Ciera Breland disappearance: 3 months since 31-year-old mother vanished without a trace

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. - It has been more than three months since Ciera Breland, a 31-year-old Indiana mother, was last seen leaving her mother-in-law's home in Johns Creek with her husband. 

Breland was last seen on the evening of Feb. 24, the Johns Creek Police Department said. Ciera was with her husband, 37-year-old Xavier Breland and with the couple's 5-month-old son, Jackson. It was the second leg of the family's swing through Georgia. That previous weekend, Ciera had visited her mother and father as well as her niece and nephew in Cleveland, Georgia.

There has been no sign of her since. Her husband, who is the sole person of interest in her disappearance, remains in the Coweta County jail on unrelated charges.

Ciera Breland reported missing in Indiana

Ciera was reported missing by her husband to the police department in Carmel, Indiana, where the couple live. According to the report, Ciera was last seen around 10 p.m. on Feb. 25 walking to the store in Carmel, Indiana, wearing short a black top and purple shorts in temperatures that were in the mid- to upper-20s.

Family members said police told them she never arrived and there was no surveillance video of her entering the store. They also are concerned because her personal phone, her work phone, and a burner phone were all left behind along with her ID, credit cards, and the couple’s 5-month-old son. Family members said she had the burner phone to contact them in case of an emergency. 

A few days after that report was filed, Xavier was arrested in Indiana on an unrelated, outstanding warrant for aggravated stalking in Coweta County, Georgia. He has since been extradited back to Georgia.

At the same time he was taken into custody, investigators named Xavier as a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife. He has not been charged in connection to her disappearance.

Immediately following the arrest on March 1, 5-month-old Jackson was taken into state care. Ciera's parents, Nick and Kelly Locklair, have since been able to take custody.

Ciera Breland's trip to Georgia

Family members are not sure Ciera even made it back to Indiana. What they do know is the timeline for her trip that week. They said Ciera and her husband arrived in Cleveland, Georgia at her fathers’ house on Feb. 19, a Saturday. By all accounts, it was a good visit with her nieces and nephews showing up to see their 31-year-old aunt who had recently moved from metro Atlanta to just outside Indianapolis after taking a job at a law firm.

At some point during the stay, family members said she asked if she could move back in with them. Despite the request, she left the next day with Xavier to reportedly visit his family just north of Atlanta.

This was the last time her family saw her.

Family members are hoping someone saw the vehicle the couple was driving that week and will step forward to tell investigators when and where that was. The couple was driving a white 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan with Georgia tag RMB 5869. An FSU Law School frame surrounds the license plate.

Ciera Breland last seen in Johns Creek

Investigators have been able to determine the last known time Ciera was seen was at 7:17 p.m. on Feb. 24 at a home along Highgate Manor Court in the Parsons Walk subdivision in Johns Creek. The Johns Creek Police Department confirmed that information. The address given by police is the same address family members have said is the home of her mother-in-law.

It was not clear how much Xavier Breland's mother was cooperating with police in the investigation. 

Ciera’s former sister-in-law Lauryn Locklair on Facebook made a direct appeal to Ciera's mother-in-law.

She asked Ciera's mother-in-law to tell police any information she might have about her disappearance.

"Please come forward with any information you have. We don’t care if you remain anonymous. We just want to find her!" she wrote.

Ciera's family said they understood the position she is in, but also pleaded for any help she could provide.

$10,000 reward for information leading to Ciera Breland

Two weeks after a missing person's report was filed in Indiana, family, friends, police, and volunteers gathered to canvass a couple neighborhoods in Johns Creek. Their focus was two neighborhoods along Medlock Bridge Road where police believe Ciera may have traveled through during her stay in Georgia.

In addition to the flyers being passed out, the Johns Creek Police Department also set up electronic signs at two places along Kimball Bridge Road asking for the public's help. They also have reached out to several commercial electronic sign companies to help plaster Ciera's face and information across metro Atlanta.

Flyers have also been posted in and around the family's home in Carmel, Indiana.

The family hopes a $10,000 reward will get them the tip that will break the case open.

Ciera is described by police as being 5-feet tall and weighing about 120 pounds with blonde hair.

Anyone with information surrounding the case is asked to call Corporal Rozier with the Johns Creek Police Department at 678-372-8046, the Carmel Police Department at (317) 571-2580, Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS (8477), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS(8477) or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).