The mother of a Nashville woman who has been missing since 2017 has been arrested after police said she continued collecting food stamp benefits using her daughter’s identity.
According to Metro Nashville Police, 51 year old Shannon Anderson was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony food stamp fraud for allegedly claiming benefits in the name of her daughter, Jodie “Brooke” Anderson, who has been missing for nearly nine years. Police said Shannon Anderson also faces charges connected to sex offender registry violations.
Brooke Anderson was 18 years old when she was reported missing on Aug. 9, 2017. Family members said she was last seen with her mother at a Jack in the Box on West Trinity Lane, which has since closed. Shannon Anderson reportedly told investigators she went to the restroom and came back to find Brooke gone.
Brooke’s aunt, De’Anna Anderson, said both Brooke and her mother were homeless and struggling with drug addiction at the time of the disappearance. She also questioned why Brooke was not reported missing sooner.
“They waited from June until August to report her,” De’Anna Anderson said. “That’s a lot of wasted time.”
Metro police said Shannon Anderson was incarcerated when Brooke was officially reported missing, which may have contributed to the delay. However, De’Anna Anderson said Shannon had briefly been released from jail in June 2017 and already knew her daughter was gone.
As the years passed, De’Anna Anderson said she began losing hope that Brooke is still alive.
“I was hoping for years we would find her, but everything points to murder,” she said.
She also criticized the allegations that Shannon Anderson continued collecting government assistance using Brooke’s identity after her disappearance.
“Your baby’s missing and you’re capitalizing by going and drawing government benefits that our vets can’t even get,” she said. “That’s unacceptable.”
De’Anna Anderson said she believes Tennessee needs to dedicate more resources to missing persons investigations and said families are often left doing their own detective work.
Shannon Anderson remains in custody on a $22,000 bond as the investigation continues.