When a young girl and her mom attend a neighborhood Christmas party in northern Virginia, they enjoy the festivities until the girl vanishes.

An open window on a cold night suggests that she was abducted and investigators quickly zero in on a suspect in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day, and true crime storyteller by night.

And as always, I'm your co-host, Scott. A quick heads up. This episode contains discussion of

sexual assault, including abuse of child victims. We won't go into any graphic detail, but still,

please listen with care. Melissa Brannon was last seen alive on December 3rd,

1989. She was five years old at the time and lived in Lorton, Virginia. Lorton is located in

Northern Virginia's Fairfax County just outside the U.S. Capitol. Melissa lived there with her mom, Tammy

Brannon. Tammy was a single mom having divorced her daughter's dad, who lived far away,

in Texas. But Tammy wasn't on her own. She had the help of her parents who cared for Melissa

while she was at work. Tammy was an accountant, and on top of that, she worked some weekend shifts

at a jewelry store all to provide for Melissa. Her top priority was making sure her daughter had a comfortable life,

and she worked hard to achieve it. And her daughter, Melissa, was a really sweet kid, very well-behaved,

quiet, and shy. She was easy to adore, and her mom and grandparents absolutely did adore her.

She was well taken care of and clearly loved. Statistically speaking, when criminal

harm befalls a child, it's usually at the hands of a parent, caretaker, or other person in their

familial orbit. But that wasn't the case here. The predator who targeted Melissa was a stranger.

Now, that stranger noticed Melissa at a party. It was December 3rd and the apartment complex that Tammy and Melissa

lived in, Woodside Apartments, was throwing a Christmas party for residents. This was a typical

occurrence at Woodside. The complex had this clubhouse and they held social events for residents

every Friday. The sense of community and inclusion and fun was a big part of what made Woodside so appealing.

And the Christmas party was, of course, a step above the usual Friday night gatherings.

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