Caleb Hughes Makes a Child Vanish
(“Innocence Lost,” Forensic Files)
Note: This post was updated in October 2020
I try not to use clichéed phrases, but this one seems unavoidable in telling Melissa Brannen’s story: every parent’s worst nightmare.
Melissa, age 5, vanished while attending a holiday party with her mother in Lorton, Virginia.
The little girl, dressed in a red skirt and blue Sesame Street sweater, strayed from single mother Tammy Brannen’s field of vision for a minute.
Challenge for prosecutors. Unfortunately, that was all it took for Caleb Daniel Hughes to grab her, exit via a window, put her in his red Honda Civic, and take off on the chilly night of December 3, 1989.
At the time Forensic Files first aired “Innocence Lost” in 1999, Melissa was missing — and she still is. No one figured out what Hughes did with her or her body.
Because the state of Virginia requires a proven location of a body to get a murder conviction, prosecutors charged Hughes with abduction of a minor with immoral purpose. That got him a sentence of 50 years, initially.
Struggling single mother. For this week, I looked around for epilogues for Caleb Hughes and Tammy Brannen, but first here’s a recap of “Innocence Lost,” the Forensic Files episode about the case, along with additional information from internet research.
Tammy Brannen was a 27-year-old accountant when she moved to northern Virginia with her daughter after a divorce. Her ex-husband lived in Texas.
She got a job with a defense contracting company, CACI Inc., and moved into a two-bedroom apartment in the Woodside complex.
On the weekends, she worked at a jewelry store. Her parents helped take care of Melissa.
The holiday party took place in Woodside’s clubhouse and drew about 200 residents.
Wolf loose. Woodside was known for its friendliness and sense of community, which is nice to hear (I lived in a couple garden apartment complexes in New Jersey, and they were cesspools). Tammy Brannen had no reason to worry about her daughter’s safety among her neighbors.
At least one person who wasn’t an actual tenant, Caleb Hughes, attended the party. He was a newlywed in his mid-20s who worked as a maintenance man for the complex.
Guests recalled that Hughes paid attention to Melissa at the party and spoke to her, although he would later deny it.
After Tammy said her goodbyes to her neighbors at the party, she all of a sudden couldn’t find her daughter. Melissa had asked permission to take home some potato chips just a few moments before.
Tammy discovered an open window in the utility closet in the back of the room. That was the only clue.
Laundry’s a giveaway. The police, citizen volunteers, and 300 military personnel quickly mobilized a search effort for Melissa. They distributed 35,000 fliers and 10,000 bumper stickers in the Washington, D.C., area. Some local movie theaters played home video footage showing Melissa. A $100,000 award was offered for help.
Still, no sign of Melissa.
But investigators had already come up with a suspect on the night of the disappearance. Caleb Hughes told a fishy-sounding story about his whereabouts when detectives interviewed him at his house. They looked in his washing machine and discovered the outfit he’d worn that night, including his leather belt, knife holder, and shoes; everything had already gone through the wash cycle.
In an exchange that sounded like TV police-show dialogue, a detective told Hughes, “I think you took Melissa out of that party.”
“Prove it,” Hughes replied.
Media frenzy. The police did so using evidence retrieved from Hughes’ car. They identified fibers from Melissa’s Big Bird sweater. Retailer J.C. Penney had manufactured it using material in a rare patented shade of blue named Plum Navy 887.
Meanwhile, the massive media coverage surrounding Hughes’ prospective guilt compelled Baltimore Sun columnist Roger Simon to condemn it as “media justice” akin to mob justice in a piece he wrote for the January 10, 1990 edition.
“There was a stampede among local stations in Washington to ‘own’ the Melissa Brennan story,” Simon wrote, noting that at least one TV anchor’s voice choked with emotion on air when she spoke of Melissa.
Hughes, on the other hand, clammed up about the disappearance. But his wife, Carol, was happy to cooperate with police. Carol, who worked as a supply buyer for the local public school system, helped investigators establish a timeline for Caleb Hughes’ movements the night Melissa vanished.
Cruel game. Investigators believe Hughes took off Melissa’s pink coat in the car, sexually assaulted her, and then killed her. Forensic Files noted that most strangers who kidnap children murder them within three hours.
As if Tammy hadn’t experienced enough of an emotional roller coaster following the disappearance, a couple of moronic young adults perpetrated a cruel hoax against her. They said they were holding Melissa and would release her for $75,000 in ransom.
An FBI agent posing as Tammy Brannen handed the money to a courier whom they subsequently followed to an apartment shared by Emmett Muriel Grier III, 20, and Anthony Girard McCray, 24
Grier, a college dropout whose father was a sheriff’s deputy in Detroit, and McCray were charged with extortion in 1991. Grier got a prison sentence of just shy of 4 years, and McCray, who allegedly devised the plan, received 7 years.
Authorities believe they had nothing to do with Melissa’s disappearance, however, and that Hughes acted alone as the kidnapper.
Bad guy wins. The 50-year sentence with no possibility of parole the judge handed to Hughes in May of 1991 was an impressive achievement for the justice system considering no body ever turned up. Prosecutor Robert Horan Jr. would later call the Brannen disappearance the most haunting case he ever worked on.
So where are the parties today?
On June 22, 1993, a Virginia appeals court overturned Hughes’ conviction for intent to molest, meaning he could end up resentenced on charges of abduction alone.
Sure enough, a Washington Post interview with Tammy from 1999 referred to a 2013 release date for Hughes — a huge letdown considering his original sentence would have kept him behind razor wire until 2041.
It’s not clear what happened with the plan to spring Hughes in 2013, but as of 2016, he was still incarcerated in Fairfax County’s Augusta Correctional Center as inmate number 1058054.
A state of Virginia website lists a release date of August 2, 2019 for him — and it looks as though he’s out (thanks to reader Marcus for writing in with the update) after serving 29 years of his sentence.
The Virginia state police lists his status as probation supervision. I plugged his current address into Google and, unfortunately, it’s a house rather than a prison.
Since his release, he has worked at a fast food restaurant, a cosmetics manufacturer, and a job staffing company, according to the Virginia state police website.
At least in the last two jobs, there’s limited chance of his coming into contact with children, but the Burger King gig sounds like a bad idea.
Still hopeful. And what happened to the protagonist in this story? Tammy Brannen went back to school and completed an MBA and got married again, to a widower with four children, Leon Graybill, she met at karaoke night, according to the Washington Post interview.
She told reporter Sara Davis that she uses her husband’s last name but still lists her phone under “Brannen” so that Melissa can find her in the event that she turns up alive one day.
The article notes that Caleb Hughes refused Tammy’s requests for information about what he did with Melissa.
Fairfax County Prosecutor Robert Horan Jr., who viewers may remember from his appearance on Forensic Files, turned up in the national news for a different case, in 2003. He successfully prosecuted Lee Boyd Malvo, a sniper who terrorized the Washington, D.C., area with random serial murders.
Horan retired in 2007.
That’s all for this week. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
Thanks, RR. Good to have an update on this ep I recall. Who wouldn’t feel terrible for poor Melissa’s mother? Hughes deserves to rot — but with the near prospect of release he’s disincentivised ever to divulge Melissa’s location, as, presumably, double-jeopardy wouldn’t apply to a murder charge (as opposed to the different, lesser charge that got him incarcerated) so he could be re-tried for murder. Let’s hope he’s stupid enough to blab to prison peers, or gets drunk on release and talks… I imagine his wife divorced him soon after arrest…
Let’s also so hope that Tammy has found some happiness and her grief has subsided. God bless Melissa and all her loved ones.
My brother sent her a condolence. I saw the story, but I have a solution — they say they use hypnosis because they do not use it to detect a chat, even simply to know where the girl was buried.
Good ideal
She is alive. I can embed a few comparative photos viewable by hyperlinks from the Google photos app.
Now just to explain a course of events quickly okay?.. now you see.. Mr.Theodore Bundy was to put it mildly in our dirty slang American kick-ass language just for perfect communication me to you respectfully. .. yes Mr.Theodore Bundy was such a crazy crazy he survived the electric chair & then moments after the fall of the Berlin Wall then psychopath Grinch they kept locked up in the East Berlin confines was on the cross Atlantic flight by United Airlines & the flight attendant going by Nancy Hart had assisted the abductors whist making its stop over in Virginia that night & by use of Puss Moth venom as an induced amnesia butterfly effect disassociation on the poor little girl Mellisa Lee Brennen. Upon further examination I see that there could actually been an underlying agenda if it were a sublime or subconsciously deliberate the monster Theodore Bundy may have had previous dealings with a Lt. Col Larry Pigue & a targeted attack on his family by abducting Lt. Col Larry Pigue’s cherished granddaughter Melissa for the trial & the shock treatment of a failed electric chair that may have had its default by a cult circuit of evil. https://photos.app.goo.gl/bXm1PtVA6LYmbrFK8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UZsvB6N3JQ7fEw59
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7472wRvhyrueXhkC8
This episode reminded me that the institution of marriage has many dark back stair wells. Seems a lot of men use it as cover for their sick sex fetishes, and women use it as a frame work in which to poison Mr. Father Knows Best for the life insurance. Since Rodney Alcala was a contestant on the Dating Game, being single isn’t safe either. People need to be more hermetic.
Did Melissa happen to have a birth mark on her right ankle?
Why do you ask?
I HOPE THAT BASTARD IS NEVER RELEASED. FAMILY AND FRIENDS, DO ALL YOU CAN TO KEEP HIM BEHIND BARS.
It seems like you can negotiate your way out of prison nowadays — they should’ve asked him where the body was before they released his stupid ass. Do you know how they say “tit for tat”?
Your wish is too late. He was released in Aug, 2019. An outrage. For sure.
To “A” why do you ask about th e birthmark?
Bruno: Hard cases make bad law. Marriage confers vastly greater benefits to its members than does it function as an enabler of vice.
He’s a piece of sh#t. If they let him out, he’ll do the same thing again. I can’t imagine the horror that innocent child went through. Wish an inmate would take care of the problem prior to his release date.
My thoughts exactly.
I guess we can hope that happens.
God will judge this monster one day. Please God don’t let him hurt anyone else.
Penny: Agreed. He’s a monster.
Due for release this August (from Virginia Corrections website):
OFFENDER
ID NUMBER OFFENDER NAME SEX RACE RELEASE DATE LOCATION
1058054 Caleb Daniel Hughes Male White 08/02/2019 Dillwyn Correctional Center
Melissa’s mum will know of his impending release and is sure to be hurt all over again, sadly…
Yikes, this has got to be awful for Tammy Brannen.
PS His case occurred in the era before ‘truth in sentencing’ – before Virginia abolished parole in 95. Virginia law in 91 allowed for parole, and also automatically reduced sentences based on good conduct during incarceration. Though the Virginia parole board rejected Hughes for parole in 17 and 18, he is being granted a mandatory release on Aug 2 19 after receiving more than two decades worth of good conduct allowance. He will have served more than 29 years of a total 54-year sentence (c 54% of his sentence).
I think most of the public would think that while some parole credit might be earned for good behavior, a reduction of almost half the sentence makes a farce of that sentence. We can only hope he’s thoroughly monitored after release, aged 53.
If you could identify the house from the aerial photos from which the girl was kidnapped, you would have guessed and identified the area in which he committed his crime. By examining the shape of his oval face. He had planned in advance the place of committing his heinous crime .. it was not far from the place of the kidnapping and no more than four miles from the place of the residential complex.
True, they do say criminals don’t like to go far from home.
Rebecca: He’s regarded as a sex offender and will at least be monitored after release (he’s on another Virginia sex offenders’ site). What parent would be content to have him proximate to their children…? Yes, he’s served his time – but it wasn’t for Melissa’s murder, and in any case it doesn’t reduce his risk to children (had he been convicted of her murder, presumably he’d have had life without parole).
So heartbreaking, and awful to know that very likely only Hughes knows what happened and where Melissa’s body is or was, assuming she’s dead (not something one wants to assume, if only to give a shred of hope to mum). God bless Melissa, Tammy (mum) and all touched by this tragedy.
I think he should not be released unless he says where Melissa is PERIOD. I was nine when Melissa went missing right up the road from where I grew up. I remember that Christmas like it was yesterday. Passing the tree covered in ribbons for Melissa. Where is she? The area has been built up. They would have found her body by now. Come on, don’t let him out until there is freakin closure for this family. It has been 30 years. Melissa has never been forgotten. I think about her all the time. We share a name. Bring her home. That man should not be set free. I’m scared for my children and all children.
I’m disappointed that someone in prison with him, hasn’t killed him yet. He is a monster…a demon.
Given his bio, he may be held separately from general population for just that reason. At least his sex-offender status means he’ll be monitored on release – let’s hope effectively. But here in UK such monitoring is notoriously ineffective, allowing further offending…
Why didn’t they try to make a plea bargain with him? He might have told them where she is, and how far did he drive his car? Didn’t they look on the meter? When he came back with the car, did his wife say how long he was gone? Did they find anything in the trunk? I’m sorry for the family but you wonder about this all the time, and the evidence he was trying to get rid of the blood off his stuff, and if he did have sex with her she would have been bleeding from that. I think he either buried her or threw her body in water but not near where they lived, further away. I pray they keep him in because he will do it again. That’s why he never said where she’s at he knew he would get out he knew if he said something about where she’s at he knew he would be in prison for life, I bet he’s been planning to do it again as soon as he’s let out. Be on the lookout. He should have been electrocuted
With so little evidence and he was maintenance worker at that complex. He was bound to have everyone’s fibers on him duh! He was innocent. They railroaded him and they knew it. The police forensics made a major mistake but won’t admit it. Sorry about that little girl.
They didn’t have a suspect and it just was too easy to just accuse this young cocky man who just had been married to a beautiful wife. He worked on every part of that property as a maintenance worker. He is no doubt in my mind innocent.
Terrible defense lawyer.
Oh, hey — hi there, Caleb. How’s it going?
1 Like people with beautiful spouses can’t be murderers, rapists, paedophiles… What’s the wife got to do with it? She was herself suspecting of his guilt!
2 He didn’t have everyone’s fibers on him, but he did have Melissa’s – from a newly bought outfit AND coat, both of which were uncommon, and the dress may have been first worn at the occasion of her abduction, and they were in his vehicle. This isn’t conclusive proof nor can it be explained away as transfer.
3 Who launders their leather goods, shoes and knife – everything on him – unless trying to get rid of evidence such as fibers/bodily fluids? Wife agreed this was odd.
4 Wife reported his arrival home from work several hours later than usual on night of child’s disappearance and also that extra mileage was on his car’s odometer. His explanation was implausible to wife and police.
5 Polygraph suggested deception.
This was a strong circumstantial case.
Belinda: See my recent post above: he’s due for release imminently – and that answers your first question: why no plea deal. It wasn’t in his interest to admit murder (by locating the body), and he wasn’t convicted for it. The likely best deal he could have got from a plea for murder in a death penalty state was life. As it is, he’s had very much less (29 yrs). I don’t know, but seriously doubt, that a plea for premeditated child murder via admitting and locating the body could have resulted in this (albeit the sentence was 54 yrs). A release after such a conviction after 29 yrs would, I imagine (and hope) could outrage in Virginia, if not nationally.
God bless Melissa and her poor family (who must be aware of his coming release).
https://vadoc.virginia.gov/general-public/offender-locator/
Hughes is not now showing as incarcerated so has indeed been released this month (unless he’s dead!)
If he repents of his terrible crime and has a shred of decency he will provide Melissa’s body’s location.
I personally helped look for Melissa that night and the days that followed. This has always haunted me that she has never been found. I was one of the last people to see her alive because I was at the Xmas Party meeting a friend of mine Dave, to go have a beer before he shipped out to the Gulf war. Caleb Hughes ran around in public for days before he was arrested playing games with the media and police. What a POS he is. Never charged with murder because they never found her body.
Good on you for helping. Sadly it seems her mother won’t learn of Melissa’s fate – although we can assume she’s dead and likely buried somewhere near the place of her abduction.
A deeply tragic, distressing story, made worse by his release.
That’s so good to hear — your help must have been a comfort to Tammy Brannen. I hope someone somehow gets Hughes to reveal where he left Melissa’s remains.
Hi there!
It must have been a horrific time for you, searching for little Melissa.
I just watched this episode again as I could not remember how it ended. I also wondered whether you may know if the 13 year old girl found deceased on Interstate 95, 2 counties over from Fairfax County during that time was ever identified using DNA or genealogy testing?
Are you referring to a case in Stafford County or in Maryland? Two counties to the south is Stafford, and two counties to the north is in Maryland. The other option would be along I-66 in Fauquier County, as that’s two counties “over.”
I’m thinking they should start at square one. We know her clothing fibers were found in his car. If they can narrow down the timing and do a few basic math calculations to span a radius of the (entire) area including sewer systems, I mean every square inch above and under ground water, etc. and think in his (Caleb’s) “mindframe.” Have a different team start from scratch and no offense to police work, they did their job well. It’s just that one spec of something may have been overlooked or perhaps missed or calculated wrong, anything is worth a try. A body doesn’t just disappear unless it’s thrown in an incinerator or eaten by something and even at that, there is evidence left behind for forensic science. I’m sure they kept items. Where would he go? Modes of transport? From car on foot? Time, miles, to the minute, to the seconds… he must have panicked because he washed his stuff right away from the reports. Go over the timing, the roads, maps, weather conditions, buildings, sewers, back then and now…where would he be able to pull over the road or roads? Or not pull over? Every square inch within that radius and time frame and go out a little bit more to cover anything missed. If he got away with this who knows how many he may have abducted before? Random thoughts. Look for where easy pull over off of the roads were, or a difficult, or hidden area. I’m thinking basic math but in a different mindset. Maybe investigate it without all the previous notes in case something was reported in error? And not for nothing but I always wonder why aren’t his type castrated and is there a way to chip newborns or school age kids? It’s not over til every sicko is dealt with and there has to be a way to detect sexual predators like this and resolve the risks. I think they should have drugged him with something to make him talk. The criminals have all the rights even their body rights. Why do we allow this? If you hurt an innocent child, you should have your brain on a lab table. Let science dissect you and start taking some notes. But my thoughts are really to resolve before the damage is done, as in “prevention” we have to come up with a way to detect it before and solve it so this suffering and loss of life, the traumas don’t happen. There is too much freedom in our country, too much. Venting 🙁 Prayers for peace & healing for her mom & family, but that’s easier said than done.
Alas, even a few miles’ radius from the place of abduction entails far too much area to search for a dead body – police having to prioritise resources on the living. Even then, there’s no guarantee her whole body was secreted; it could’ve been dismembered and disposed of in the trash, for example.
I don’t think the family would expect potentially thousands of hours of police time to find a body, given that Hughes has already been incarcerated and is on police radar now. Hopefully they did some of what you suggest at the time.
Sad thing is he did it once and no one found the body. When he gets out he will do it again and do the same thing but with less evidence because he has already proved they couldn’t find the body. He may even visit the area first just because he’s sick. They won’t have enough people to watch him because this world is so sick they are chasing other pervs. Really hope he screws up before it cost another child’s life.
Well, let’s hope he (plausibly) thinks he’s being watched and won’t put a foot wrong to jeopardise parole… He’d be extremely stupid to visit the location of the body’s disposal (assuming there IS one location or that the body was not removed, say, in trash), so that’s pretty unlikely.
If, however, he has a ‘drive’ to kill or for paedophilic activity, he may be unable to resist the impulse, while knowing that further activity of this kind is more likely to be detected than last time.
As well as monitoring by parole officer (presumably), he’s likely classed as a sex offender and is therefore on local police ‘radar.’ This won’t stop a determined recidivist but might discourage the waverer…
According to the Sex Offenders’ Register for VA he’s living and working in Lynchburg VA.
https://sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov/sor/executeNameSearch.html
Thanks much for the epilogue — but yikes, this is horrible! I’ll update the post tonight.
I know… Horrid for Melissa’s mum. I was slightly surprised to find Hughes’ home and work addresses on that database. While here in UK sex offenders have many of the restrictions required in US (federal/state division and variation I don’t know), I doubt very much we’ll go as far as publishing addresses, surely being a avengers’ charter. I’m not saying I necessarily disagree, but if I were him or his ilk I’d be worried given his notoriety (I looked him up today as FBI Files was on tv featuring this crime, in addition, of course, to FF’s treatment). I imagine that if the ‘right to know’ results in serious consequences per locations being disclosed, it will be stopped.
I hope that if vengeance is ever right, in this case it isn’t incorrigibly known that Hughes murdered Melissa (though I sadly think it likely) and for that reason alone, as well as violence being a serious crime, his fate’s left to the law and the Lord when his time naturally comes – that no-one seeks to harm him.
But would I want to work with/alongside him? Absolutely not. Because ‘he’s done his time’ doesn’t stack-up for his crime. And as he can’t change his name, surely his work colleagues know who he is (even if they don’t look him up and see him as THAT colleague in their named workplace!)? All very odd…
I don’t know how many, if not all, states publish these details…
It was surprising to see all that logistical information about him and that he’s had jobs that bring him face to face with the public. The fast food job would mean at least some contact with children, yikes.
Give me 5 minutes with Mr. Hughes and he’ll be glad to tell where that poor baby is. A curling iron and a jar of Vaseline shoved up his ass and I guarantee he will spill his guts. I would let him know if he lies then we will repeat the process until we find her.
You’ve invented a new form of torture!
I know a girl who is claiming to be melissa and the age matches her story matches we know the woman who raised her is not her natural mother through DNA but why wont anyone take to her or take this seriously her name is tiffany merril she lives in maine she is on fb and keepss dreaming I’m alive my name is melissa brennen why isnt this worth looking into? You got nothing to lose and a daughter to gain back tiffany (melissa) has had a hard life and could use the love and support of a family or atleast the acknowledgement that she is alive and get her birth name back, did melissa have a lazy eye but it’s not noticable they did facial recognition and it was a match she has had help looking into this for years I’m just going by all that I’ve seen she has had a file going for a long time I honestly bedlieve this could be her please look into it and if it’s not then hopefully it will help her move on with her life, I pray for both mother and daughter and I pray you will take this seriously. God bless!
Maybe he was innocent and some women who couldnt have kids kidnapped her and moved across the country. COPS LIE …AND U R CONFEMED WITHOUT EVIDENCE.
Possible but pretty unlikely given the circumstantial and fibre evidence. He had opportunity, and I’d question why his whole outfit (apparently) that day was laundered. Do people usually machine-wash leather belt, shoes, and knife holder? What were they soiled with if not blood, and what would they be soiled with that didn’t make them unsuitable to attend a party in (assuming he didn’t work at something dirty after the party)? Outwith the fibre evidence this would be unremarkable, but combined with M’s dress fibres in his vehicle it must be probative (assuming the accuracy of the analysis). If he held or hugged her at the party, that could explain them – but he denied that and in any case it would be odd given his prior lack of social connection.
Cops do sometimes lie – but they didn’t find guilt; a jury did…
It’s very suspicious but he was also a maintenance man, so laundering those items could have a plausible reason.
The fiber evidence is really only very compelling to me if her hasn’t been at the party and if witnesses hadn’t confirmed that he was in contact with Melissa.
He seems guilty but the burden of proof wasn’t met in this case in my mind.
You are a child kidnapper and guilty till you prove you are innocent.
LOL, oh hi, Caleb. So you finally found this page, huh?
The only way Hughes will reveal where the body is would be in the event he’s come down with a terminal illness which would mean any further charges (which would be first degree murder for sure) wouldn’t have much effect on him with just a short time to live.
Letting him work at a fast food establishment is like playing Russian Roulette as those are common jobs for high school age girls during after hours and on weekends. But then in the present 2021 when people are begging to give jobs away, it might be hard to turn him down.
I bet you are guilty of more crimes than him.