Grandchildren still search for answers in cold case disappearance

By John Oakes

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    MANSFIELD, Louisiana (KTBS) — Twenty-five years ago, Syble Brumley, a 76-year-old Mansfield woman was reported missing. Investigators believe Brumley was kidnapped from inside her home on Highway 171. The family still believes, even though more than two decades have passed, someone out there must know something.

Tracy Cowdin still remembers the day her grandmother disappeared. She remembers the lines of police cars outside her home. The front door appeared to have been kicked in. The scene inside the bedroom stands out the most.

“That’s the main thing I remember. Whoever did it. It looked like they just reached up into the top of that closet and just threw all the shoes, there were shoes everywhere,” Cowdin said.

After twenty-five years, no arrests have been made. The grandkids that remain have their own theories. Cowdin says she’s convinced, based on evidence at the house, Brumley was taken by someone she knew.

“We feel whoever did it knew that bar was across the back door, and they could not kick it in,” said Cowdin. “We just feel like it was someone that knew the house.”

Brumley’s house has now been paved over by highway 171. Most of the investigators who worked the case have passed away. The unanswered questions stick-with her loved ones.

“You don’t think that someone would just vanish off the face of the earth, but she did. Just, one day she was here, then the next day she was gone,” said Cowdin.

The family says they are still looking for any information you might have, however small it may seem. They believe that in a community as close-knit as theirs, somebody must know something.

Anyone with information should notify DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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