Katelin Michelle Akens

• Missing Since 12/05/2015
• Missing From Springfield, Virginia
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 09/02/1996 (29)
• Age 19 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4, 122 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A dark gray fleece pullover sweatshirt with a Bass Pro Shop emblem, black pants and pink and black Vans shoes.
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Akens has a tattoo of five butterflies on her left forearm and a tattoo of three red stars bursting on the top of her foot; photos of her tattoos are posted below this case summary. She wears eyeglasses with dark frames. Her nose and navel are pierced and the right side of her lower lip is pierced. She also has gauge-type piercings in her ears.

Details of Disappearance

Akens was last seen in Springfield, Virginia on December 5, 2015. She was supposed to fly out of Reagan National Airport that day, and got a ride with her former stepfather, James Branton. She had booked a flight to Arizona, where she lived with her fiancee.

The flight was at 5:00 p.m. According to Branton, Akens wanted to spend some time at the mall before going to the airport, so he dropped her off at the Springfield Town Center. From there she was going to walk to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station and take a train to the airport. Branton texted Akens's mother at 1:52 p.m., saying he had dropped Akens off.

Eight minutes later, her mother got a text from Akens's phone saying, "I'm at the airport. Battery dying so won't be able to text for a bit." Akens never boarded her flight, however. She never arrived in Arizona and has never been heard from again.

Five hours and fifteen minutes after Akens's mother got the text from her daughter's phone, she got a series of texts from that number that alarmed her. The texts stated Akens was "staying with a friend" and "needed some time alone." Those messages were not sent from the airport; Katelin's phone was near Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia.

It's uncharacteristic of Akens to leave without warning. She was was about to begin cosmetology school in Arizona and was excited about it. Authorities do not believe she left of her own accord, and they were able to prove that Branton never dropped her off at the mall like he said he did.

A few days after her disappearance, her blue suitcase was found in a drainage ditch along River Road, near the Fall Hill Avenue intersection, outside Fredericksburg, Virginia. This was a few miles from Branton's home, and not anywhere near Reagan National airport.

When the suitcase was found, it was unzipped and mostly empty. Akens's phone charger, eyeglasses, wallet, cash, identification, credit and debit cards, and other belongings were still inside it, but her clothes and her high school diploma were missing. The suitcase was scuffed and one of its wheels was missing, an indication that it had fallen down into the ditch.

Akens has no history of mental illness and no history of dropping out of sight. The last confirmed sighting of her was at Branton's home. He refused to cooperate with the police in her case, would not let them look at his phone and would not take a polygraph test. Authorities stated the timeline of events he gave did not match up with cell phone tower information they had.

In April 2026, ten years after Akens disappeared, Branton was arrested on eight charges: two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of taking indecent liberties with child in a custodial relationship, two counts of indecent exposure of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

A photo of him at the time of his arrest is posted with this case summary. Authorities stated the offenses began in June 2006 and that the victims were Akens and her younger sister. He allegedly began to abuse the girls, who were ten and seven at the time, after they and their mother moved in with him.

Akens's younger sister stated Branton would take them from their bedrooms in the middle of the night while their mother was at work, bring them into the kitchen, force them to strip naked and spank them on the buttocks while he himself was wearing only boxer shorts. She recounted one incident in October 2006 where she woke up naked in bed in her room, and she didn't know how she came to be naked, and Branton was sitting in a chair in the room with her and was also naked.

A neighbor said Akens had told her about the spankings and asked for help. The neighbor said she reported the allegations to Spotsylvania Child Protective Services, but there is no longer any record of this report. The girls' mother knew about the spankings, but didn't realize the girls were naked, and she said she told Branton to stop after Akens developed breasts. As an adult, Akens told her fiancee about the abuse. After her disappearance, the fiancee told the police.

Branton hasn't been charged in connection with Akens's disappearance. Her case remains unsolved; she's considered missing under suspicious circumstances.