SUSPICIOUS DEATH
CASE #: 1974-29
Brooks Bracewell
Status:
Open
Date of Death:
Date of Death:
Jurisdiction:
Death Location:
Dickinson, Texas
Summary:
Brooks Bracewell, 12, was a middle school student from Dickinson, Texas, who disappeared on September 6, 1974, with her best friend Georgia Geer, 14. Both girls were last seen at a convenience store. Police initially treated them as runaways, but their remains were discovered in 1976-1981 in a culvert near Alvin, Texas, revealing they had been beaten to death. The case remains unsolved, though suspects have been identified.
Vital Statistics
Circumstances of Death:
Brooks Bracewell, 12, and Georgia Caroline Geer, 14, were both last seen at the UtoteM convenience store off I-45 on September 6, 1974. They disappeared along with her friend after the middle school students skipped classes. A short trail through tall pines connected the two girls houses along Dickinson Bayou. They always walked together to the bus stop. They often visited the UtoteM store for canned pop or bags of chips. At the time of their disappearance, police insisted that Bracewell and Geer were runaways, only beginning to investigate foul play in 1981.
Additional Details:
In 1976, partial skeletal remains belonging to Bracewell were found by police in a culvert in Alvin, Texas, nearby the pair's last known location, but were not connected to Bracewell and Geer at the time, and were only identified as Bracewell after a new detective took over the case in 1981. The ditch where they were originally found was reexamined on April 3, 1981, and more remains were found as well as the fragments of a gold sweater and plaid pants. In 1981, Brazoria County deputy Matt Wingo inherited the unidentified bones case from 1976. He searched the Alvin ditch again and found more remains, as well as the fragments of a gold sweater and plaid pants. They had both been beaten to death. An investigation by the League City police and the FBI in the 1970s identified another local resident, Edward Harold Bell, a known exhibitionist, as a suspect. In the mid-1970s, he acquired a plot of land in Dickinson and lived near the place where two more victims, Brooks Bracewell and Georgia Geer, were last seen alive. An investigator visited Bell in prison in 2007 to ask about the murders of Geer and Bracewell. After being shown their photos, Bell said he "didn't know those girls," and refused to say more. A&E's six-part limited series "The Eleven" follows investigators as they reexamine the gruesome unsolved murders of eleven teenage girls in southeast Texas in the 1970's.
Case Last Updated:
Timeline of Events
Remains reexamined and identified as Brooks Bracewell and Georgia Geer; investigation opened as homicide
Partial skeletal remains of Brooks discovered in culvert near Alvin, but not identified at the time
Brooks Bracewell and Georgia Geer last seen at UtoteM convenience store in Dickinson, Texas and disappeared
Associated Persons
Georgia G. (Friend) - Deceased
Matt W. (Investigator) - Living
Edward Harold B. (Person of Interest) - Living
Case Content Disclaimer: The details on this case page are sourced from numerous locations to include family, friends, news postings and government public releases. Solve the Case, Inc. does not guarantee the accuracy of any content as case pages are living documents that frequently update as case details expand.
