Transcription
On this episode of Black Girl Gone, I tell the story of Ella Goodie, who has been missing since March 9th, 2022. Ella, who was 33 years old at the time, was last seen in Scott, Louisiana, where she lived with her two children. She had recently begun driving for Lyft and had started offering rides outside the app.
The day that she went missing, she was supposed to drive someone to Houston, Texas, and was expected to be back home by the time her daughters arrived home from school. But Ella never came back home, and no one ever saw her again. Almost one year after she was last seen, Ella is still missing, and her family wants to find her. This is Ella's story.
Almost 11 months ago, Ella Goodie vanished, and since then, her family has been on a desperate search to find her. But as the one-year mark of her disappearance approaches, her family has been unable to get the answers that they deserve, and Ella is still missing.
Ella is originally from Lafayette, Louisiana, a city located about an hour from Baton Rouge. She had grown up there with her mother and her younger brother. Her best friend, Felicia, spoke with Dateline last year to talk about Ella's disappearance, and she told them that Ella's mom is disabled, and so ever since she was a kid, Ella took care of her and helped take care of her little brother. "She had to step up as a kid, look after her brother, help her mama," Felicia told Dateline. She said that from the moment that she met Ella, she wanted to look after her because life was a little bit harder for her. But she also said that no matter what Ella was going through, she always had a "good spirit."
Her cousin, Amy, said in a different interview with the local Fox news station that, "She's a pure-hearted girl, and like, she's strong, she's brave, she just has a good heart. Like, she's always friendly with everybody, always happy."
Now, there isn't a lot of public information about Ella's life, and so we don't have details about her teenage years or her early adulthood. We do know that by the time Ella was in her 30s, she was the mother of two girls, and she was living in a small town of Scott, Louisiana, which is located in Lafayette Parish.
Felicia told Dateline that in early 2022, Ella was looking for work, and she said that she suggested that she try working for a rideshare service like Lyft. Felicia said that at first, Ella was apprehensive about doing it because she didn't want people getting in her car. However, Felicia said that she was able to convince Ella that she should do it, and so Ella began driving for Lyft. And while initially she had concerns about it, eventually she started to like it.
After a couple of months, Ella had decided that she would offer people rides outside of the app. She probably realized that she could just cut out the middleman and offer people rides directly. If she had met people through the app that she had given rides to a few times, why not have them just contact her directly to maximize her profits?
On Tuesday, March 8th, 2022, Felicia said that she spoke to Ella on the phone. She said that they had a normal conversation, that they talked about their weekend plans, and Ella told her about the people that she had been meeting and driving places.
Now, we don't really know what happened next, but on March 9th, the following day, Ella was contacted by someone who needed a ride to Houston, Texas. According to reports, that morning Ella left her home in Scott, however, we don't know what time. Now, according to her family, she called her daughters after she left and told them to get ready for school and make sure that they went. Ella told them that she was heading to Houston to drop someone off and that she would be back by the time they got back from school. The drive from Scott to Houston is about three hours, so round trip, it's about a six-hour drive, and depending on what time she had left, Ella would have easily been back later that afternoon.
Now, later that day, Ella called her brother around noon, and she told him that she was driving someone to Houston and that everything was fine. She told them that they had stopped to get gas, but it was the last time that anyone in Ella's family ever spoke to her again.
That afternoon, Ella didn't return home like she said she would. Felicia said that she called Ella on the 9th, but that she didn't get an answer, and Ella never called her back. She said the next day, after still not hearing from Ella, she called Ella's oldest daughter and she said she asked her to tell her mom to call her. Felicia said the girls didn't mention that they had not seen their mom since Tuesday. It's not clear if the girls were home or if they were with someone else, but it wasn't until Felicia called them back on Friday that she learned that Ella had not come home. By the time Felicia knew anything was wrong, no one had seen or spoken to Ella in days.
On March 11th, 2022, after no one was able to reach her, Ella's brother filed a missing persons report. When police received the report and learned from her family about Ella's trip to Texas, they started their search to locate her by reviewing surveillance cameras along the route that she would have driven. And right away, they were able to locate Ella's black Audi Q5 traveling on the highway towards Houston in the early morning hours of March 9th. And then 12 hours later, cameras again captured Ella's car, and this time it was heading back towards Louisiana. The following day, March 10th, her car is again spotted on surveillance, but this time it's back in Texas, north of Dallas.
From the pictures of Ella's vehicle, it appears as if the windows are tinted, and so I'm not sure if police were able to identify who's driving the car when it was seen. But the movement of the vehicle was suspicious. First, it's seen driving to Texas, which is consistent with what Ella's family and friends knew about her taking someone to Houston. But then 12 hours later, it's seen traveling back to Louisiana, but Ella never comes back home. And then the following day, her car is back in Texas, this time near Dallas.
Ella's family had also informed police that she was supposed to be taking someone to Houston, and so police began to focus on who that person was. And they learned that the person who asked Ella to take them to Houston was a man named Brandon Francisco. Now, how they learned about Brandon is not known, and her family, in the early days after her disappearance, were not sure how Ella even knew Brandon. But her cousin later said that he was someone that she had given rides to a few times and was someone that she felt comfortable with. But now Ella was missing, and the last person known to have seen her was Brandon.
Once Brandon was discovered as being the last person to see Ella, he immediately became a person of interest. Ella's devastated family began searching for themselves while police tried to figure out what happened. Soon, the local media in and around Lafayette began to pick up the story of Ella's disappearance, and the week after her disappearance, Ella's family spoke to the media to spread awareness about what was happening. And in an interview with KATC3, Karen Rose made this plea: "Know that your family has never, ever gonna give up on you. We're gonna always, we're gonna look for you until God say tell us one way or the other. But we're here for you. So please, whatever you can do to get a way, find a way."
Her family was worried, but they were hopeful that Ella would be found safe. Her cousin said this: "Hopefully, no, we're not expecting any type of foul play. All we want for her to come home safe. And whomever you are, if you're watching this, all we ask is that you turn yourself into local."
On March 16th, 2022, police announced that Brandon Francisco was officially a person of interest in Ella's disappearance. They also asked for the public's help in locating him because he had an active warrant for failure to show up to court. On the day that Ella drove him to Texas, Brandon was set to appear in court on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery, unlawful use of a movable, and obstruction of justice charges that stemmed from an incident that took place in 2018.
Now, while police tried to locate Brandon, Ella's family and friends organized searches and handed out flyers. They also set up a social media page called "Help Find Ella," which they used to spread information and to keep people up to date. Both Ella and her car were missing, and her cell phone had last pinged, according to police, in Iowa, Louisiana. And so her family organized searches there too. Her friend Felicia spoke to KLFY 10 about their efforts to find Ella.
Though, her family and friends early on felt like the police were not doing enough to search for Ella. Felicia expressed her frustration about the lack of urgency on behalf of the police, saying, "Went missing in Lafayette, and they had way more help than we getting. Whatever they had, airplanes in the sky, dogs on the ground, and they had boats in the water. We don't have nobody. We pulled up, we ain't everybody for help."
The same day that Felicia gave that interview, the police announced that the FBI and the U.S. Marshals were joining the investigation because of the multiple jurisdictions involved. But even with their involvement, Ella's family and friends still felt like she was not a priority for them. According to them, the days after Ella was reported missing, it seemed like they were the only ones really looking for her, and they were determined to find her.
On March 9th, 2022, Ella Goodie left her home in Scott, Louisiana, to drive someone she had met to Houston, Texas. But when she never returned home, her family reported her missing. Surveillance captured her car traveling to Texas that morning, and then 12 hours later, it's again seen, but this time heading back to Louisiana. The next day, her car is seen in Dallas, but Ella was never seen again.
Two weeks after her disappearance, the FBI joined the investigation, but Ella's family and friends were more and more frustrated about the lack of attention that Ella was receiving. Early on in their investigation, police learned that Brandon Francisco was the last person known to have been with Ella, and he had been named a person of interest. However, police had also learned that Brandon was a wanted man with a violent past. On the day that Ella vanished, he was supposed to appear in court on multiple charges that included attempted murder. He also had been arrested and served time for statutory rape and attempted second-degree murder. In 2008, he was someone with a violent past, and to know that Ella was last known to be with him is frightening.
On Friday, March 25th, 2022, after receiving a tip about his whereabouts, U.S. Marshals located Brandon in Saint Joseph, Missouri, 12 hours from Lafayette Parish and Scott, where Ella lived. Brandon was pulled over while driving down the street, and police said that initially he tried to resist arrest but was eventually taken into custody and was placed in jail in Missouri to await extradition. He was denied bond, and four days later, the extradition hearing was held for Brandon Francisco, who decided that he would fight the extradition. He asked the judge to appoint a public defender to help him fight it.
While Brandon Francisco sat in jail in Missouri, Ella's family continued their search efforts, and even as the days went by with no information, her family kept hope that Ella would be found safe. On April 1st, 2022, almost a week after Brandon was arrested, police located Ella's Audi in St. Joseph, Missouri, the same place where Brandon had been arrested. It's unclear how police located the vehicle, but after it was found, it was impounded so that evidence could be collected. State Trooper Derek Senegal told KLFY, "They're going to continue to look through that whole vehicle on a deeper level, other than just looking and confirming that's it. Okay, what else can we see? Are there fibers in the carpets? Is there something else in the fabric? Maybe we can get a fingerprint off the upholstery or the window or anything like that. We're going to continue to go through that whole vehicle inside and out."
When asked how Ella's car ended up in the same place that Brandon had been arrested, he said, "All these things have to be put together and continue digging to figure out what's going on and how we can piece everything together. If there is or could be or maybe there is someone else involved in this thing, we just have to make sure we continue to look and not just say, 'Hey, we're good, we found it,' and just close the case. We just can't do that. So we're going to continue to look and exhaust every effort that we have for her family."
The news that the car was found was a lot to process, but they were also concerned about false information that had begun circulating on social media. "We know how social media can often take things like this too far," when it comes to these cases. The family spoke out and asked people to stop. A spokesperson for the family told KLFY, "The family is full right now with emotion, trying to understand these new developments and what they mean or what they could mean. The family is still hopeful that Ella is still alive, but right now they are worried that all these interactions, specifically with things being reported to the FBI, reported to Scott Police, is kind of getting in the way of the investigation that's taking place." Her family wanted the focus to remain on finding Ella alive, and they were afraid that the rumors and conspiracy theories would hurt their efforts to find her.
On April 6th, Brandon was extradited back to Louisiana, and he was again denied bond, but he was not charged with anything involving Ella's disappearance. Police said that they questioned Brandon about what happened to Ella, but what he said has never been revealed. Like I said earlier, the FBI had already joined the case, but so far, Ella's family had not been given a lot of information.
On April 19th, a search was conducted in the area where Ella's phone last pinged. According to reporting done by KLFY 10, the Louisiana State Police were leading the investigation, were joined by several other agencies who went to Iowa, Louisiana, and conducted a search within a 50-mile radius. The police said that there were certain areas in that radius that they were targeting. Trooper Derek Senegal spoke to the news station and said this about the search efforts: "We have Louisiana State Police out here. We have Louisiana State Police air support, um, had helped us out here. We have the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Chackbay Sheriff's Office, and we also have the Class K9 National Search Organization that's, uh, that's assisting with us." This, unfortunately, after the search was finished, police said that they found no new evidence, but they said that they would continue to search in that area.
As the weeks went by, there were no answers about Ella's whereabouts. Everyone, including police, knew that Brandon Francisco was the last person known to have been with Ella. Her car was found weeks later in the same place where he was arrested, but whatever information police have found out about Ella's disappearance, they have not released. When it comes to Brandon, he remained in jail while he awaited trial. However, when it came to evidence and information about Ella's case, there seemed to be nothing. After her car was found, no information was released about what was found in the car, and aside from her phone pinging in Iowa, there's no information tracing its movements or presenting a timeline.
On May 3rd, 2022, almost two months after Ella vanished, police made an announcement that they were now investigating Ella's disappearance as a homicide. In a press release, Louisiana State Police said, "Based on investigative techniques and witness statements, detectives and investigators have transitioned from a missing person's case to a homicide investigation." Ella's family, however, was not swayed by what police were saying. They were still pushing forward and looking for Ella alive.
During a vigil held for Ella on May 20th, her cousin Amy, when asked about how she felt about the police declaring this case a homicide, said this: "Don't make me feel no type of way because I don't believe it's on my side because there's nobody. I mean, how could it be a homicide when there's nobody to phone?" She said that they believed that Ella was somewhere, possibly being held against her will. "Feel like she's in a situation. I think that somebody have her, you know, against the will. But I really feel in my heart that she will be set free. They're gonna have to let her go. But if we know she's not dead, we know she's alive."
If it was one thing about this family, it was that they were determined to bring Ella home. But like other families of missing Black women, they found themselves receiving very little help and no information. Once the FBI joined the case, her family thought that it would make a huge difference. I mean, so many families beg for the FBI to get involved because they know that they have better resources and can help in big ways. But for Ella's family, that wasn't what happened. Even with the FBI involved, there was very little being done. From their standpoint, there was a person of interest, and they seemed to have enough information to conclude that Ella was no longer alive, but for whatever reason, have decided not to tell her family or the public what that information was or where it came from. They also have not been able to explain why Brandon Francisco hasn't been charged or why they won't release information about what he said happened.
In October 2022, NBC featured her story as part of their "Missing in America" series. It so far has been the only mainstream media outlet to report on Ella's disappearance. As part of their story, they reached out to the Louisiana State Police, who said that there was no new information about this investigation at that time.
In August 2022, two weeks before he was set to stand trial on the unrelated charges, Brandon Francisco pled guilty as part of a plea deal and received a 30-year sentence. But as of the recording of this episode, there has been no recent information released about Ella's disappearance. Police have only said that Brandon Francisco remains a person of interest.
She's now 34 years old, and as the one-year anniversary of her disappearance approaches, I know her family wants nothing more than for this nightmare to end. Ella has two daughters, and they deserve to have their mom home. There are a lot of unanswered questions about this case, and this process has been frustrating for those who love Ella because there's been very little movement on this case, but the person of interest in custody since March. The hope would be that they would be able to get information that would lead them to Ella. Police even stated that they had spoken to witnesses as part of the investigation, and that those statements were part of the reason why they have concluded that this was a homicide, but no one has been charged with anything related to Ella's disappearance.
Ella's family, however, has not given up on finding her alive, and they don't want people to forget about Ella or give up on the fact that she could still be found. Ella Goodie was last seen traveling to Houston, Texas, from Scott, Louisiana, in her black Audi Q5 on March 9th, 2022. Ella is five foot three and weighs 125 pounds. She was last seen wearing a denim jacket and blue jeans, and Ella has several tattoos. If you have any information about Ella's whereabouts, please contact the Louisiana State Police.
Thank you for listening to this week's episode. We'll be back next week with a brand new story. In the meantime, make sure you follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.
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Thank you.