Sandra Ann Burris (5 of Spades, Louisiana)
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Who is Sandra Ann Burris?
Our card this week is Sandra Burris, the Five of Spades from Louisiana. On a hot summer night in 2005, Sandra and her best friend went clubbing in their small Louisiana town. The night started out like any other, but the friends went separate ways later in the evening, and sometime after that, Sandra vanished. And there has been no trace of her in 20 years.
What happened on the night Sandra disappeared?
But it turns out, you get the right reporter dusting things off, asking questions, and you just might surface new avenues of investigation. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck. On Tuesday, July 26, 2005, Sandra Burris and her 13-year-old daughter Kelly were parting ways. Kelly was going on an overnight trip to Gulf Shores with a friend's family, and Sandra was planning a regular night out with friends in nearby Opelousas, Louisiana. The two were each standing in the driveway waiting for their respective rides, and for some reason, Kelly remembers she had a bad feeling when she said goodbye to her mom.
What did Kelly Melancon feel before Sandra's night out?
The look on my mom's face... was just like, I don't know, like she was scared. Somehow like she knew something bad was going to happen to her. I don't think I've ever seen her have that expression. And I asked her not to go. I was like, please don't go. You're going to get involved with something that you shouldn't. She was like, I'll be fine. And I was like, okay, well, I'm going to call you whenever we get to the hotel. I love you.
That didn't ease her worry. Kelly knew her mom had used drugs in the past, cocaine in particular, and she didn't trust the friend picking Sandra up. But at 13, there wasn't much Kelly could do, so she left with her friend, her friend's mom, at the wheel. And the whole drive to Gulf Shores, Alabama, she thought about her mom.
How did the police respond to Sandra's disappearance?
And as soon as I left, I was worried about her the whole way there. I got to the hotel room finally and I called her and no answer. And I knew something was wrong because she had just gotten a cell phone and she would always answer. And I called her every day after that and she never picked up.
Kelly wasn't the only one trying to reach Sandra. Her parents had been too, as well as Justine, Sandra's grandmother, who Sandra lived with. It wasn't uncommon for Sandra to spend a few nights away from home, but it was uncommon for her to be out of touch when she did so. The days stretched into nearly two weeks with no word. And finally, on August 8th, Sandra's father reported his daughter missing. Sandra lived outside of Opelousa's city limits in an area of St. Landry Parish called Port Berry. Parish is the Louisiana equivalent of a county, which means that it's the sheriff's jurisdiction. But they knew they needed help on this one. So they tapped the Opelousa's police department to help with the investigation.
Police never interviewed Kelly or her younger sister about their mom's disappearance. Kelly thinks that was at the request of her grandparents. But police did talk to people close to Sandra, starting with her best friend, Alberta Young, who went by Candy. And by the way, Sandra had a nickname too. Now, there weren't many notes in the case file about that first interview investigators did with Candy in 2005. But police did record an interview with her in 2007 that lays out her story. Candy told detectives that Sandra had been dropped off at her house that afternoon by a friend. Sandra had $10, so she and Candy went to the store where Sandra purchased a 40-ounce beer. And then the friends walked to meet a dealer where they bought $8 worth of cocaine. From there, Candy said they returned to her house to smoke and fold laundry before going out that evening. And they went to this area of Opelousas called The Hill, which has multiple nightclubs. It was a regular haunt for Sandra and Candy, and they pretty much knew all the regulars.
Candy said that she left with a guy and told Sandra she would be gone for a little while, no more than an hour, but that she would be back and told Sandra to wait for her. The last place Candy remembers seeing Sandra was outside of a club called Added Attraction. Like Sandra's family, Candy said she wasn't too worried at first when she couldn't find Sandra later that night.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is Sandra Ann Burris?
0:04–0:29
2
What happened on the night Sandra disappeared?
0:29–1:43
3
What did Kelly Melancon feel before Sandra's night out?
1:43–2:33
4
How did the police respond to Sandra's disappearance?
2:33–5:50
5
What leads were investigated in Sandra's case?
5:50–7:17
6
Who were the key people involved in Sandra's last known movements?
7:17–13:39
7
What new information came to light years after Sandra went missing?
13:39–25:59