Madelyn Allen, 19, was a missing student from Snow College, which is located in Ephraim, Utah, who was last seen on December 13, 2021.
She was found alive in the home of a Utah man who is now under arrest. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, she was found covered in coal. You can read more about the suspect, Brent Brown, here.
“Investigators continue to explore all leads in the Madelyn Allen case,” Snow College wrote in a December 17 statement on its website. “Officers from multiple law enforcement agencies are meeting regularly to coordinate efforts. Police continue to ask the public for help and tips with finding Maddie. Finding Maddie remains the primary goal. Evidence suggests Madelyn has left the Ephraim area. She did not have access to a car nor does she have a driver’s license and would not be able to travel on her own. Madelyn’s current mental state, as shared by her family in the press conference on December 16, amplify the concern and urgency in finding Maddie.”
In a December 16 press conference, the president of Snow College described how people have “heartfelt worry” about Allen.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Brown Tied Allen Up When He Went to Work & She Was Found Covered in Coal, an Affidavit Says
An affidavit in the case provides disturbing details of Allen’s ordeal.
According to an affidavit obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, Allen met Brown in an online “chat group” and “arranged to have him pick her up” on the day she went missing. KSL-Tv reported that Brown told police he met Allen “on a bondage chat group.”
The affidavit alleges that the relationship between Allen and Brown “became nonconsensual and violent.”
He took her phone and would only allow her to text her family once the next day before throwing away her phone, the newspaper says the affidavit alleges. He then “tied up Allen while he was at work,” it says, confiscated her wallet, and threatened her family, according to the newspaper.
The chief said that “we did a fair amount of door knocking” to help locate Brown, in addition to other investigative techniques. The affidavit obtained by KSL said authorities pinged her cell phone. When they got to the home, they saw a woman in the basement who ran out of sight. Brown’s parents, who own the home, allowed police to search it, and they found Allen in “what is described as a coal storage area of the residence … completely covered in coal,” according to KSL.
According to the affidavit obtained by KSL, Allen told police “Brown raped her several times daily,” and “she did not want to have sex with Brown,” but was afraid to leave because he had threatened her family. She even saw a television report on her disappearance.
2. Brown Is Accused of Holding Allen ‘Captive’ in His Home
VINELink
Fox13 reported that Brown is accused of holding Allen “captive” and is being held without bail on four felony counts: aggravated kidnapping, rape, object rape, and obstruction of justice.
But asked whether she was held against her will, the chief said in the news conference that “this is an ongoing investigation and there are certain aspects that we are still digging into and trying to understand fully.” At the time of the news conference, he said only that Brown was being held on a charge of obstruction of justice with more charges pending.
“We don’t have a lot of information about him,” Snow College Police Chief Derek Walk said in a news conference. “We met him for the first time last night. We don’t know how extensive his relationship or her knowledge of him is thus far.”
He added: “This is an ongoing investigation. There are certain aspects we are still digging into and trying to understand fully.”
She was found “in a house in Wayne County that was at the present time being occupied by Brent Brown,” said the chief.
VINE Link, a jail inmate search database, lists him as being in the custody of the Sevier County Jail as of the morning of December 19, 2021, but that jail’s inmate database doesn’t list him. Wayne County’s inmate database also doesn’t list him. The Sevier County Jail is located in Richfield, Utah. He has not been formally charged.
“Investigators continue to explore all leads in the Madelyn Allen case,” Snow College wrote in a December 17 statement on its website, before Brown’s arrest. “Officers from multiple law enforcement agencies are meeting regularly to coordinate efforts. Police continue to ask the public for help and tips with finding Maddie. Finding Maddie remains the primary goal. Evidence suggests Madelyn has left the Ephraim area. She did not have access to a car nor does she have a driver’s license and would not be able to travel on her own. Madelyn’s current mental state, as shared by her family in the press conference on December 16, amplify the concern and urgency in finding Maddie.”
In a December 16 press conference, the president of Snow College described how people have “heartfelt worry” about Allen.
3. Allen Was Last Seen Leaving Her Dormitory on December 13
On December 14, 2021, Snow College announced that police “are searching for Madelyn Allen, age 19, who was last seen leaving her residence (Snow Hall – 155 East College Avenue, Ephraim, Utah) at 9:22 PM on December 13, 2021. Security footage shows someone who is believed to be Madelyn leaving the lobby carrying a plastic bag and wearing a white fleece jacket, a dark skirt, and flat shoes.”
The statement read, “Snow College Public Safety is working with local and state law enforcement as well as the FBI. Police are asking anyone who was in the area and saw anything suspicious to contact them at 435-283-7170. Anyone with information about Madelyn’s whereabouts is also asked to contact police.”
According to its website, Snow College serves nearly 6,000 students on two campuses — one in Ephraim and another in Richfield, Utah. The two-year college “has been nationally recognized for its student success rates, affordable cost-for-value, involvement opportunities, and exceptional teaching,” the site says.
Police said they don’t know where she was going and whether she is with anyone else, and they have been trying to track her cell phone, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
4. Allen’s Family Says, ‘Our One & Only Priority Is to Locate & Bring Home Our Madelyn’
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In a statement posted on the college’s website, the family said on December 16, 2021:
Our one and only priority is to locate and bring home our Madelyn. We are following the guidance of authorities, including Snow College Police Department, multiple county law enforcement agencies, and the FBI. We sincerely appreciate their coordinated efforts and expertise.
We will expend every effort to find our Madelyn and we are looking into every possible resource and strategy to reunite with her.
We know that the media and good people everywhere want to help, and we express deep gratitude for Snow College, their public safety team, responsible media members, and the many friends, family and acquaintances who have extended their love and prayers.
Her father, Jonathan Allen, spoke at a news conference. “We are devastated of course, as you can imagine, and we are desperate to find her safe,” he said.
🚨MISSING🚨 Please Share!🚨 #MissingPerson #missing #Truecrimesisters #utah #MadelynAllen #AVFTV
The family has created a Facebook page and Instagram page to post updates about the search.
The Facebook page says, “Madelyn (Maddie) Allen went missing at 9:22pm, Monday Dec. 13th in Ephraim Utah. We need to find her and we need your help.”
The page contains a family photo of the Allens, with a caption that reads, “This beautiful family needs your continued love and prayers. Thank you for all you have done already to share—it is critical that we continue. ❤️”
5. Authorities Released a Video Showing Allen Leaving Her Dorm
Authorities released a 17-second video that shows Allen leaving her dorm, wearing a white jacket and clutching a bag. According to KUTV, that video shows her leaving the dorm at 9:22 p.m., and authorities believe she had her cell phone with her.
The a post on the family’s Facebook page says, “Maddie has always been a fighter—and it’s time you got to know her story better. Here she is telling it in her own words (for a scholarship application before being accepted to Snow College). Please share this post and encourage others to share as well. ❤️”
“My parents have always called me a fighter,” Allen says in that video, in which she reveals she was just a pound and a half at birth and endured countless doctors and therapy appointments that left her developing “severe anxiety,” about many things, including school and “new places.”
She said she “found joy,” though, in things like baking, dancing, music and traveling, and she auditioned for a high school musical.
Snow College
Allen was born with a brain bleed and has faced myriad challenges, her father said. He said she was born prematurely at only 26 weeks. She has had mental and emotional difficulties but has “repeatedly overcome these many obstacles,” he said, adding that she loves art and music.
“We believe that she is facing a major mental health crisis, and she needs our help, and we need to find her,” her father said in the news conference.
Speaking directly to his daughter, he said, “Dear Maddie, if you can hear us, you’re not alone. Many people are facing similar challenges, and have faced challenges like this. We know that you’re brave and that you’re strong. We see you and we love you beyond our ability to express.”
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