On the morning of June 14, 2012, a fourteen-year-old girl named Brittany Shante Robinson ran back to her mother for one more goodbye kiss before heading off for a weekend visit with her father. “Love you, mom. See you later,” she said.
She never came back.
Brittany was the kind of kid people noticed — outgoing, close with her younger sister, already signed up for AP classes ahead of her freshman year at Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama. She had severe asthma and didn’t have her medication with her when she disappeared. She was, by every account, a kid with a future in front of her.
That weekend, Brittany was dropped off at the home of her father, Demetric Hooper, on McCovery Road in west Mobile County. Brittany and Hooper had been estranged for most of her life, but that summer, she’d been working to rebuild a relationship with him — the kind of thing a lot of teenagers do, wanting to know where they come from.
When Brittany didn’t come home, her mother, Tiana Hogue, started reaching out to Hooper. At first, there were excuses. Then the excuses stopped. Hooper’s phone started going straight to voicemail. When police went to check on the house, it was empty. He was gone — and so was Brittany.
A Cross-Country Disappearance
What followed was a manhunt that stretched across the southeastern United States. Investigators determined Hooper had fled under an alias, eventually boarding a bus through Memphis toward Arkansas. A witness at the Memphis bus station told police Hooper was traveling alone — there was no sign of Brittany.
In September 2012, three months after Brittany vanished, authorities located Hooper at a mental health facility in Springdale, Arkansas, where he had checked himself in for treatment related to schizophrenia, a condition he had struggled with for years. Brittany was not with him. When he was taken into custody, he reportedly had her iPod, along with knives and rope.
With no evidence of what had happened to Brittany and no way to prove a more serious crime, police charged Hooper with custodial interference. He pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to ten years. He was released in December 2016 after serving roughly four years for good behavior — a moment Tiana Hogue has described as one of the most painful of the entire ordeal.
A Cold Case Reopens
For more than a decade, Brittany’s case remained cold. Hooper was always the primary person of interest, but investigators lacked the evidence to charge him with anything related to Brittany’s actual disappearance.
That changed in early 2024. While in custody in Oklahoma on unrelated charges, Hooper was indicted by a Mobile County grand jury for Brittany’s murder — nearly twelve years after she vanished. Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood acknowledged the difficulty of the case from the start: there was no body, and there never had been. The prosecution’s argument rested largely on the passage of time itself — that twelve years of total silence pointed to one conclusion.
The Trial
The case went to trial in spring 2025, and it moved quickly — just five days of testimony for a case that had taken thirteen years to reach a courtroom.
Family members testified about Hooper’s agitation whenever Brittany’s disappearance came up. Retired law enforcement officers described physical evidence: a burned cell phone and a shovel recovered from a controlled burn, and bones found near a clay pit not far from Hooper’s home. Prosecutors also highlighted a phone call Hooper allegedly made while fleeing, in which a cousin told him police were asking about Brittany’s safety — and Hooper reportedly responded, “Okay. Cool beans.”
But each piece of physical evidence fell apart under testing. The bones turned out to be animal remains. Hair found in a bird’s nest, initially thought to be a possible match, turned out to be from a wig. The defense argued — and the jury ultimately agreed — that suspicious behavior wasn’t proof of murder, and that prosecutors had never established a motive, a weapon, or a body.
On June 9, 2025, the jury returned a verdict: not guilty. Hooper was released from custody and no longer faces any charges related to Brittany’s disappearance.
Still Missing
An acquittal doesn’t mean a case is solved — it means it wasn’t proven. Brittany Robinson remains an open missing persons case to this day. There is no body, no conviction, and notably, no other suspect has ever been identified.
That leaves two possibilities, both unbearable in their own way. One is that Brittany died in 2012 and has never been found. The other — raised by Tiana Hogue herself in interviews, and touched on briefly during the trial — is that Brittany may have been trafficked, and could still be alive somewhere, living a life that was never supposed to be hers.
Brittany Shante Robinson has now been missing for nearly as long as she was alive. If you have any information about her case, please contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-1700. She is listed with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) under case number 18058.
Listen to the full story on this episode of Vanished Voices: “See You Later” — Brittany Shante Robinson on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast!
Vanished Voices is a true crime podcast dedicated to the cases that don’t get the attention they deserve — unsolved cases of people of color, LGBTQ+ victims, MMIW cases, and stories that still need tips to be solved. New episodes drop every Thursday. Subscribe and follow us anywhere you listen to podcasts.
For listeners drawn to “See You Later,” these episodes share thematic threads — parental involvement in a disappearance, the long wait for answers, and the open question of whether a missing person could still be alive.
“Almost There” — Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis A natural pairing: another case where the line between “missing” and “deceased” was never definitively drawn, and where family members carried the weight of unanswered questions for years.
“Five Minutes Away” — Sage Smith Like Brittany’s case, Sage’s disappearance has long carried an undercurrent of trafficking speculation alongside the possibility of foul play — and, like Brittany, the case remains unresolved with no body ever found.
“Wandered Off” — Ashlea Aldrich Another case centered on a young person whose disappearance left a family in limbo, with theories ranging from voluntary departure to something far darker.
“She Always Called” — Pepita Redhair Pairs well for listeners interested in cases where a missing Indigenous or minority woman’s case received limited investigative resources for years before any real movement occurred — a thread worth exploring alongside Brittany’s case, given how long it took for charges to be filed.
“Benita Long: Missing from the System” A strong thematic match for the trafficking angle — this episode dealt directly with how missing persons, particularly women and girls, can fall through institutional cracks in ways that delay or prevent them from being found.
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Resources:
CrimeOnline. (2024, February 24). Alabama teen’s dad arrested for her murder. Alabama Teen’s Dad Arrested for Her Murder – Crime Online
Doe Network. (2022, February 22). Brittany Shante Robinson (Case No. 4174DFAL). 4174DFAL – Brittany Shante Robinson
For the Lost. (n.d.). Case file of Brittany Robinson. Case File of Brittany Robinson
FOX10 News. (2024, February 27). A cold case leads to murder charge in Mobile — but still no body. WALA. A cold case leads to murder charge in Mobile — but still no body
FOX10 News. (2025, June 9). Father of Brittany Robinson found not guilty of murder in connection to her disappearance. WALA. Father of Brittany Robinson found not guilty of murder in connection to her disappearance
FOX26 Houston. (2023, November 30). Missing Brittany Shante Robinson last seen 11 years ago at 14 years old. Missing Brittany Shante Robinson last seen 11 years ago at 14 years old | FOX 26 Houston
Hold My Sweet Tea. (2025, June 19). Ep. 39 – Missing since 2012: Update in Brittany Robinson’s case [Audio podcast episode]. Buzzsprout. Ep. 39-Missing Since 2012: Update in Brittany Robinson’s Case
Justice4Caylee Forum. (2013, June 2). Brittany Robinson – 14 yo – Mobile, AL. Brittany Robinson – 14 yo – Mobile, AL
Lets Find Them. (2012, July 31). Parental abduction – Brittany Robinson (14) – Mobile, Alabama. Parental abduction – Brittany Robinson (14)
MyNBC15. (2016, December 12). Father of missing teen released, mother asks for stronger laws. Father of missing teen released, mother asks for stronger laws
The Charley Project. (2026, May 7). Brittany Shante Robinson. Brittany Shante Robinson – The Charley Project
WKRG News 5. (2025, June 9). Demetric Hooper found not guilty of murder in daughter’s 2012 disappearance. Demetric Hooper found not guilty of murder in daughter’s 2012 disappearance
WKRG News 5. (2025). Trial begins for Mobile County father accused of killing his 14-year-old daughter who went missing in 2012. Yahoo News. Trial begins for Mobile County father accused of killing his 14-year-old daughter who went missing in 2012