What Happened to Brenwanda Smith?
By: Jenn Baxter
Tags: Unsolved Mysteries, True Crime, Philadelphia, Missing Persons, Black Women

The bus driver never returned home after work, leaving her parents and police mystified for more than 20 years.

Photo by Denes Kozma on Unsplash

Brenwanda Smith — Brennie to her family and friends — was the kind of woman that seemed to have no enemies. In January of 1997, the 24-year-old moved out of her parents’ house for the first time, renting an apartment in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. The apartment complex, Lynnewood Gardens, was only minutes away from her parents’ home in North Philadelphia, and Brennie remained in daily contact with her mother and father. She was very active with church activities and had been a Septa bus driver for about two years. She was a conscientious employee, and her supervisors said they wished that they had more employees who were as dedicated as Brennie. She had a bright future ahead of her, with many things to look forward to, but on February 18, 1997, Brennie vanished without a trace.

Brennie had graduated from Central High School a few years before, but had continued to live with her parents in the home on 15th Street that she had grown up in. Her recent decision to move out had nothing to do with her relationship with her parents — they remained as close as ever — but she simply wanted to feel more like an adult. She chose an apartment that had plenty of closet space for her beloved shoe collection; it wasn’t a huge apartment but it had more than enough space for her and it was only five minutes away from her parents’ house. She continued to call her parents on a daily basis, and her father, Harvey Smith, would often drive her to and from work since she didn’t have a car of her own. On the days when he wasn’t available, she would simply take a Septa bus to work.

Brennie Smith (Photo via Facebook)

The morning of February 18th started out completely normal. She left her apartment and took the 12 minute bus ride to Septa’s Luzerne Depot in North Philadelphia. A spokesperson for Septa later told reporters that Brennie was an outstanding employee, who would volunteer to work on holidays and would also work extra shifts whenever she was asked, and she was always punctual. Her shift started that morning at 4:00am, and she arrived at the depot a few minutes early as usual. Unfortunately, her day started to go downhill, and she called her parents at 11:00am in tears. She had gotten into an accident while she was driving her bus, something that had never happened to her before. That afternoon, she had to go back to the depot to fill out an accident report. The accident was just a minor fender-bender with a car, and no one was hurt, but she was extremely upset over it.

Septa’s policy was that a driver was not allowed to speak with law enforcement after an accident until a Septa supervisor was on scene, but Brennie wasn’t aware of this policy and had unknowingly violated it. Her parents tried to calm her down, assuring her that it wasn’t the end of the world. Indeed, there was no indication that Septa was going to take any action against her for speaking with the police before her supervisor got there, but Brennie was inconsolable. She had a perfect driving record with Septa up until this point, and the accident seemed to really shake her up. Her mother told her that she should just take a couple of vacation days to get herself together, and Brennie seemed calmer by the time the conversation was over. She told her parents that she would call them later that night, and they hung up believing that she was going to be fine.

Brennie didn’t call her parents that night, and she didn’t answer any of their phone calls. They shrugged it off, assuming that she was still somewhat upset. Perhaps she had simply gone to bed early; it had certainly been a draining day for her. When they couldn’t get ahold of her the next day, they began to get worried. Brennie never went two days without talking to her parents, so this sudden silence was completely out of character for her. Cynthia McCrae, one of Brennie’s cousins, tried to page her, hoping to get some sort of response. The two cousins had always been extremely close — Brennie had been Cynthia’s maid-of-honor at her wedding — and they would leave the pager message “911” if they needed the other to immediately call them back. Cynthia left the “911” message, but there was no response from Brennie. At this point, the family was beginning to fear that something was seriously wrong. The next morning, Brennie’s parents went to her Cheltenham apartment, but their knocks on her door went unanswered. They knew that their daughter was an adult, and they respected her right to privacy, but they were convinced that this wasn’t a case of Brennie just needing some alone time to deal with the stresses of her job. It was possible that she had fallen and hurt herself and had been unable to summon help. Using their key, they unlocked the door to the apartment and stepped inside. As usual, the apartment was immaculate. The bed was neatly made and nothing appeared to be out of place, but there was no sign of their daughter. They did notice that there were no lights on inside the apartment, which was unusual. Brennie would always leave a light on when she went out.

On the one hand, the fact that Brennie wasn’t in the apartment was good news. At least she wasn’t ill or injured and in need of medical help. But on the other hand, the empty apartment was somewhat distressing, as it meant that the Smiths still had no idea where Brennie was. They decided to go to the Luzerne Depot and see if perhaps she was already at work for the day. But when they asked about her at the depot, they were told that she was out sick and was scheduled to return on Saturday, which was still two days away. It was a puzzling response. If Brennie had been ill, she should have been at her apartment recovering, but her parents knew she wasn’t there. When Brennie’s mother spoke to her right after the accident, she had told her that she should take some vacation time, but Brennie hadn’t indicated that she was going to. While she had never before gone away without letting her family know where she would be, she had never been in an accident at work before, either. It was possible she had been far more upset about it than anyone had realized.

Saturday came, but there was still no sign of Brennie. She wasn’t at her apartment and she didn’t show up at work. There was no denying that something was wrong, and her parents called the police and reported her missing. No one was sure where Brennie had been seen last, at work or at her apartment. Because of this, both the Philadelphia Police Department and the Cheltenham Police Department would be involved in her case. Without clear cut signs of foul play, police tend to be reluctant to get involved in cases of missing adults, but it was clear from the start that Brennie was not the kind of person who would voluntarily disappear. She was a responsible person, dedicated to her family and her job. She had always been in constant contact with her family, and had absolutely no history of running away.

Police started their investigation by trying to come up with a timeline for February 18th, the last day that anyone had been in contact with Brennie. They knew that she had arrived at work early that morning, and her shift had been over at 1:30pm. Investigators searched her apartment for any possible clues as to her whereabouts, but were unable to find anything. Her apartment was spotless, and none of her clothes or jewelry appeared to be missing. They found nothing to indicate that a struggle had taken place, and it seemed likely that Brennie had not made it back to her apartment at all that day. Her answering machine was filled with messages from her friends and family, concern evident in their voices as they pleaded for her to call them back.

Brennie Smith (Photo provided by NAMUS)

After the search of Brennie’s apartment failed to yield any evidence about where she might be, the investigators turned their focus to the Septa depot where she had last been seen. They could account for where she had been up until 1:30pm when her shift was completed, but they were unable to find anyone who had seen her leave. She hadn’t called her father for a ride and no one recalled seeing her on the bus that would have taken her home. Curiously, two of her co-workers saw her leaving the Luzerne Depot at 7:00pm, hours after her shift had ended. There were no witnesses who recalled seeing her between 1:30pm and 7:00pm, though, so it seems likely that she had left the depot right after her shift had ended that afternoon but had then returned for some reason. The co-workers who saw her around 7:00pm told investigators that she had been heading north along Old York Road. This was in the direction of the bus stop she would use if she wanted to catch the bus that would take her back to her apartment. Her co-workers asked if she needed a ride, but Brennie declined their offer. She told them that she would be getting a ride from a friend, so her co-workers continued on their way. This was the last confirmed sighting of Brennie. It’s unclear who Brennie was supposed to be meeting that night; no one has admitted that they were the person who gave her a ride, and investigators have been unsuccessful in their attempts at finding this person.

As in most missing adult cases, much of the search effort for Brennie was handled by the people who loved and missed her. The police had added Brennie’s name and description into the national registry of missing persons, and they interviewed many people who knew her, but they didn’t organize any extensive searches like they would have if they had been dealing with a missing child. Her friends and family distributed flyers with Brennie’s description, urging people to keep an eye out for her. They held rallies at the depot where Brennie had last been seen and prayed for her safe return. Septa hung up fliers about Brennie on all of their buses, where they were seen by thousands of people each day. Unfortunately, they failed to generate any leads.

The detectives who were working the case weren’t having any luck. They found no tangible evidence of foul play, but Brennie’s friends and family were adamant that she would never had left voluntarily, and it appears that the police agreed with them. The investigators found no evidence that Brennie had been involved in any high risk behavior prior to disappearing. She wasn’t a gambler, she wasn’t a drug user, and she certainly wasn’t working in the sex industry. Although she had been distraught over the accident she got into, she did not have a history of depression and she had been excited about finally getting her own apartment. She had a steady job that she enjoyed and she had earned the respect and praise of her co-workers and supervisors. There was nothing in her life that led the investigators to believe that she had simply decided to leave her old life behind and start over somewhere else. It seemed like she had everything going for her and they had absolutely no idea what could have happened to her.

Detectives monitored Brennie’s credit cards and bank accounts, but none of them had been used at all since the day that she disappeared. If she had taken off voluntarily, she had left without many resources, and the fact that all of her accounts were untouched made robbery an unlikely explanation. The detectives interviewed Brennie’s friends, family, and co-workers, but none of them were able to shed any light on the situation. They even tracked down and interviewed some of her ex-boyfriends, but they were just as confused as everyone else about what could have happened to her.

In any missing person case, public exposure is crucial to solving the case. People can’t call in tips or reported sightings of a person if they are unaware that the person is missing. Brennie’s family and friends did what they could to generate publicity about the case, but it received only scant coverage in local newspapers. Detectives had followed up on the few leads they had, but had made no progress in determining what might have happened to Brennie and the case soon went cold.

Missing poster provided by the Cheltenham Police Department

It was a heartbreaking situation for Karen and Harvey Smith. They desperately wanted to believe that their daughter was still alive. It was possible that Brennie was being held against her will somewhere, unable to get in contact with her loved ones. But who would have taken her? She didn’t have a history of troubled relationships and there hadn’t been any indications that anyone had been stalking her prior to her disappearance. Certain areas of Philadelphia could certainly be considered dangerous, but she had grown up in the city and had been working as a city bus driver for more than two years. She may not have been particularly street-smart, but she knew the importance of being aware of her surroundings and could take care of herself. Since she didn’t have her own car, she would often get rides from her family and friends but would take public transportation if no one was available. There is no indication that she had ever hitchhiked anywhere or gotten into a car with someone that she didn’t know. She had declined her co-worker’s offer to give her a ride home the night she went missing, saying that she had already arranged a ride. She hadn’t called any of her family members for a ride, so the person who was supposed to pick her up was definitely not one of her relatives. Since she wouldn’t have accepted a ride with a stranger, it is safe to assume that the person who was going to give her a ride was either a friend or an acquaintance that she believed she could trust. But who was this mystery person? Investigators were never able to determine who it was that picked Brennie up that evening, and no one has ever come forward with any information about the person’s identity.

In 2005, a man who had worked with Brennie at Septa was charged with murder after he confessed to killing two people. Juan Covington admitted to police that he had killed a woman in May of 2005 and had killed his own cousin in 1998. Investigators believed there was a chance that Covington was a serial killer and was responsible for the deaths of up to three other people, one of whom was Brennie. While Brennie and Covington had worked together at Septa, they were not necessarily friends. In fact, not too long before Brennie disappeared, there had been an incident between the two of them after work one day. Some of Brennie’s co-workers saw her and Covington fighting in a parking lot after he had asked her for a date and she had turned him down. While there may have been some animosity between them, Brennie hadn’t seemed to be afraid of him. If he had been harassing her, she most likely would have told her family about it, but she never mentioned anything. Investigators were unable to find any evidence linking Covington to Brennie’s disappearance, and though he confessed to committing the other two murders he has continued to maintain his innocence in her case.

Brennie has been missing for more than 20 years now, but her family still holds onto the hope that she is alive and will someday return home. She is still listed as a missing person, but investigators haven’t had any new leads in years and admit that their chance of solving the case grows fainter each day. They are still trying to determine who picked Brennie up that February night, and they believe that someone out there has the knowledge they need to solve the case.

Brenwanda Smith was 24 years old when she went missing in 1997. She is a black female, about 5’9” tall, and weighs around 140 pounds. She has brown eyes and light brown hair that was styled in braids at the time of her disappearance. When she was last seen, she was wearing her Septa uniform, which consisted of a light blue shirt with the Septa logo on the arm and a pair of dark blue pants. Her ears are pierced, and she was wearing a gold ring on the middle finger of her right hand. If you have any information regarding Brennie, please contact the Cheltenham Police Department at 215–885–1600.