James Kenneth Britt, a 49-year-old white male also known as Jim or Jimmy, was last seen in Portsmouth, Virginia, on April 11, 2011. He was described as 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 180 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. At the time he vanished, James lived in the Sterling Point area of Portsmouth and was connected to the used-car business, a line of work that reflected both his mechanical skill and his independence. Public missing-person records and case summaries identify the Portsmouth Police Department as the investigating agency and list his NamUs case as MP19265.
Four days after James was last seen, on April 15, 2011, police went to his home in the 5100 block of Moonlit Avenue after family and friends could not reach him. What they found changed the case from a disappearance into something far more troubling. According to court records, officers discovered that the house had been damaged and smelled of paint and bleach. Large sections of carpet and padding had been cut from both the bedroom and living room, and the remaining carpet showed white marks that appeared consistent with bleach stains. Other reports described blood spatter in several parts of the home, including walls, floors, and ceiling, with enough blood present to lead investigators to believe James had been killed. Five of his teeth were recovered inside the residence, but James himself was not found.
The condition of the home suggested that someone had tried to conceal what happened there. Public accounts reported that stains had been bleached and painted over, and James’s family believed he had been killed inside the home and removed in a section of carpet. A 13News Now report from June 2011 stated that James’s brother, William Britt, showed reporters areas of missing carpet and red staining and said a section of carpet measuring approximately six feet by twelve feet had been cut from the living room floor. That same report said Portsmouth police were treating the matter as a murder investigation, while the family continued pleading for information that could help bring James home.
Investigators soon focused on Freddie Lee Hall Jr., a Florida man who had a business relationship with James. James sold high-end used vehicles, and Hall had reportedly done work on them. In the weeks before James disappeared, the two men had argued several times; public case summaries state that Hall had allegedly been paid to repair a vehicle but had not completed the work or returned the money. James had also reportedly told others that Hall had come to his house and was stalking or harassing him, though he had not said he feared for his safety. When police later searched residences connected to women Hall had stayed with, they found two vehicles belonging to James, and the vehicle titles were reportedly in Hall’s possession. Friends of James said he liked those vehicles and would not have sold them.
Additional evidence connected Hall to James’s home and to the investigation. Public summaries state that Hall’s fingerprints were found in several areas of the house, including the master bedroom. A 9mm cartridge casing was found inside the home, and investigators found a receipt in Hall’s car for 9mm ammunition purchased five days before the presumed murder. Court records later described the evidence against Hall as extensive, and the Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed his first-degree murder conviction in 2014 after rejecting his appeal related to the admission of the ammunition receipt. A later federal court opinion stated that Hall had been convicted following a jury trial and received a life sentence.
In January 2013, a Portsmouth jury found Freddie Lee Hall Jr. guilty of first-degree murder in James Britt’s death, even though James’s body had not been recovered. News coverage reported that the jury recommended life in prison, and that police said the evidence recovered proved James had been killed. For James’s family, the verdict answered part of the story, but not the most painful part: where James was taken after he disappeared. His brother publicly described him as intelligent and hardworking, a man who paid his own way through college and built his life through discipline and labor. The case remains remembered not only for the violence indicated by the evidence, but also for the absence that followed—James was last seen on April 11, 2011, in Portsmouth; a welfare check four days later revealed signs of a fatal attack inside his home; evidence led to the prosecution and conviction of Freddie Lee Hall Jr.; and despite that conviction, James Kenneth Britt’s remains have not been publicly reported as recovered.
Last Seen: Apr 11, 2011
