What happened to Marsha Brantley? Details explored ahead of 48 Hours on CBS

Marsha Brantley was an enthusiastic blogger and dog lover, living in Cleveland, Tennesse, who had mysteriously disappeared somewhere in the summer of 2009. Even after months, nobody's heard from but she was not reported missing anywhere. Only when her hairdresser, Kelly DeLude, noticed that she had not been making appointments and got curious about the sudden silence.

Kelly went to look into the case and soon realized Marsha had been missing for months, and the police still didn't know anything about it. She called the cops, who investigated the case, and Marsha's husband, Donnie Brantley, immediately came under the radar of suspicion. Upon questioning Donnie he said their marriage was having a hard time, so she left him, and they were soon planning for a divorce.

He denied knowing anything clearly about her whereabouts, and even after years of trial, the police could not find any crucial evidence that could prove him guilty. Marsha's body was never found, and the case remains a mystery.

CBS' 48 hours documented the story behind the sudden disappearance of Marsha Bratley, in Season 31, Episode 27, titled Missing Marsha first aired on April 27, 2018. The episode was reaired on August 24, 2024, and in this article, we will try to dive into details on what truly happened with Marsha Brantley.

Marsha Brantley suddenly disappeared in 2009, and no one reported about it

Marsha Brantley was born on February 28, 1959, and was raised in Illinois. She was a woman who loved animals, especially dogs, and after she moved to Cleveland, Tennessee, she routinely volunteered in foster animal shelters. Marsha loved taking care of plants, going on walks, and playing with the dogs in the animal shelter.

She had a knack for observing life and documenting them in her writing. She was a former director of housing at Lee University. It was in 1999 that Marsha met a guy named Donnie Brantley on a dating website, and they soon got along. After talking for almost a year, the couple married on March 28, 2000, and moved into her old parents' house.

But soon Marsha faced a time of distressful events when both of her parents died in November and December of the same year. Marsha then started to take her writing more seriously and opened a blog named The Magpie's Nest, where she shared parts of her daily life. Eventually, in 2007, she created a writer's group called Thunder Rock Writers Group. One of her short stories named 'Dirty Little Secrets,' got the second prize in a national writing competition in 2009.

Marsha began sharing her thoughts in writing (Image via Pexels/Leah Newhouse )

To most of the world outside, it felt like Marsha's life was finally taking shape, but things were entirely different. Her marriage with Donnie had worsened and during the investigation, her friends said that during March 2009, Marsha said she was so depressed that it became difficult for her to even get up from the couch. It was from June to August when Marsha's neighbors began to notice a sudden absence, but they didn't report any of it to the police.

Her hairdresser, Kelly DeLude, noticed that Marsha was missing her appointments for a long time. When Kelly went to inquire about it, her husband Donnie said Marsha had left the house, and they were soon planning for a divorce. Donnie's actions felt suspicious, and Kelly reported it to the cops.

Investigations began with raised eyebrows on Marsha Brantley's husband, Donnie

The cops began searching Brantley's house (Image via Pexels/ Golnar Sabzpoush Rashidi)

With Kelly's reports, the officials began their investigation in late 2009. Upon investigating Donnie, he said that Marsha and he were having a hard time staying together, so she left the house. He defended himself by saying this was the reason he never informed anything to the police. However, there were numerous inconsistencies in Donnie's statements, when at one time he said Marsha had gone to Florida leaving him, but at another time he said she had just gone camping.

The investigators soon realized that Donnie was lying, but they didn't have any evidence to prove him as the culprit. They also learned that right after Marsha's disappearance, Donnie had started to talk to his ex-girlfriend back again. The team made a thorough search of the house of Marsha Brantley, but they could not find any traces of a murder. There were no bloodstains, no DNA, or any murder weapons. However, they found almost all the belongings of Marsha Brantley, still in the house, including her cell phone.

No concrete evidences were found against Donnie (Image via Pexels/ RDNE Stock project)

Donnie told the police that Marsha Brantley had taken her cell phone when she left, but the police traced her phone back to the Brantley house itself. Donnie told the police that Marsha had left her car parked in a local Walmart, but the first time they checked, it was not there, while the other time, it was parked there. The Walmart manager denied ever knowing Marsha Brantley.

The suspicions about Donnie became more concrete when, just hours after the investigators searched Marsha's house, Donnie sold some of Marsha's jewelry at a pawnshop. The police also traced some belongings of Marsha Brantley from the garbage bags outside the house. Though all the scenarios were pointing entirely toward Donnie, without any murder evidence, it was very difficult to take the case forward. Besides, the body of Marsha Brantley was still not found anywhere.

In March 2010, Donnie went through a polygraph test which he failed. A Jury was set up in July 2013, putting Donnie for the first-degree murder of his wife. It was in August 2013 that he was arrested, but Marsha Brantley's family dropped the charges as they still didn't have any concrete evidence, and didn't want to miss their single chance of proving Donnie guilty.

Three years later, in October 2016, Donnie was arrested again and in December he was charged with the murder of Marsha Brantley back again. The trial began two years later in February 2018, but this time the judge dropped the case, seeing there was still not enough evidence to prove him guilty.

Most of Marsha Brantley's family members believe Donnie has killed her. They still wait to get enough evidence, prove him guilty, and bring the crime behind Marsha Brantley to justice.

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Edited by Pradyot Hegde