Murder In The Heartland on ID: What happened to Brandi Mathews?

The disappearance of 25-year-old Brandi Mathews and her mother's struggle for justice take center stage in the new Murder In The Heartland episode. Mathews, an exotic dancer at a club in Osage Beach, was in an abusive relationship with 41-year-old Kelly Simino, who had a prolific criminal record owing to his ties with the drug ring in the area.

A resident of Osage Beach, Missouri, Brandi was planning to leave her boyfriend by saving up for herself and her son. Shortly after her son was brought to Arkansas to stay with his grandmother, Brandi vanished into thin air, only for her remains to be discovered by hikers three years later in Eldon, Missouri.

The new Murder In The Heartland episode titled Mother's Intuition offers a crisp synopsis that reads,

"Brandi Mathews goes missing, and only her mother seems interested in searching for her; when her remains turn up over two years later, police dig into Brandi's work and romantic partners to find her killer."

The third episode of ongoing season 8 re-airs on Investigation Discovery on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 9 p.m. EST.

---

Who was Brandi Mathews? Details Explored

Brandi June "Callahan" Mathews was born on November 1, 1983, in Columbia, Missouri, to parents Mark and Deanna Callahan Roberts. A resident of Osage Beach, Brandi spent her grade school years in Camdenton, Missouri, before she moved to Lincoln, Arkansas, for high school. She moved to Osage Beach and enrolled herself at the State Fair Community College. Brandi went to church at the Church of Christ in Camdenton, Missouri, and was baptized at the First Baptist Church, according to her memorial.

A still of Brandi Mathews (Image via KRCG)

Brandi was married to Bobby Mathews, with whom she had a son named Caleb Mathews. She eventually worked as an erotic dancer at an Osage Beach club, where she took the stage name Faith. During this time, Brandi was involved with Kelly Simino, a person well-known to law enforcement in the Barnett area where Brandi and Kelly were residing. Simino was involved with the drug ring in the area and had multiple charges against his name as well.

According to multiple sources and court documents, Simino and Mathews shared a problematic relationship. According to Brandi's mother Deanna Roberts, she was saving up money to leave Kelly behind along with her son. Roberts spoke to The Columbus Dispatch saying,

“It had swallowed her up and she didn’t know how to get out. That’s how she described it. It swallowed her up. Brandi was a smart girl, she loved her son, she loved to laugh, loved fishing and poetry and she had this smirky little smile, but she didn’t always make good decisions or use her common sense. She got caught up in something that she couldn’t get out of."

Soon after, Brandi brought her son Caleb to Arkansas and Deanna made sure that Kelly would not take custody of the child. However, it was not long after that Brandi Mathews went missing. A month before Brandi went missing, she had filed a restraining order against Kelly fearing she would be killed at his hands.

---

What happened to Brandi Mathews?

While the local police refused to look into the disappearance of Brandi Mathews with seriousness, Deanna Roberts went to all lengths to look for her missing daughter for over two years. She found it difficult to convince the police to look into the case due to prejudice surrounding Brandi's line of work and the consequences that came along with it.

A still of Kelly Simino (Image via Miller County Sheriff's Department).

In 2009, a few hikers found and reported partial skeletal remains along a creek bed in Eldon, Missouri. After the DNA was matched with the dental records, the remains were confirmed to belong to Brandi Mathews. The remains showed that Brandi's neck was broken and that became the cause of her death

Kelly Simino was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years for murdering his former girlfriend.