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Police probe Virginia woman’s 2015 disappearance, search former stepfather’s home

By Neal Augenstein
Search underway in cold case disappearance of Katelin Akens

The search for evidence related to the 2015 disappearance of Katelin Akens continued Monday at the Spotsylvania County, Virginia, home of her former stepfather.

James Robert Branton was arrested Friday on multiple sex offense charges and is being held without bond.

Since Friday, Virginia State Police and Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office investigators have been searching the secluded, wooded property on Oak Crest Drive in Partlow, Virginia, using front loaders and other heavy equipment.

Law enforcement sources tell WTOP that the house, hidden from the main road by trees, is where Akens was last seen Dec. 5, 2015.

Akens, who was 19 years old at the time, was set to fly to Arizona that day. A family member dropped Akens off at the house with the understanding that Branton would give Akens a ride to Springfield Mall, where she would take the Metro to Reagan National Airport.

According to a charging document filed April 10, Spotsylvania County investigators recently learned that Branton began sexually abusing Akens in 2006, when she was 10 years old. Akens, her sister and her mother moved in with Branton around that time, at his home on Saddle Court in Spotsylvania County.

Investigators believe the abuse continued until Akens’ mother and the children moved out of the home.

Shortly after her disappearance, Akens’ luggage was found in a drainage ditch on River Road in Spotsylvania County, near the Fredericksburg city limits.

Missing from the luggage were some clothes, cash and Akens’ cellphone, which investigators said hadn’t been turned on since she was last seen. In addition, there was no evidence of digital activity on any of Akens’ accounts after she was dropped off at her former stepfather’s home.

Law enforcement sources said Branton has not cooperated in the search for Akens in the years since her disappearance.

He faces two counts each of child cruelty, indecent exposure of child, custodial indecent liberties, and aggravated sexual battery, and is being held without bond.

If convicted, each count of aggravated sexual battery in Virginia carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, up to $100,000 in fines and mandatory registration on the Virginia Sex Offender Registry.

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