Young Woman Spotted in Atlantic City Casino May Be Missing Vermont Teen
A young woman who disappeared in Vermont two years ago may have just been spotted at a casino in Atlantic City.

An image that some say resembles Brianna Maitland, who disappeared two years ago when she was 17, has been captured on the surveillance cameras at Caesars Atlantic City Casino. Maitland was gambling next to a man whom she appeared to know in the footage.

The surveillance camera footage was submitted to the New Jersey State Police after a man from a town near Maitland’s hometown in Vermont returned from a trip to Caesars Casino. He then called the Vermont State Police to say that he saw a woman who resembled Maitland, whom he recognized from missing person advertisements in print and on television.

The Vermont State Police then shared the video footage with their counterparts in New Jersey. The missing persons investigator assigned to the case in New Jersey, Detective John Donegan, requested that Maitland’s parents travel from New York, where they now live, to Atlantic City, to view the original surveillance tape at the casino.

Kellie Maitland, the missing girl’s mother, said that the woman in the video reminded her of her daughter in the way she moved her hands and feet. Since the face of the woman in the video is partially obscured, however, revealing only the woman’s eyes and forehead, neither Brianna Maitland’s mother nor her father felt sure that the woman was their daughter.

"There haven’t been too many leads (in the case) with Mom and Dad saying they believe it's her," said Donegan. "Whether it's legitimate or not, if Mom and Dad are telling me they're pretty certain it's her, it's incumbent on me to follow through."

Maitland, who is from Sheldon, Vermont, vanished after an evening of work at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vt., on March 19, 2004. Her car was found about a mile away the next day, with its rear end crashed into a deserted barn.

Officials at Caesars Casino, which is owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, said that they would cooperate fully with the investigation.

"We want to be extremely helpful to the state police both in New Jersey and in Vermont in assisting them with their ongoing investigation and will provide any support we can possibly provide," said Harrah’s spokeswoman Alice Parker.

Although nobody knows what happened for sure, the police in Vermont suspect foul play. It is unlikely, they say, that Brianna Maitland staged her own disappearance, given her age and the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate event.

The Maitland family has offered a $200,000 award for information leading to Brianna.

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