Fifth family member of missing teen facing charges in Baldwin County

By The Independent Staff
Posted 8/23/12

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- A fifth family member of a missing teen last seen in the Styx River area has been arrested in an ongoing sexual abuse investigation in Baldwin County.

Maj. Anthony Lowery with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Local reporters keeping you informed across the Alabama Gulf Coast.

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

Fifth family member of missing teen facing charges in Baldwin County

Posted

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- A fifth family member of a missing teen last seen in the Styx River area has been arrested in an ongoing sexual abuse investigation in Baldwin County.

Maj. Anthony Lowery with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday, the arrest of Wendy Wood Holland, 33, of Bay Minette, on misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child. Records show she has been released on a $1,000 bond.

According to published reports, Wednesday’s arrest was the sixth in connection with an investigation involving Randall Scott Wood, 42, of Athens, Tenn., and Dustin Alton Kent, 36, of Mobile, who has been arrested twice in the case, and is not related to the May 30 disappearance of 19-year-old Brittney Wood, who is the niece of Randall Wood and Dustin Kent.

Brittney Wood’s brother, Derek Thomas Wood, 21, who is listed on the Baldwin County Department of Corrections website as homeless, remains in jail on a $20,000 bond after he was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Facility on Friday, July 13, facing felony charges of second degree rape and second degree sodomy.

Her cousin, Donald Paul Holland Jr., 20, of Daphne, was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Facility on Tuesday, July 17, and is facing felony charges of incest and second degree rape, along with a misdemeanor charge of second degree sexual abuse. Records show he has been released on a $10,000 bond.

More than 200 volunteers, including rescue squads from Escambia County in Florida and Monroe, Mobile and Baldwin counties in Alabama, turned out to the Rosinton Fire Station June 6 and 7 to help search for the teen, who was reported missing on June 2.

According to her parents, she left their Tillman’s Corner home on May 30 and said she was going to a friend’s house. When they had not heard from her by June 2, they called and reported her missing.

Wood's family members reported her last cell phone transmission was located less than a mile away from her uncle's home in the Styx River area. Concern escalated when the uncle, Donald Holland Sr., reportedly Wendy Holland’s husband and the father of Donald Holland Jr., was found dead at his Fairhope home about a week later of an apparent self-inflicted gun-shot wound.

Volunteers conducted a two-day search with the help of California-based organization KlaasKIDS Foundation, combing an area within a five-mile radius of the uncle’s home.

Randall Wood and Kent were arrested less than two weeks later, on June 19, the result of a three-month investigation in and around the Marlow community, according to reports.

Randall Wood was booked on felony charges of second degree sodomy and incest and a misdemeanor charge of second degree sexual abuse. He was released on $25,000 bond.

Kent was booked on felony charges of first degree sodomy and second degree rape and was released on $10,000 bond. Records show he released again on a $10,000 bond after being booked July 16 on charges of second degree rape, second degree sodomy and incest.

According to reports, the investigation is ongoing and one more arrest is expected in the case.