FERRIER FILES: Cold case of vanished Davidson County officer reopened after 6 years
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The cold case of a former Davidson County Sheriff's Department captain has been reopened six years after he mysteriously disappeared.
John Brewer had a distinguished career as a captain at the Davidson county Sheriff's Department, but mental illness got the better of him and he attacked a Donelson neighbor.
Disillusioned, he thought he was a U.S. Marshal and his neighbor was a fugitive from justice and he tried to arrest him.
This lead to some time at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute as well as a sentence at a halfway house on Jefferson Street.
But on May 8, 2013, Brewer walked out of the halfway house got into a yellow cab and went to the community bank in Pegram.
He took out $500 and created such a scene that employees closed his account. He walked out of the bank and disappeared off the face of the earth. And no one even noticed.
“For three years nobody said anything, knew anything or did anything," Lynda Brewer said.
Brewer is John's daughter and she has been treading water for the past three years.
She thinks that the call went out that a mental patient walked out of a halfway house and not that a former Sheriff's captain with mental issues was missing.
"He's a human being, he deserves to be found like all the rest of the people that are missing,” Brewer said. “They never even looked for him, and he served Davidson County. Just treated like trash thrown out.”
Metro said it was a Cheatham County case, but Cheatham County said it was a Metro case. And so, the case didn’t go anywhere.
Until out of desperation, the family contacted former Metro detective and case-solving legend Pat Postiglione. They didn't know him, they just took a chance.
"I sent him a Facebook message," John Brewer's niece, Myrna Davis, said. Davis said she was surprised because he is a "rockstar" and "famous detective."
Given clear guidance, the family renewed its effort. Members got a meeting with Cheatham County Sheriff Mike Breedlove, who although knew this was truly a Davidson County case, took it anyway.
He then assigned one of his best detectives on it.
"The family needs answers," Cheatham County Detective Kenneth Miller said.
Detective Miller has subpoenaed the bank report to find out what happened the day John Brewer lost it in the bank.
"We’re hoping to discover the circumstances of his visit, what he said and why they closed his account, and if three has been any activity since he was last seen,” Miller said. “Even an attempt would give us something to go on.”
In addition, the first new lead in six years was discovered. A bank employee thinks John Brewer didn't get into a yellow cab, but actually got into a white car.
The addition might only make things more complicated, but at least it’s something, something after years of nothing.
"We're getting somewhere finally,” Miller said. “There has been more excitement in the last six weeks than in the entire six years he's been gone.”
Anyone with information should call Detective miller with the Cheatham County Sheriff's Department at 615-792-2021 as this is finally an active cold case.
