Selected by CC and Kat: 25-year-old Paula Ann Wade and her three-year-old son Brandon Lee Wade, who disappeared together from Valdosta, Georgia on October 14, 2002. This was two weeks before Paula’s birthday and shortly before they were supposed to move to Florida.
Not much is available about this case, other than Dad has an excellent alibi and didn’t do it: he was in the military and stationed out of state when his wife and child vanished. The family’s roommate has been looked at as a possible suspect, however. The most recent article I can find on the disappearance is this one, from last summer. But it doesn’t say very much.
The Wades have been missing for more than a decade. If they’re still alive, which seems unlikely, Paula and Brandon would be 37 and 14 years old today.
The Charley Project Blog 
Thank you for profiling them. Incredibly sad case and I cannot understand why there hasn’t been more coverage. Anyone from the area on here who would care to share opinions? I don’t think this has a happy ending but it sure would be nice to have some type of progress/closure.
I live in Valdosta, thank you for profiling them. There is not much talk about them locally…12 years, no clues. I work across from the Sam’s Club that Paula worked at and I used to live near their apartment..so I think about them a lot. About once a year the paper runs an article rehashing the facts, of which there are few. They do a front page featuring multiple age progressions of Brandon, especially if a new one is made. Paula’s parents still put up billboards and push for publicity, but sadly, nothing is ever new except for the age progressions of Brandon. The general public opinion is Brandon and Paula’s roommate had something to do with it (Marcus Burroughs, 19 at the time). He had vague answers to the last time he saw them, then stopped cooperating completely, lawyered up, refused a poly etc. A weird fact, mentioned in the CP file, is the roommates’ friend who said he knew where Paula and Brandon’s remains were, and led them to a bunch of buried deer bones. After then, he also refused to cooperate. Paula’s parents want them both questioned again, but they have refused and I’m not even sure if they still live here. I don’t know a lot about Brandon’s father except he did come down for a while after they disappeared (it’s in the Charley file, but he has been cleared as he was in the military and stationed in NC). I was going to mention the psychic that said Paula is dead and Brandon is in the Midwest, but that’s in the CP file, too. I was told her parents have been out to the area (Wyoming I think she said specifically) with Brandon’s age progressions.
My friend knows the manager who reported her missing, and she, with everyone else who knew Paula, says she would not walk out on her life, although everyone would hope that happened. She was excited about moving to FL and kept regular contact with her parents. Hope remains that Brandon is alive somewhere, but not in this area. This post reminded me he would be about 14 years old now…
The Wade’s case always made me feel that sad feeling of “few details are available in this case”.
Paula’s husband, Lance, was living in Sumter, South Carolina, where he still resides to this day. Paula’s dad died a few years ago in Orlando, Florida, never knowing is his daughter and grandson were still alive.
More specifically to Kat: I agree it is so incredibly sad. There is coverage, I have an article ready for our college paper, but with nothing new since the deer bones deal, it’s not “hot news”. No developments in 11 years, no physical evidence, no way to make the people that are likely involved (in many opinions) come in to answer questions. Without a miracle breakthrough, it’s at a standstill.
I am a very close family friend of the Wades. Paula’s husband, Lance, remarried a few years ago, and still lives near Sumter, South Carolina, which is where he was stationed when they went missing. He never makes any mention of Paula or Brandon whenever I see him, and neither do his parents, who live in Goldsboro, North Carolina. It is interesting to note when I saw him in 2008, he was eagerly awaiting 2009, which would have been seven years after they disappeared, Apparently after seven years they could be declared legally dead and he could move on with his life and get remarried. That always struck me as kind of weird that he would mention that, not that I think he had anything to do with their disappearance. However, someone is lying in this case, whether it be her husband, the roommate, or the roommate’s friend.
I reported this recently to the investigator. After researching I felt like it could be possible that the unidentified boy in California is that of Brandon Lee Wade due to the similarities of each case and also where the unidentified child was found is near I-10 as well as Valdosta, Ga. I researched for a long time regarding the unidentified boy and changed my direction to missing families. That’s when I came across the missing mother and son. It’s a long shot and not sure if anything will come of it but thought I would share and get others opinions. The article about the unidentified boy states they believed he was from the South East part of the United States. The investigator said they would be able to request DNA samples to see if it’s Brandon. I am now searching that area for unidentified women matching his mother’s description. I do hope I am wrong and they find them alive but hope I can help in some way help identify the little boy who was found. W.S. https://www.facebook.com/missingkids/posts/10157786996701988