Ciera Locklair Breland has been missing for a year, but family and friends are not giving up on her.
Supporters organized a “Wear Green for Ciera” campaign Thursday on the Facebook group page that keeps the case in the conversation for many who have followed it, friends and strangers alike.
“Behind every color, there lies a meaning. And how fitting for Ciera’s favorite color to signify hope and optimism,” organizer Shalon Coffey said.
Ciera, a Habersham County native who later moved to White County with her parents, was last seen Feb. 23, 2022, in Johns Creek, where her in-laws live. She and her husband, Xavier Breland Jr., were visiting them after a stopover in Cleveland to see her parents Nick and Kelly.
On the televised documentary “Disappeared” about the case in November, her cousin Shelby Campbell said Ciera told her she was moving some money into a secret account and preparing to leave her husband.
“I’m done. I’m leaving. I don’t want this any more,” Ciera texted.
Ciera’s mom Kelly said in the documentary that she confided in her parents that she was afraid and needed to get away from Breland.
“She feared for her life, she lost weight,” Kelly said. “This is not Ciera. This is not my daughter.” Kelly added that she felt “Xavier was manipulating her, keeping her in a paranoid and afraid state for his own purposes.”
When the family left the Locklairs’ White County home on Feb. 21, 2022, Ciera texted her dad Nick, “I’ll be back in the morning, if that’s OK.” When Ciera did not return the next day, Nick reached out and his daughter said she was not feeling well, the Missing Alliance true crime podcast reported.
Breland told police that his wife walked off and never came back on a cold Indiana night Feb. 25, 2022, after they allegedly returned from the trip to Georgia. But Ciera did not take her license, debit card or anything else with her, leaving behind her infant child and beloved dog.
Breland, who has a history of domestic violence with his first wife, was in jail for most of the last year on unrelated stalking charges. He was found not guilty in Georgia but was extradited to Indiana on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
That charge stemmed from an alleged accidental discharge of his gun in his Carmel, Ind., garage in the days shortly after Ciera’s disappearance.
Breland’s bond in Indiana was set at $100,000, but he finally bonded out on Feb. 9 and was free for the first time since shortly after his wife’s disappearance. He is still considered a person of interest in the case but has not been charged in it.
Law enforcement investigators from Georgia said last year that there was no evidence that Ciera ever made it back to Indiana, as Breland claimed. Carmel Police Lt. Tim Byrne said in a televised interview last week that his department could not confirm or deny that assessment.
“Our investigators continue to work the case and follow up on any leads that come in, but we do not have any new information to share at this time,” Byrne told The Northeast Georgian on Thursday.
The FBI in Atlanta is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to her whereabouts. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Cpl. Rozier with the Johns Creek Police Department at 678-372-8046, the Carmel Police Department at (317) 571-2580, Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS (8477), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477) or the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI (225-5324).