A woman's body is found in the Mattaponi river In the autumn of 2000, Brenda Michelle Gee Knight, a 34-year-old Black female, was last seen by her sister in Richmond, Virginia, around Thanksgiving. A well-known beautician and a mother to three children, her disappearance was not officially reported to the authorities until 2004. Friends and family noted that Knight had fallen into a difficult period in her life, which may have contributed to the delay in reporting her missing.
On June 29, 2001, human remains were discovered along the
banks of the Mattaponi River in King and Queen County, Virginia. For years, the identity of the deceased woman remained a mystery, and she was referred to as the 'Mattaponi River Lady.' It wasn't until February 2013 that a significant breakthrough occurred in the case. Brenda Knight's daughter, who had been tirelessly searching for her mother, provided a DNA sample to law enforcement. This sample proved to be a match, and the remains found over a decade earlier were positively identified as those of Brenda Gee Knight.
An examination of the remains determined that Knight's death was a homicide. Despite the identification and the ruling of foul play, the case has grown cold over the years. To date, there have been no arrests made in connection with the murder of Brenda Knight, and no suspects have been publicly identified. The investigation into her death remains open and is considered an unsolved homicide.
