On the evening of September 16, 1997, six-year-old Brittney Ann Beers disappeared from in front of the Village Manor Apartments on U.S. 12 (East Chicago Road) in Sturgis, St. Joseph County, Michigan, where she lived with her mother and uncle. She went outside at about 7:30 p.m. to ride her bicycle. At about 8:30 p.m. her mother left on a short store errand and saw Brittney riding. At about 8:35 p.m. her thirteen-year-old half-brother saw her sitting on a bench in front of the complex, and in the same window a passerby saw her apparently speaking with a man seated in a red or brown mid-size car, possibly a Renault. The man was described as white, late twenties to early thirties, with short dark hair and a thick mustache; composite sketches were widely circulated and he was sought as a witness. When her mother returned at about 9:05 p.m., Brittney was gone. She was reported missing at approximately 10:30 p.m. Her bicycle was found abandoned at the complex. She was last seen wearing a white tank top with a floral design, hot pink or pink tie-dyed shorts, and white tennis shoes with a pink design on the sides; her four upper front teeth were missing.
The Sturgis Police Department led the investigation with FBI assistance; extensive ground and air searches located no trace of the child. On September 25, 1997, a bloodhound tracked Brittney's scent from the apartment area to the parking lot of a Marathon service station and convenience store east of the apartments on U.S. 12, a lot frequented by interstate truckers, where the scent stopped. During September 1997, at least five attempted child abductions were reported across St. Joseph County — Big Hill Road south of Sturgis (September 7), Centreville (September 10), Constantine (September 15), Mendon (September 19), and White Pigeon — and two additional attempts were reported in Marcellus, Cass County, by mid-October 1997; investigators publicly examined connections among the incidents, and no suspect in any of them was ever identified. Daniel Furlong, convicted in 2016 of the 2007 murder of eleven-year-old Jodi Parrack in Constantine, was investigated in connection with Brittney's case, denied involvement, and was never charged. Brittney has never been found, and no one has ever been charged in her disappearance. The case remains open. NCMEC case #837981; age-progressed images are current. Anyone with information may contact the Sturgis Police Department at (269) 651-3231 or NCMEC at 1-800-843-5678.
