Paula McGarth Wade and Brandon Wade

Paula McGarth Wade and her son Brandon Wade vanished from Valdosta Georgia in October 2002.

Paula was born October 30, 1976, to Regis and Mary McGarth. She was born in Athens Greece. She was the baby of the family she had an older brother and an older sister Mary who is actively advocating for Paula and Brandon today.

Mary says growing up that she and her siblings were very close, and Paula was a quiet and studious kid.

Paula would meet her husband Lance Wade in school and After getting married, Lance would join the Air Force and would be stationed in Georgia.

Paula and Lance would go on to have a little boy named Brandon in July 1999

Brandon was adored by his grandparents. He went by the nickname Munchkin, and he had a lot of energy and was a happy loving toddler.

While Lance was pursuing his career in the Air Force. Paula had a job at Sam’s Club, and she had been there for a few years at this point.

This brings us to 2002

There is some confusion when looking up Paula and Brandon‘s case online, you will see rumors of a separation or a divorce between Lance and Paula but that’s not true. They were still married when Lance was transferred to South Carolina.

Paula and Brandon would stay behind because Paula had created a career at Sam’s Club, and there was no position for her to transfer to in South Carolina when Lance got his orders.

Paula decided to stay behind in Georgia with Brandon and continue working at Sam’s Club until there was a position open for her to transfer.

Paula and Brandon ended up, moving into a local apartment complex with a roommate.

Eventually, Sam’s Club would come to Paula and tell her that they had an option for her to transfer to a location in Kissimmee Florida close to where her parents lived.

Paula would decide to move there with Brandon,

Lance was aware of and supported this decision.

Lance had agreed to come back to Georgia in October and help Paula and Brandon pack up so they could move Paula and Brandon closer to Paula‘s parents.

The last time that Paula would be seen was October 2002 as she was leaving her job at Sam’s Club around 3 PM.

It would be October 14 when Paula didn’t arrive for her shift at Sam’s Club that her manager instantly knew something was wrong.

Paul’s manager sent an employee to Paula‘s apartment to check on her.

Paula was always reliable. She was not somebody who was out with friends and partying.

She had never had a no-show no call so this raised serious concerns for her manager and her coworkers.

When Paula’s coworker arrived at Paula‘s apartment to check on her, her car was in the parking lot, but there was no sign of Paula or Brandon at the apartment complex.

The manager would then decide to reach out to Paula‘s parents in Florida to see if maybe there was an emergency and Paula and Brandon were there.

That’s when Paula‘s parents would inform the manager that she wasn’t there and they had a routine Sunday night phone call to catch up

and Paula hadn’t made that phone call and that had never happened before and they were now concerned, knowing she hadn’t shown up at work.

Paula‘s parents would ask the manager to please call the local police department and report her missing.

Investigators took an incident report and headed out to Paula’s apartment. When they arrived, they didn’t find any evidence of foul play.

No sign of a struggle, and nothing that stood out right away to them inside the apartment.

None of Paula or Brandon‘s belongings were missing from the apartment in fact, Brandon had a nighttime routine that required items such as a Blankey, and a music tape that he used every night to fall asleep,

and those were still there. Paula’s purse and glasses, and a new pair of shoes for Brandon Were still there as well

Paula’s 1998 Chevy blazer was still in the parking lot when investigators arrived just like it was when her coworker had come to check on her.

the only thing investigators found strange about the blazer was that Brandon‘s car seat was missing.

investigator would put a search team together and would use cadaver dogs to search the local wooded area close to the apartment complex however, that turned up nothing.

Investigators would state after spending more time in Paula’s apartment and speaking to her coworkers family, and friends it was clear foul play was involved

Investigators have not released what, in particular, brought them to that conclusion, but they now suspected foul play in Paula and Brandon‘s disappearance

Lance would be ruled out by investigators since he was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina during the time of Paula and Brandon’s disappearance

he also took a polygraph examination which the investigator stated he passed

Paula had a roommate at this time, and that roommate was not being very helpful or cooperative with investigators

The roommate, Marcus Randolph Burroughs, who was 19 at the time of disappearance, reportedly refused to take a polygraph test and even sought legal counsel

Paula and Brandon‘s family jumped in right away with the search efforts, putting up flyers around town and talking to neighbors and people in the area, asking if they’d seen anyone who looked like Paula and Brandon

Even with search efforts, local investigators were struggling to get any leads, and it would be Paula and Brandon‘s family that would reach out to the FBI for help in their case, as well as end up hiring their private investigator.

Despite an an active family, a local investigation, and the FBI’s help unfortunately they are not any closer to discovering what happened to Brandon and Paula that October day.

Paula‘s family has taken the lead in keeping Paula and Brandon’s faces in the public.