Melisa Brady Sloan, Missing, May 1, 1994 FL.
Melisa Maureen Sloan Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: May 1, 1994 from Orlando, Florida Classification: Endangered Missing Date of Birth: July 4, 1970 Age: 23 years old Height and Weight: 5'4, 130 pounds Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue or brown eyes. Melissa may spell her first name "Melisa" and may use the last name Brady or Brady-Sloan. Details of Disappearance Melissa was last seen in Orlando, Florida on May 1, 1994. Accounts differ as to what she was doing at the time; one version is that she was at her apartment in the 1900 block of south Kirkman Road, and another is that she was last seen withdrawing $20 from bank account at an automatic teller machine (ATM). She has never been heard from again. Melissa and her husband, John Sloan, had moved to Florida from Kentucky about a year before her disappearance. The marriage was troubled, and police went to their residence to investigate domestic violence issues twice in the nine months before Melissa vanished. The second time, John was arrested and charged with assaulting Melissa; that case was still pending by the time Melissa went missing. Shortly before her disappearance, she told a co-worker she was planning to leave her husband. John said Melissa had packed her belongings and left him for another man whom he did not know, but her family did not believe this, as she left behind her car and her pet cat. John divorced Melissa eight months after her disappearance and remarried. Melissa was employed as a nurse at the time of her disappearance. She graduated from Bardstown High School and Spencerian College. She was close to her family and they do not believe she would have left without telling anyone. Foul play is suspected in her case, which remains unsolved. Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Orlando Police Department 407-246-2909 http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/sloan_melissa.html

Investigators Revisit 14-Year-Old Missing Woman Case February 13, 2008 ORLANDO, Fla. -- Cases of missing women captivate attention across the nation. Melisa Sloan, a young nurse at Orlando Regional Medical Center, disappeared and the last person to see her won't answer police questions. Police hope to use new scientific tools will help solve the missing person cases that most people have probably never heard of. It was no surprise to those who loved Sloan that she became a nurse. She loved taking care of people. "She told me, she said, 'Mom, you don't have to worry about when you get old, I'll never let you go to a nursing home,'" Sloan's mother, Merle Brady, said. Sloan disappeared from her West Orlando apartment in May 1994. Investigators have been trying to determine for 14 years whether Sloan left town on her own if she was forced. "If an adult just wanted to start a new life, you would see some evidence pop up and Melisa Sloan was entirely too close to her family. She disappeared under suspicious circumstances, but what those are, I couldn't tell you," original case detective Barbara Bergin said. Sloan was last seen at a downtown ATM withdrawing money. Police said she withdrew $20 -- not enough for someone looking to disappear for a long period of time. Investigators are still looking for answers. They picked up her case again in August. Detectives started collecting DNA samples from Sloan's family. They will compare them with the DNA from unidentified remains across the country. They are also trying to re-interview the people who last saw her. "Everyday when I go to the hospital, I have her picture up in my locker and I look at it and wonder where she's at, what happened to her," Sloan's co-worker Mike Moss said. Moss worked with Sloan at ORMC. The night before she vanished, Moss said Sloan told him she was planning to leave her husband, John Sloan. The two had a whirlwind courtship and marriage. Moss said things had gone bad. "The whirlwind had turned in to a tornado that turned in to a disaster with that relationship," Moss said. The cold case detectives now assigned to Sloan's disappearance said twice in the nine months before she vanished, police responded to domestic violence at the couple's home. The second time police said Sloan was physically abused. Police said Sloan was arrested and those two incidents are documented. They said that second case was pending at the time Sloan vanished. A week after she disappeared, Sloan's family in Kentucky called OPD to report her missing. Police contacted her husband. "His statement at the time was she left me for another man about a week ago, she's avoiding me. I have no idea how to get in touch with her," one detective said. Eight months later, John Sloan divorced his still-missing wife. Detectives have been trying to get in touch with him again. In November, detectives flew to his new home in Seattle where Sloan is remarried and working as an art photographer. Police said Sloan isn't helping to find the woman he once married. Detectives identify John Sloan as a person of interest in her disappearance. They said he has information they need to move forward in the investigation. Sloan's mother can only wait and hope. Police said Moss has cooperated from the beginning and took and passed a lie detector test. They do not consider him a suspect in Sloan's disappearance. http://www.wesh.com/news/15296432/detail.html

Case File 2393DFFL Melisa Maureen Sloan Missing since May 1, 1994 from Orlando, Orange County, Florida Classification: Endangered Missing Vital Statistics Date Of Birth: July 4, 1970 Age at Time of Disappearance: 23 years old Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 130 lbs. Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair, brown eyes. Dentals/DNA: Available Fingerprints: Not available AKA: Melisa Brady Circumstances of Disappearance Melisa Sloan was last seen on May 1, 1994 at her apartment on South Kirkman Road, in Orlando, Florida. Her out-of-state family reported her missing after not hearing from her. She has not been seen or heard from since. At the time of her disappearance Sloan was working as a nurse. Melisa's Social Security number, credit cards and nursing license have not been used since she went missing. Melisa was born in Bardstown and graduated from Bardstown High School in 1988, and from Spencerian College in Louisville, KY, two years later. She moved to Florida with her husband in 1993. Police were called to Sloan's home twice while they were in Florida for domestic disturbances. During a subsequent visit by police, the husband told police that Melisa had packed her belongings and left him for another man, and that he last saw her on May He told police he didn't know the identity of the other man or how Melisa could be contacted. While most of Melisa's possessions were gone from the apartment, she didn't take her car and she didn't take her cat. No one has ever been charged in Melisa's disappearance. Foul play has not been ruled out. Investigators If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Orlando Police Department Detective Andre Boren 321-235-5300 Agency Case Number: 94258481 http://www.doenetwork.org/

Missing woman's family turns to DNA 1/14/08 BULLITT, Ky., Jan. 13 The family of a missing Kentucky woman will provide DNA samples to see if she has turned up in a national unidentified body database. Melisa Maureen Brady-Sloan was 23 when disappeared 14 years ago, about a year after she and her husband John Sloan moved to Orlando, Fla. John Sloan told police his wife left with another man, but her family did not believe she would have left behind her car and her cat, The Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal reported Sunday. Her Social Security card, credit cards and nursing license have not been used since she went missing, the newspaper said. John Sloan, who divorced his wife eight months after she disappeared, is remarried and lives in Bellingham, Wash. The Bradys say they have long held out hope Melisa would return, but more than anything they just want answers. Providing their DNA will allow authorities to ascertain whether any of the unidentified bodies recorded in a national registry is Melisa's. Orlando police have not ruled out foul play in the disappearance. Melisa's father, Frank Brady, was killed less than three years before she disappeared. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/173127,missing-womans-family-turns-to-dna.html

Project Jason Profile: Name: Melisa Sloan Date of Birth: 07/04/1970 Date Missing: 05/01/1994 Age at time of disappearance: 24 City Missing From: Orlando State Missing From: Florida Gender: Female Race: White Height: 5 ft. 2 in. Weight: 130 lbs. Hair Color: Blonde Eye Color: Brown Complexion: Fair Clothing: Possibly her white nurse's uniform Jewelry: Watch, has pierced ears Circumstances of Disappearance: Melisa Brady Sloan was last seen on May 1, 1994 at her apartment on South Kirkman Road in Orlando, Florida. According to Melisa's husband, she packed up her belongings and left. Her family in Kentucky reported her missing after not hearing from her. She has not been seen or heard of since. At the time of her disappearance, Melisa was working as a nurse in Orlando, Florida. Investigative Agency: Orlando Police Department Agency Phone: (407) 246-2470 Investigative Case #: 94258481 Family Website: http://www.melisasloan.org Print a poster: http://www.projectjason.org/aan/AAN_MelisaSloan.pdf

After 14 years, Bullitt family seeks woman's remains By Charlie White The Courier-Journal Sunday, January 13, 2008 For almost 14 years, the Kentucky family of Melisa Maureen Brady-Sloan has hoped and prayed she would be found after mysteriously disappearing from her Orlando, Fla., home in 1994 at the age of 23. Now her relatives are simply hoping that the new DNA samples they've provided might find a match on a database of unidentified bodies discovered throughout the United States. "It was just as if she dropped off the face of the earth," said her 72-year-old mother, Merle Brady, of Bardstown. Brady said her worry over the years has been overwhelming. If it rains at night, she sometimes lies awake wondering if her youngest daughter is "standing somewhere under a stoop out of the rain." "Does she have food? Does she have a place to sleep?" she said, recounting her worries in a recent interview. "Here I have a warm bed. I got food. Does Melisa have all of this?" Having lost another family member to violence -- the family patriarch, Francis "Frank" Brady, who was kidnapped from a Hardin County truck stop and murdered in Bullitt County less than three years before Melisa disappeared -- the family realizes that learning what happened to Melisa might not be easy to accept. But their hope, they said, is to get answers, which is why Brady and one of Melisa's sisters, who lives in Cincinnati, traveled to Louisville recently to talk with The Courier-Journal. Her other sister joined in the discussion via conference call from her home in Nashville. No one has ever been charged in Melisa's disappearance, although Orlando police say they've not ruled out foul play. Melisa's Social Security number, credit cards and nursing license have not been used since she went missing. "She's just gone," said Detective Andre Boren of the Orlando Police Department, who took over the case last summer. Police have not named any suspects. John Stewart Sloan, Melisa's husband at the time of her disappearance, has remarried and now lives in Bellingham, Wash. Boren said they would like to talk with Sloan more about the disappearance, but that he hasn't cooperated during the recent review of the investigation. Sloan could not be reached for comment. His father in Louisville did not reply to interview requests. Before the disappearance Melisa was born on the Fourth of July 1970 in Bardstown and graduated from Bardstown High School in 1988 and from Spencerian College in Louisville two years later. Her mother and two sisters said she loved her work as a licensed practical nurse, especially when it came to older patients. "She really connected with elderly folks, and they absolutely adored her," said the middle Brady sister, Melanie Drury, who now lives in Cincinnati. Melisa's mother recalls her youngest daughter's concern for her future. "She told me, 'Mom, I'll never let you go to a nursing home. I'll take care of you,' " Merle Brady said. In 1993, Melisa met and married Sloan in Louisville. They'd met while both worked nights at Tri-County Community Hospital, now Baptist Hospital Northeast, in La Grange, her family said. He was a security guard, but soon after they married they moved to Florida, where he planned to study motorcycle mechanics. Melisa's family said she had a sense of adventure -- she loved to travel, and she never met a stranger. But she always kept in contact with her family, Drury said, especially after her marriage became difficult. Boren said police were called to Melisa and John Sloan's home twice while they were in Florida for domestic disturbances. During a subsequent visit by police, John Sloan told police that Melisa had packed her belongings and left him for another man, and that he last saw her on May 1. Boren said Sloan told police he didn't know the identity of the other man or how Melisa could be contacted. The Bradys filed a missing persons report with Bardstown police, which faxed a copy to Orlando police. While most of Melisa's possessions were gone from the apartment, Boren said "she didn't take her car and she didn't take her cat," which makes him question whether she left on her own. John Sloan filed for divorce eight months after the Brady family reported Melisa missing, Boren said. In November, Boren said he and another Orlando detective, Patrick Schneider, traveled across the country to the Washington home that Sloan shares with a new wife, but Sloan refused to speak with them. Her father's murder Less than three years before Melisa's disappearance, two jail escapees from Oklahoma kidnapped her father from a truck stop off I-65 in Hardin County and took him to the woods in southern Bullitt County. They shot Frank Brady twice and left him to bleed to death. Michael St. Clair, one of 40 inmates on Kentucky's death row, has been sentenced to death three times for Brady's kidnapping and murder, but he will get a new kidnapping trial in September. After two Hardin Circuit Court judges recused themselves in December, the state appointed Jefferson Circuit Judge Ann O'Malley Shake to the case. St. Clair's accomplice, Dennis Reese, testified against him and is now serving life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to Brady's murder. The Bradys have attended both men's trials to make sure justice is handed down to Frank's killers. Michele Walker, the oldest Brady sister, said it's difficult to explain to others what their family has been through over the past two decades. "I'll tell them my father was murdered in 1991, but the story gets worse -- my sister went missing in 1994," Walker said. Drury said the family has "never really come up for air." "It steals a part of you and it makes you ask, 'Why were we chosen?' " Despite that, she and other family members say the events have not shaken their belief in God. "There's evil in this world," Merle Brady said, "but it's not God doing it." http://www.courier-journal.com/