The search for missing Malabar volunteer firefighter Brandy Hall returned Friday to a Palm Bay pond after police spotted an item belonging to the woman, according to Local 6 News partner Florida Today.
Hall's firefighting pants were seen flowing back into the pond when it was refilled on Thursday. She vanished last week after leaving the Malabar fire station just after 10:30 p.m. Aug. 17.
The next morning, Hall's green pickup was found submerged in a pond that is often used in police training. It lies just south of Palm Bay's Brevard Community College campus. Her truck was found after other pieces of her firefighting suit known as bunker gear was found by a fisherman floating in the pond.
Police are testing what appeared to be blood found in the waterlogged cab, Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said. Results of that test should be available later Friday, officials said.
Her husband, Jeffrey Hall was expecting his wife to join him for his sentencing on drug charges in an Osceola County courtroom last Friday. He is the former Osceola County Fire chief.
He was sentenced to 18 months in state prison on a cultivation of cannabis charge after prosecutors accused him of running a $1 million operation growing a particularly potent strand of marijuana. He has since been allowed out on bond as his lawyers appeal a ruling in his case.
Hall's husband is asking for the public's help in locating her.
"I'm scared to death," Jeffrey Hall said. "Somebody's got to know something. If somebody's seen Brandy, call the authorities. You can't just vanish off the face of the earth."
His attorneys and police said Hall is not a suspect in his wife's disappearance.
"Absolutely, 100 percent, Jeffrey Hall had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance," attorney Kepler Funk said.
Earlier this week, law enforcement officers walked a section of a grassy strip along Interstate 95 in the Viera area, searching for items related to the case. Officials would not indicate what item they were searching for. Detectives, however, have been hunting for Hall's department-issued radio and cell phone.
"It's a missing persons case, but we have treated it as a possible homicide from the beginning," said Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Palm Bay Police Department.
Police don't believe Hall's disappearance is connected to the drug case involving her husband. Hall, then working with the Palm Bay Fire Department, also was arrested in that case, but charges were later dropped. She was fired from the force, though.
Jeffrey Hall said his 5-year-old son was having nightmares.
"I don't know what to tell the kids," he said. "I just don't know."
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Previous Stories:
- August 24, 2006: Firefighter Search Moves To I-95
- August 23, 2006: Apparent Blood Found In Missing Central Fla. Firefighter's Pickup
- August 21, 2006: Cadaver Dogs Used In Firefighter Search
- August 21, 2006: Firefighter, Friend Accused Of Taking Girl To Park For Sex
- August 20, 2006: Pond Drained In Search For Firefighter
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