Nicole Vanzant

Yesterday in Stanton, the funeral was held for Nicole Penix-Vanzant, who had made national news headlines when she disappeared in January.

According to news reports, her boyfriend said she got out of his car after an argument, after which she was never seen again. Although many news reports say he dropped her off at "Frenchburg General Store", which is described as being located "on a remote stretch of road in Menifee County", it's actually Dollar General Store on Frenchburg's Main Street. The authorities searched for her but found nothing, until late April when her jawbone and other body parts were inadvertently discovered by a hiker in the Red River Gorge.

The case still remains unsolved.

Tent Girl

Ever since her body was found by the side of I-75 near Georgetown in 1968, “Tent Girl,” became something of an icon as one of America’s most troubling unsolved mysteries. Her gravesite and the location where her body was found had both become popular “legend tripping” destinations for curiosity seekers.

But in 1998, the dogged efforts of private detective Todd Matthews (who refused to give up trying to solve the cold case) paid off: using the internet, he met a woman who was seeking the whereabouts of her sister, Barbara Ann Hackman-Taylor. Barbara Ann had been missing since 1967 but was thought to be have been living in Florida at the time of her disappearance. Because of this, no one had thought to connect her to the Kentucky "Tent Girl" mystery.


Her grave, which has since had a second part added to it containing her real name, can be found in Georgetown Cemetery.

James "Honest Dick" Tate

Like James Harrod, former Kentucky State Treasurer James "Honest Dick" Tate is another prominent Kentuckian who pulled a permanent vanishing act. But at least we know Tate's motive: he cleaned out the state's coffers he was entrusted to protect. After bilking Kentucky out of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, he fled and was never apprehended.

On March 14, 1888, Tate was seen filling two huge tobacco sacks with $100,000 in gold and silver coin. He departed for Louisville, instructing his staff via a note that he would return in two days. He never did.

During the subsequent investigation, it was learned that Tate had been using the state Treasury as his own personal piggy-bank for quite some time, having used the funds to pay his own debts and to make investments in real estate and mining ventures. All total, Tate had swindled the state out of $247,128.50.

It was later determined that Tate had gone to Cincinnati after leaving Louisville, and from there apparently traveled to Canada, San Francisco, Japan and China, according to the postmarks on letters he wrote his daughter while on the run. The letters stopped coming in December 1888, and what became of Tate after that is anyone's guess.

The Mystery of James Harrod

Nick Tosches spent years researching the 1920s musician Emmett Miller, who had been quite famous in his day yet left almost no trace of his existence just a half century later. His quest to know more about the man became an obsession that spanned decades, and finally bore fruit, as detailed in his book "Where Dead Voices Gather".

Perhaps one day scholars will plumb the depths of the mysteries of Kentucky's James Harrod as well - but I wouldn't bet on it. Harrod is a key part of Kentucky history, yet one whose record is smudged in places and completely blank in others.

We dont know when he was born and we don't know when he died. We have no photographs or paintings of his likeness. We know almost nothing about his early life. We do know he served in the French and Indian War, and was probably underage when he did so. We also know he was an important early settler of Kentucky, in every way a peer of Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark, yet his name is not a household word. (Well, then again, in a way it is for some: Harrod founded the first permanent settlement in Kentucky in 1774 and we know it today as the city pictured above.... Harrodsburg.)

In February 1792, Harrod left on a hunting trip in the wilderness of Kentucky and was never seen again.

There are as many theories and explanations for his vanishing as there are JFK conspiracy theories, and we'll probably never know the truth.

Some say he was a bigamist and had another wife and family, to whom he returned to under another name, and was likely buried under this pseudonym. Others tell of a pair of woodsmen held captive by Indians in Michigan meeting a fellow prisoner referred to as "Colonel Harrod." And yet another account has it that Harrod had been killed by one of his fellow hunters, a man named Bridges, and that the secret purpose of their hunting expedition was to search for Jonathan Swift's fabled silver mine. Supposedly this Bridges guy was caught selling silver buttons from Harrod's coat, conveniently engraved with the letter "H", at a Lexington shop.

Then there's the bizarre tale that some of Harrod's friends found his skeleton in a cave, wrapped in grass. However, some say the skeleton was wearing Harrod's shirt and some say it wasn't. Supposedly, Harrod's family believed the skeleton to be his, so the question then becomes, why didn't they bury the skeleton and give him a proper gravestone? And why then, when Ann applied for Harrod's pension, did she swear he had died in a hunting accident and that his clothes had been found in a nearby river but his body never found?

The most logical explanation, to me, would be that he simply died in the woods and no one ever found his body, which probably was torn apart by wild animals. But according to the James Harrod Trust, "In the 1880s a rumor circulated that Bridges, who had returned to Virginia, confessed on his deathbed to the Harrod murder and revealed the place of his burial in what is now Estill County, Kentucky".

Or maybe he encountered the Devil Deer.

I'm not exactly weeping copious tears for Harrod, though - he actively opposed Daniel Boone and Richard Henderson's Transylvania purchase, and added and abetted the crooked land grab from Virginia. He went on to represent Virginia's "Kentucky County" in the Virginia House of Delegates. Many people, your humble author included, believe that most of the area should still be known as Transylvania because it was improperly wrested from Boone and Henderson's hands by the state of Virginia before regaining its independence.

Mummified Georgetown Woman Found in Car

From the Associated Press by way of Fox News:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The mummified remains of a disabled Kentucky woman were found in the trunk of her brother's car, police said, and her crudely wrapped body may have been stored in her bedroom for two years.

The severely decomposed body of Penny Brown, 31, was discovered Friday by police in the central Kentucky town of Georgetown, KY, said Georgetown Police Chief Greg Reeves. Police are searching for her brother, Timothy Allen Brown, 30, of Georgetown.

The car was discovered in St. Louis last week, Reeves said, when police responded to a complaint that it had been on a street for several days. Police had the car towed more than 300 miles back to Kentucky where they searched it and found the body.

Penny Brown's body had been "wrapped in quilts and then the quilts were wrapped in construction-grade plastic to make it more of an air-tight package, and then placed in the back of his car, in the trunk," said county coroner John Goble.

Goble said the body was so decomposed the state medical examiner's office was unable to determine a cause of death, but "she had no fractures, no broken bones whatsoever."

He said toxicology tests would be performed to determine how Penny Brown died, but "we're probably never going to know, to be honest."

Reeves said a Georgetown police officer had visited Timothy Brown's apartment Sept. 20 as part of a child welfare case involving his 8-year-old son, who was taken from the residence after social service workers found deplorable conditions there, including "human feces and everything just on the floor."

The officer went back after the child had "mentioned he was never allowed in Aunt Penny's room," Reeves said.

Afterward, Timothy Brown disappeared, and police contacted another relative, who filed a missing persons report, he said.

Police in Georgetown, which is about 70 miles east of Louisville, believe the body was kept in Timothy Brown's apartment for two years, Reeves said, probably in Penny Brown's bedroom. The police chief said Timothy Brown had signed his sister out of a nursing home in 2006.

"There was a bedroom that was her bedroom in the apartment," Reeves said. "We believe that's where he stored her."

Reeves said Penny Brown had used a wheelchair but would not elaborate further on her disability.

Timothy Brown has not been charged, police said.

And then, later, by way of WTOP:

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky man arrested after police found the mummified remains of his disabled sister in the trunk of his car was set to appear in court Wednesday for an extradition hearing.

Timothy Allen Brown, 36, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in St. Louis on Tuesday night, said Georgetown Police Chief Greg Reeves.

The severely decomposed body of 31-year-old Penny Brown was discovered Friday after police towed the car from St. Louis to Kentucky. They had received complaints that it had been on the street for several days.

Brown has been charged with abuse or neglect of an adult, a felony in Kentucky, Reeves said. He could face additional federal charges in Kentucky for allegedly cashing his sister's disability checks, Reeves said Wednesday.

Timothy Brown signed his wheelchair-dependent sister out of a nursing home in 2006, and the remains may have been in his apartment for two years, police said. Officials have said they may not be able to determine how she died.

Lee Messmer, a U.S. Marshal's assistant chief deputy in St. Louis, said Brown had been in the St. Louis area probably for a couple of weeks. He was arrested Tuesday night at a library, Messmer said.

Brown's car was found last week when police responded to a complaint that it had been on a street for several days. Police had the car towed more than 300 miles back to Kentucky where they found the badly decomposed body wrapped in quilts and plastic.

Reeves said a local Kentucky police officer had visited Timothy Brown's apartment Sept. 20 as part of a child welfare case involving his 8-year-old son, who was taken from the residence after social service workers found deplorable conditions. Reeves said the boy mentioned that he hadn't seen his aunt "in some time," and was not allowed into her room.

Reeves said officers found evidence of decomposition in the room that matched the remains in the trunk.

The Disappearance of Sonya Bradley

One of the most puzzling Cold Case files in the Kentucky State Police database would be that of Sonya Lynn Bradley, who vanished without a trace in Eddyville, KY on October 10, 2002.

Bradley had allegedly been last seen by her boyfriend at 12:30 p.m. on October 10, 2002. Bradley had been suffering a recent string of bad luck: medical problems, money problems, and one of her three children was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Some believe Bradley went somewhere to commit suicide, and this theory is bolstered by the fact that wherever she went, she did not bring along her purse, her medication, her cigarettes, or any clothes from her closet.

Others believe that some sort of foul play was involved, citing her personal character as not being the suicidal type, and the fact that a large comforter was missing from her bed. If someone did kill her, it has been theorized, they may have used the comforter to wrap her body up in and transport it away. And even if Bradley did commit suicide, where is her body?

In 2004, a female torso with its head and limbs removed was found near an I-70 rest stop in Wright City, Missouri. It was believed at first to be that of Bradley, but a DNA test ruled that out. In 2005, an attempt was made to match Bradley with a "Jane Doe" skeleton found in Texas, but Bradley's dental records didn't match.

A 2007 article in the Paducah Sun has a curious statement from Bradley's mother, Beverly Miller:

"Miller said she knows who killed her daughter -- the suspect is in prison for killing another person. Investigators have not identified a suspect publicly."

The case is currently a KSP unsolved Cold Case file. If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Kentucky State Police Detective Steve Bryan, at (270) 856-3721 or (800) 222-5555.

The Erica Fraysure Case

Erica Fraysure was a 17-year-old resident of Germantown, KY. She was a senior at Bracken County High School and was employed part-time at Carota's Pizza in Augusta, KY.

Fraysure was last seen on October 21, 1997, during the 9pm hour, at the Video-N-Tan in Brooksville, KY. She drove away and headed for her home in Germantown, but never got there.

The next day, Fraysure's car was found only one mile from Video-N-Tan, parked between haystacks on Fronks Road. Her purse was inside the car with all her money and valuables intact. Fraysure's car keys were discovered nearby, covered with leaves. There was no blood, no signs of struggle, no evidence of foul play. Because of this lack of evidence, her disappearance is being considered a missing person case, not a criminal matter.

In 1998, the cheesy self-proclaimed psychic Sylvia Browne claimed to have information about the Fraysure case that she psychically gleaned with her paranormal abilities. (You can read more about Browne here and you can check out her own ridiculous websites here and here.) Browne announced her claims on, of all places, the Montel Williams Show, where she declared that Fraysure's body was at the bottom of a lake near Brooksville. For reasons unclear to me, the police decided to take the word of a TV psychic hotline lady seriously, and at great expense, all nearby lakes were dredged.

Fraysure wasn't found.


Undaunted by her failure, Browne continued to appear on the Montel show, and allegedly hinted that a man named Chris Mineer was responsible for Fraysure's disappearance. Mineer subsequently committed suicide. Mineer's mother tried to sue over the incident but a judge in Covington, KY ruled to dismiss, for reasons that are also unclear to me.

Meanwhile, investigators are no closer to solving the Erica Fraysure case than before.