Habersham native vanished last month
BRELAND
Family and friends of Ciera Locklair Breland have been searching for any sign of her for the last month, and they are looking for all the help they can get.
The FBI in Atlanta is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to her whereabouts, as she has been missing since Feb. 24.
Ciera was last known to be visiting her family in Johns Creek on vacation from their home in Carmel, Indiana, the week of Feb. 20 with her husband, Xavier Breland Jr., their 5-month old son, and their white labradoodle.
What happened to her since then is a mystery to law enforcement as well as her family.
Ciera grew up in Habersham County, attending Habersham Central High School and spending the bulk of her childhood years with her family members here.
“She is my niece, but we were more like sisters, especially growing up,” Ciera’s aunt Jeannie Locklair Bush said. “We spent countless hours together. She loves her friends and the community here. This was her home.”
Her parents Nick and Kellie eventually moved to White County where they reside now.
“She had very deep ties here and her whole life was here until she got married and moved to Indiana,” Bush said. Ciera always said the food found here was so much better than some of the restaurants she found in Atlanta, as well as the many random places she tried while traveling for work as an attorney. Ciera also loves to come to Habersham County for mani and pedi’s. We would do this together, she would talk and laugh, she seemed to always enjoy the time spent in our small family owned shops.”
Before going to Johns Creek that week in February, Ciera and her family stopped by her parents’ home in Cleveland for a visit.
“She told us she wanted to come home,” her father Nick Locklair said. “She said she was never going back to Indiana.”
Nick said his daughter wanted to get away from her husband because of abusive behavior. She told her parents via FaceTime that Xavier broke her phone two weeks before she disappeared, causing her to pick up a Tracfone so she could contact her family. She also had a phone provided by her law firm, and the firm even replaced the broken phone, giving her three in total.
When she vanished, she allegedly left all three of those phones behind, along with her wallet and her young child. She also did not take one of the family’s two cars with her.
“She did not call me or her best friend, and she always calls us,” Nick said. “We have been handing out fliers, combing neighborhoods. We just want someone to help us find her.”
What investigators and the family do know is that Ciera went with her husband to his mother’s home in Johns Creek on Feb. 20. The couple was driving a white 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan with Georgia tag RMB 5869. An FSU Law School frame surrounds the license plate.
Ciera was last confirmed seen on a surveillance camera just after 7:15 p.m. on Feb. 24.
Two days later, Xavier reported her missing to the Carmel Police in Indiana. After a couple of weeks of investigation, the FBI said they had “no evidence that Breland ever returned home after the family’s trip to Georgia.”
“There is no evidence she ever left Johns Creek, Georgia,” Nick said.
Xavier was questioned about his wife’s disappearance and was later arrested March 1 on a separate charge of aggravated stalking when the grand jury returned a true bill of indictment. He was held without bail and extradited to Coweta County Jail, where he still waits to see what the investigation brings.
“The FBI is supporting the Johns Creek Police Department and the Carmel Police Department with this investigation,” an FBI release said. “Law enforcement has not ruled out foul play and Breland’s husband has been named as a person of interest.”
The family is enduring and trying to find answers any way they can.
“We have so many questions, and we are feeling somewhat overwhelmed with what to do moving forward,” Bush said. “I cannot imagine not calling everyone I knew, everyone my spouse knew, frantically searching for someone who had heard from my spouse before ever calling the cops. Yet, Xavier just waited, never once picking up the phone. The reports say Xavier waited 24 hours before reporting her missing, that was 24 hours he could have been calling, texting, and driving around searching for Ciera.”
Nick said that the police have told him they have leads, but have not divulged specifics on much of that line of investigation.
Bush added that if the couple drove back to Indiana with a baby and a dog – necessitating many stops, which anyone who has ever made such a trip would know – that someone would have seen them along the way. The investigation has uncovered no such sightings.
“She would have been the one feeding, changing diapers, and walking the dog while on the road if she was capable,” Bush said. “And typically she always drove her car. I remember laughing about it with her, saying she always needed to be the one behind the wheel. I also know they always used her cards and accounts to make purchases, especially for necessities.”
Xavier allegedly told police that his wife was reportedly wearing a black top and purple shorts in temperatures that were in the mid- to upper-20s that night that she vanished, claiming she was headed for a store.
“We just want to know where she is and for whoever has done something to her to be held responsible,” Nick said.
Anyone with information surrounding the case is asked to call Corporal 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-CALL-FBI (225-5324).
“She’s out there somewhere, and we need everyone’s help finding her. Please keep pushing, keep asking the community for help,” Bush said.