Where is Sherrell Brown? Case of missing Petersburg woman remains unsolved 3 years later

PETERSBURG, Va. — Sherrell Brown was last seen on Sept. 1, 2023, in Petersburg. She had recently been hospitalized before her disappearance and was at the family home on Hanover Avenue the night she vanished.

Her husband, Phil Brown, said he had just returned home that evening when Sherrell walked out. Brown said he got in his car within minutes to look for her, but she was already gone.

"Two days after she disappeared, I reported it to the police station. I called her husband and asked him, 'Come on, let's go report this,' because she was sick," Sherrell's mother, Brenda Blackwell, said.

Brown said he heard a story that Sherrell was in a white van with some friends, got sick and was let out of the van. She reportedly stopped at a house and asked for some water because her chest was hurting.

"If your chest is hurting, why don't you come back home?" Brown said.

Sgt. James Darrington with the Petersburg Police Department was unable to confirm details about Sherrell stopping for water or a connection with a van.

"I'm not the original detective on the case, so I'm not aware of that," Darrington said. "The white van, we have not found any connection to."

After speaking with Brown, I went to the neighborhood and investigated. I found that there was indeed a neighbor who gave Sherrell water. I went down several times to try to speak with her and kept missing her. About a month and a half later, I located her. She agreed to speak with me but asked me to stop coming by, and she set a time to meet the following week.

"I saw Cheryl, she was sitting on my chair, it kind of startled us because it was so late," the neighbor said. "So anyway, so I opened the door, she said, 'Hey baby,' she said, 'I don't mean to knock at your door this late like this.' She said, 'Well, can I please get a cup of water?' So I was like, 'Yeah.' So, I gave her a cup of water."

I believe the neighbor's account is important to the timeline of where Sherrell could have possibly gone.

The neighbor told me she and her daughter dropped Sherrell off after the water stop. Whether Sherrell went inside the home or continued walking on her own remains unknown. Those are the two theories police are working with.

Sherrell's mother organized search parties and put up fliers, but Phil Brown did not join those group efforts. Brown pushed back on what that absence implied.

"Just cause I didn't go with them don't mean I didn't go out," Brown said.

Brown denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance, saying he had been with her for about three decades and would never hurt her. He agreed to take a polygraph test, but the day before it was scheduled, his sister called our producer and said he would not be taking it. She felt he needed legal representation first.

Brown said he remains committed to his wife.

"I still wear my ring like I ain't, I ain't never, I don't never take this off," he said. "I don't deal with no women, nothing. I got a wife. I'm waiting on her to come home."

A common frustration among Petersburg victims' families is what appears to be frequent detective turnover on cases. Families have told me that a detective may have a case one week, and a different detective is assigned to it weeks later.

Over the past three years, Sherrell's mother has raised about $100,000 for a reward for information leading to answers in the case.

Anyone with tips is asked to call the Reopen the Case tip line at 833-RTCFNVA or email tips@reopenthecase.org.