Bollinger County search related to missing Gina Dawn Brooks

Gina Dawn Brooks of Fredericktown disappeared in August 1989. Law enforcement officials recently searched a rural property in Bollinger County in connection with the case, but Sheriff Casey Graham said no human remains were found. (Southeast Missourian file)

Law enforcement officials recently searched a rural Bollinger County property in connection with the case of a Fredericktown, Missouri, girl who disappeared in 1989.

The search relates to the August 1989 disappearance of Gina Dawn Brooks, who went missing in Fredericktown.

On Monday, July 22 officers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control and the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, and the Fredericktown Police Department, began a search of a rural property located in Bollinger County, according to a news release issued by Lt. Darrin R. Haslag, assistant director/executive operations for the Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control.

This multi-day search was conducted pursuant to a Bollinger County search warrant and was part of the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Brooks, Haslag said.

According to a 2013 Associated Press story, Brooks was 14 when she disappeared Aug. 5, 1989. She had been riding her bicycle near her home at about 10 p.m. A witness reported hearing a scream, and the girl’s bicycle was found in the street. Bryant Squires reportedly made a deathbed confession in 1996, indicating he and Nathan “Danny” Williams abducted and killed the girl. Williams was eventually charged with murder, but the charge was dropped because of a lack of evidence. Both men have since died.

“Throughout the course of the search, items of possible evidentiary value were collected and will be forwarded to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory for analysis,” Haslag said.

No human remains were located, however, the investigation into Brooks’ disappearance is active and ongoing, Haslag said.

Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to contact the Division of Drug and Crime Control/Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop E Headquarters at (573) 840-9500, the FBI tip line at 1-800-Call-FBI or submit information through tips.fbi.gov.

The Southeast Missourian contributed to this report.