JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — It is the mysterious case of a new mom who was visiting family in metro Atlanta in late February, and suddenly vanished—a case that has confounded her loved ones, and police.
Her name is Ciera Breland, visiting, with her husband and their newborn, from Carmel, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis.
Police in Johns Creek said Thursday they now know where and when Breland was last seen while she was in metro Atlanta, but no one knows, yet, what happened to her after that.
Police are describing her husband as a person of interest in the case.
Family and friends are in unspeakable pain.
“It’s just so hard, you know?” said Stephanie Locklair, through her tears, on Friday. Locklair is Breland’s former sister-in-law who remains close to the family.
Police told Locklair and Breland’s family Friday that investigators were able to trace Breland to a house on Highgate Manor Court. She was there on Thursday evening, Feb. 24.
Police said Breland’s mother-in-law owns the house.
Then, police said, Breland vanished, there is no cell phone data or any other trace of where Breland went after that.
Did Breland ever make it home?
“As far as I know, there’s no evidence that she ever got to Indiana,” Locklair said.
The following weekend, Breland’s husband, Xavier Breland, was back home in Indiana without her, and filing a missing person’s report, telling police that she had walked out of their house in Carmel.
“Leaving her child, we all know that she wouldn’t do that,” Locklair said. “Leaving her cell phone, her purse, credit cards, everything. Obviously, that story was a lie.”
“This is not like her to disappear, she’s very close to her family, she talks to them all the time,” Johns Creek Police Lieutenant Deb Kalish said.
Kalish said everyone fears for Breland’s safety.
Police in Carmel quickly found out that Xavier Breland was a fugitive, wanted in Newnan, Georgia, charged in Newnan with the aggravated stalking of his ex-wife, who is the mother of his five-year-old child.
Xavier Breland is now in jail in Indiana on that charge, awaiting transfer to Georgia, and police said he is a “person of interest” in Ciera Breland’s disappearance.
“Obviously, she’s a mother of a five-month-old baby,” Lt. Kalish said, “It’s not normal for her, specifically, not to be in touch with her family. So we’re deeply concerned that something happened and something’s wrong.”
“They had a very troubled marriage,” Locklair said, trying not to imagine what might have happened.
On March 17, the Coweta County Sheriff's Office said Breland was in their custody.
Breland’s family has been canvassing areas in Johns Creek where police said she and her husband had been while visiting in February. They’ve been passing out fliers and looking for homes and businesses that have security cameras that might have recorded video of Breland and her husband.
The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward in the case.
“We need people’s thoughts and prayers, right now,” Locklair said.
Johns Creek Police investigators are urging anyone who might have information about Ciera Breland to call Corporal Rozier at 678-372-8046.