This Teen Left To Hang Out With A Friend, Called Her Mom That Night, And Then Vanished
On July 2, 1988, Brenda Kay Green, a 15-year-old from Alabama, left her Brookwood residence with plans to spend the summer evening at a friend’s house.
Yet, after later calling home at approximately 9:30 p.m. and speaking to her mother, she was never seen or heard from again.
That afternoon, Brenda was with her male friend, Wayne Dickey, and he drove her to a house where some of her friends lived, located across the street from Hosmer’s Grocery on Alabama Highway 216 in Abernant. The property was about 10 miles away from Brenda’s home, but when she arrived, no one was there.
Wayne reportedly left Brenda waiting on the house’s front steps for her friends. It’s unknown what happened from then until 9:30 p.m. when she called her mother, Betty Green.
“Brenda called home around 9:30 p.m. and said she would be gone a while longer. That’s the last I heard from her, and she never returned,” Betty recalled.
The police learned that Brenda had a history of running away, so initially, they thought she’d left of her own volition. This irritated Betty, who believed both investigators and the press hadn’t properly handled the investigation from the start.
“I feel that the Sheriff’s Department and the Youth Aid department did not do an adequate job searching for her in the beginning,” she explained.
“Yes, she had a history of running away, as they classified it, but they did not know my daughter. They only went by the hearsay of other children. She wasn’t a runaway. She got mad at us a couple of times and left when she did not get her way. She was never hard to find; a couple of calls and we knew where she was.”
Brenda’s case is classified as endangered missing, and in 2002, Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit Commander Lt. Loyd Baker detailed how investigators spoke to “everyone who was involved with her.” However, they uncovered no evidence of involvement in Brenda’s disappearance, and there were no suspects in her case.
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Following the 10-year anniversary of the day Brenda went missing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an age-progressed photo showing what she might’ve looked like at 26 years old.
This image was included on postcards sent to millions of homes nationwide, prompting the influx of hundreds of tips.
Someone from Florida claimed to have spotted Brenda at a Mary Kay cosmetics convention; meanwhile, an individual in Texas alleged she worked at an amusement park concession stand, and others thought they’d seen Brenda on airline flights.
Unfortunately, none of these tips led anywhere, and over 36 years later, her case remains unsolved. In 2002, Betty admitted to giving up hope that her daughter was alive. Nonetheless, she and her family still want answers.
“I do not think my child just vanished off the face of the earth. We have no closure, only assumptions. If anyone has any information, please contact the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office or Tuscaloosa County Youth Aid. We greatly appreciate any help available,” she stated at the time.
Brenda was five feet two, weighed 106 pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes. If alive today, she would be 52 years old.
Anyone with information can contact the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 752-0616.
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