Vigil held for Travelers Rest woman missing for 25 years

TRAVELERS REST, S.C. (WSPA) — A vigil was held Thursday for Brooke Henson, a Travelers Rest woman who disappeared in July 1999.

“[Exactly] 25 years ago today, Brooke Henson was at her house on Henderson Drive over here behind the park having a few friends over for a get together,” Travelers Rest Police Chief Benjamin Ford explained. “They were watching the race. They were cooking food. They were having a good time. Sometime later that night and into the next morning, Brooke Henson disappeared.”

Henson was 20-years-old when she went missing. Since her disappearance, investigators with the Travelers Rest Police Department, Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and South Carolina Department Law Enforcement Division have tried to locate her, but she has not been found.

“We’ve interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people over 25 years,” Ford said.

“Over the past few years, we’ve had so many leads never to come to fruition,” Christi Metcalf, Henson’s aunt, said. “Her mother and dad have passed. We would really like to have some closure.”

Metcalf said it has been difficult not having answers for the past 25 years.

“It has been a roller coaster up and down,” she described. “It’s heartbreaking.”

In the years since Henson’s disappearance, Travelers Rest police officers have continued to review the case. Ford said it is the department’s only cold case.

“We reinterview again, get statements again, try to find out if people remember something different and try to find out if people were scared to talk,” Ford explained. “Whatever new information we can get, we’re always going to keep trying to get that.”

Ford said his team will not give up their investigation.

“As long as I’m with the Travelers Rest Police Department, we will never forget her memory,” he said.

“I feel like somebody knows something,” Metcalf said. “Everybody knew everyone at the time when this happened. I feel like somebody knows something. It’s time. Do the right thing. Bring our family some closure.”

Anyone with information about the investigation can call the Travelers Rest Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 864-23-CRIME.

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