The person of interest in the disappearance of Ella Goodie has been located by federal agents in Missouri.
Brandon Jermaine Francisco was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Missouri on a warrant out of Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office, according to Village 337, a nonprofit group helping with the search. Scott Police Chief Chad Leger confirmed that Friday afternoon but said he knew little more about the circumstances surrounding the arrest.
Francisco is believed to be the last person to have come in contact with Goodie. He currently has an active warrant for his arrest for failing to appear in court in Rapides Parish on March 9, the date Goodie was last seen.
Leger said a representative with the U.S. Marshals Service called him at about 2:15 p.m. Friday to say Francisco had been arrested in St. Joseph, Missouri. Francisco is being held in Missouri until he can be transported to Rapides Parish, where he has outstanding warrants for missed court dates in an attempted second-degree murder case.
Leger said the transport likely will not happen until next week. At that point, Scott investigators will travel to Rapides Parish to interview Francisco, who Leger said is a person of interest but not a suspect in Goodie's disappearance.
Leger said he did not know the condition Francisco was found in, whether he was driving a vehicle at the time of his arrest or if anything indicated Goodie was with him at some point.
"We still have no whereabouts or no updates on Ella Goodie," Leger said.
Goodie, a 32-year-old Lafayette woman, was last seen on traffic cameras north of Dallas. This was after her car was seen on camera driving toward and then driving back toward Louisiana.
Francisco was scheduled to appear in an Alexandria courtroom in connection to a 2018 shooting on the same day he was seen with Goodie, a Lyft driver. Family members said she was driving someone to Houston in her car, a 2012 Audi Q5 with a Texas license plate NRN6551.
The Scott Police Department announced last week that the FBI and U.S. Marshal Service had become involved in the case.
Goodie was last seen wearing a denim jacket and blue pants.
Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is asked to contact the Scott Police Department at 337-233-3715 or any local law enforcement agency.
Staff writers Kristin Askelson and Davide Mamone contributed to this report.