A five-year-old missing person case has been reopened by the Fort Bragg Police Department following a renewed investigative effort led by a recently trained cold case investigator.
Chief of Police Neil Cervenka said that when he joined the department three years ago, Fort Bragg had no formal system in place to follow up on cold cases or missing persons. That changed when the department created a professional standards and training position, assigning Officer Wes Rafanan to the role.
Last year, Rafanan attended a cold case investigation course to learn specialized techniques for reopening long-dormant cases. As part of his duties, he now reviews all cold cases and missing persons files annually, following up with witnesses and checking for new leads.
The case in question involves missing woman Brittany Adkins, who was reported missing in November 2020. Her family, who believed she had been in the Fort Bragg area for about a year, lost contact with her approximately five months before filing the report. Investigators noted her electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card had not been used in several months, adding to concerns about her welfare.
Since the initial report, there have been 22 supplemental reports filed, Cervenka said, noting that the case had never been forgotten. “Now that Investigator Rafanan has it, he re-contacted everyone, re-interviewed everyone, and tried to connect some dots to establish more of a timeline and possible location,” Cervenka said.
That renewed effort led investigators to a 24-acre property on Dorffi Road, south of Fort Bragg, which was identified as the last known location where Adkins may have been seen. The current residents of the property cooperated fully with investigators and were not connected to the disappearance.
With a warrant in hand and consent from the occupants, Rafanan organized a multi-agency search of the property. The effort included 15 members of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team, two canine teams from the Crescent City Police Department, a sheriff’s detective, and four Fort Bragg officers.
The search yielded no physical evidence, but Cervenka said it helped investigators eliminate a large area of interest. “While we didn’t find any evidence, we eliminated a huge area where she could have been,” he said. “That allows us to now focus on other possibilities.”
Although cadaver dogs were used in the search, Cervenka emphasized that their deployment did not mean investigators had assumed the worst. “We’re not ruling anything out,” he said. “We were looking for evidence of location—tents, clothing, paperwork—anything that might indicate where she had been.”
Adkins remains missing, and police are continuing to follow up on leads. Cervenka said that despite the case's age, Raffinan is committed to investigating even the smallest threads of information. “Any little lead, any thread, he will pull and see where it goes,” he said.
A missing persons flyer for Adkins is still in circulation. The Fort Bragg Police Department encourages anyone with information to come forward.
