AUSTELL, Ga. — A car belonging to a couple wanted for felony child abuse out of Charlotte, North Carolina, was believed to be in, was found abandoned 260 miles away, in the back of a mobile home park off Veterans Memorial Highway in Austell.
This story started unfolding on March 20 when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said Brandon Augustine and his finance’ Mildred Chestnut brought their 4-month-old son into Atrium Hospital in Charlotte. The hospital staff said the couple told them they’d been in a minor crash.
“Which the child was a passenger in however the severity of the child’s injuries were not consistent with a minor crash as the parents insisted,” explained CMPD Major Luke Sell said.
Detectives said Augustine and Chestnut not only lied about the injuries to their infant but also abandoned the baby at the hospital. The following day, detectives took their evidence to a judge who signed a warrant on both for Felony Intentional Child Abuse.
In the meantime, Augustine’s mother files a missing persons report with CMPD because she’s not heard from her son or his fiancé since March 20. This is the same day detectives said the couple dropped their baby off at the hospital with severe injuries.
Three days after the couple was last heard from and two days after warrants were signed, on March 23, 11Alive’s sister station, WCNC in Charlotte, interviewed Augustine’s mother.
‘This (three days) is the longest I’ve not heard from him in his entire life,” Dianna Augustine said, adding later, "The phone started going to voicemail, like they were just gone, and that’s it.”
At the time of this interview, she had no idea during this interview that her son and future daughter-in-law were fugitives. While she was doing this interview with our sister station, her son’s car had already been found in Austell. Even without her knowing the case details, her motherly instinct seemed to be kicking in. At the time of this interview, she had no idea during this interview that her son and future daughter-in-law were fugitives.
“Something is so absolutely wrong that they’re not contacting,” Dianna Augustine said.
It wouldn’t be until April 12 CMPD would come out and publicly announce Brandon and his fiancé Mildred Chestnut were still missing and fugitives. At the time of the news conference, detectives believed they might have been getting help to elude law enforcement.
Austell Police confirmed on Friday to 11Alive’s Cody Alcorn that once the vehicle was found on March 21, their involvement ended. That would be the case until just a few days ago when Police Chief Scott Hamilton said detectives from CMPD called him and said new information makes them believe there’s a chance the couple never made it out of his jurisdiction.
On Thursday, Chief Hamilton gathered resources from several agencies and searched the Lawrence Estates Mobile Home Park, where the couple’s car was found. He said they searched by air, on land and even had a boat in the Sweetwater Creek, but there was no sign of the fugitives.
Chief Hamilton said from his understanding, there had been no confirmed sighting of the couple since March 20. He said when the car was found the next day, they did talk to a neighbor who believed he saw a man near the car, but the man quickly ran off. He added that where the vehicle was found in the back of the mobile home park was very odd. He said unless they knew someone in the area, it’s hard to believe they would stumble up on it and then drive to the back of the maze-like streets and run the car down an embankment.
Chief Hamilton said his agency is actively working on the case and assisting CMPD in finding Augustine and Chestnut. He’s asking anyone with information to call their office or Greater Atlanta Crime Stoppers at (404-577-8477)
11Alive did try to reach Dianna for a follow-up interview with the help of our sister station, but as of late Friday night, she has not reached out to us.