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FBI releases new photos of missing mother Paula Wade in bid to solve 21-year cold case

21 years after their dissapearance, the FBI have releaded new age progression photos of Paula and Brandon Wade

Amelia Neath
Friday 15 December 2023 17:21 GMT
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Paula and her son Brandon have been missing for two decades
Paula and her son Brandon have been missing for two decades (FBI/The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

The FBI have released age progression photos of a mother and her three-year-old son who went missing in 2002.

Paula Wade and her young son Brandon went missing on 14 October 2002, and within the two decades of their disappearance, there have been no leads or traces of the pair.

The FBI, Valdosta Police in Georgia and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have released these pictures as another push to try and gather further information on the cold case over two decades later.

The photos, created by the NCMEC, show what both Ms Wade and Brandon could look like in the present day.

The pictures show what Brandon would look like at 23 and his mother at 45, but their ages now would be 24 and 47 years old.

“Over the years, the Valdosta Police Department has worked the case but has never been able to find clues as to where the Wades could be or who, if anyone, might have wanted to harm them,” the FBI wrote in a statement.

On Ms Wade’s missing person’s poster, it details that she may be wearing corrective lenses or glasses and uses an inhaler.

The mother was working for Sam’s Club, a retail chain, in 2002 and disappeared one day when she failed to show up for work.

Brandon, who was three at the time, would now be 24 (FBI/The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

It was the first day that she had missed in five years. She was due to move to Kissimmee in Florida a week later to work in another branch of Sam’s Club and be near her parents, USA Today reports.

When police initially searched her apartment, the last place she and her son were seen, they weren’t there.

Her car keys, wallet, purse and glasses were still there; without them, she was nearly blind.

The only item that was missing was Brandon’s car seat, according to the outlet.

Investigators set to work interviewing people of interest, including Ms Wade’s estranged husband, who was serving in the military at the time and had moved out of state.

However, after digging, the police never found any leads, and still, to this day, no arrests have been made in connection with their disappearance.

The Valdosta Police Department has assigned a new detective to the case to reexamine the evidence and try and search for new leads.

Paula Wade went missing when she didn’t turn up to work one day (FBI/ The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

“As of this time, all leads and clues have been exhausted,” Stephen Thompson, commander of the Valdosta Police Department’s Bureau of Investigations, told USA Today.

“A fresh pair of eyes, new thoughts, ideas, and hopefully fresh leads could be the break needed.”

On Ms Wade’s missing person’s poster, it details that she is a white female, her eyes and hair are brown, she weighs 150 pounds and is 5’7” tall.

Ms Wade also has a birthmark on the upper part of one of her legs, and her top canine teeth protrude in front of her top teeth,

On Brandon’s missing person’s poster, it says he is a white male, weighing 33 pounds at the time of his disappearance at the time of Brandon’s disappearance, and has brown hair and hazel eyes.

The NCMEC also said that Brandon’s nickname is ‘Munchkin.’

Anyone with information on Paula and Brandon Wade’s disappearance is asked to contact the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office at 770-216-3000 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

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