessee, with her husband, Donnie, and three foster dogs. After marrying Donnie in 2000, Marsha received a large inheritance from her parents when they passed away, so she reportedly used some of it to help Donnie set up a handyman business.
Marsha previously worked as the housing director at Lee University but eventually quit to focus on her writing career. She wrote young adult novels and short stories and kept up a day-to-day blog called “The Magpie’s Nest.” She was also in a writer’s group with friends called the Thunder Rock Writers Group.
Aside from writing, Marsha was passionate about gardening and caring for her foster pups. She had no children or siblings but had several friends in her community.
However, in 2009, Marsha reportedly began to confide in her friends and tell them how depressed she had become, claiming to be so depressed she could hardly get up off her couch.
In April 2009, she reportedly told her hairdresser that her husband’s handyman business had gone downhill and was failing.
Then, on June 2nd, 2009, her friends and blog followers became concerned when she wrote a troubling post about how it seemed that everything was going wrong in her life. Around this time, people had stopped seeing her in the neighborhood.
Later that summer, Donnie allegedly told one of their neighbors that Marsha had left him and they were getting a divorce.
robsonphoto – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Marsha’s hairdresser struggled to get a hold of her after she missed one of her appointments and hadn’t heard anything about her for months. So, in November 2009, she called the police to report Marsha missing.
Most of Marsha’s personal belongings, including her car, cell phone, and clothes, were left at home.
Her friends also noted that it would be extremely unusual for Marsha to move away without her beloved dogs, who were left behind when she disappeared. After looking into her phone records, authorities believe she went missing between early June and July of that year.
Donnie had told local police that Marsha left their home voluntarily due to their marriage and financial troubles. However, he gave contradictory stories about when she left and what she took with her, making authorities suspicious.
In the first few years after Marsha was reported missing, police and investigators struggled to find evidence of where she could have gone, and Donnie remained a suspect. So, in 2013, Donnie was arrested and charged with her murder.
However, the charges against Donnie were dropped as there was a lack of evidence to prove he did anything to Marsha. He was arrested once again for her murder in 2016, but there was still a lack of evidence against him, so the charges were dropped again in 2018.
To this day, foul play is suspected in Marsha’s case, although there is still a lack of evidence to support that claim. It’s been 14 years since Marsha went missing, and it’s still quite unclear what happened to her.
At the time of Marsha’s disappearance, she was five foot eight, weighed 125 pounds, and had blonde hair and blue eyes. She would have been 64-years-old today.
If you have any information regarding her case, you are urged to contact the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office at (423) 728-7330.
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