ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has confirmed the identity of a missing woman linked to an extensive FBI-led search effort Thursday in south St. Louis.
One day later, St. Louis police noted the search was a continuation of a missing person investigation from 2020 and identified Bre’Ayn Miller as the missing person. Miller was 20 years old at the time of her disappearance.
On Thursday, FBI and St. Louis police crews spent several hours digging holes around a residential property in the 5000 block of Dewey Avenue in St. Louis’ Dutchtown neighborhood.
The effort came as part of a search warrant. Law enforcement received information leading them to suspect a missing person was buried in the yard. No human remains were found on Thursday.
The search had turned up only suspected narcotics inside the home. Police say two people were in the home when police arrived. A 43-year-old man was detained, and a 39-year-old woman was arrested on outstanding warrants.
Thursday’s search came more than a year after investigators dug in the backyard of a home for Miller’s family, also in St. Louis City, according to previous reports from NewsNation affiliate FOX 2.
Based on previous FOX 2 reports, Miller was last seen in south St. Louis on July 26, 2020, after her boyfriend picked her up from a local casino. At the time, police said there was a verbal altercation, and Miller’s boyfriend dropped her off in the vicinity of South Grand Boulevard and Delor Street. She was never heard from again.
Additional details on Miller’s missing persons case and search efforts are limited.
“At this point, our investigators do not intend to return to the address on Dewey and no one is currently in custody relative to this investigation,” said the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in a media statement Friday. “The SLMPD is dedicated to finding all of our missing persons and will follow up on all credible leads, no matter how much time has passed.”
Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact SLMPD’s missing person unit at 314-444-5738 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.