Key facts
- Name: Brooke Lairson Allensworth (also used the married names Hightower and Durham)
- Born: (exact date not publicly confirmed; age 37 at disappearance)
- Age at disappearance: 37
- Last seen: July 2018 (some early accounts say July 2017; see note below)
- Location: Oil Trough, Arkansas — last movements between Newark, Newport, and Searcy; her car was found near the Highway 122 White River Access boat ramp
- Height / build: Adult woman; mother of three; had recently dyed her naturally brown hair blonde and had her nails done
- Status: Still missing — car found abandoned; foul play not ruled out; family still searching
- Case numbers: Not publicly confirmed
- Investigating agency: Searcy Police Department, Arkansas (missing-person report filed there)
The nurse who didn’t come home
In July 2018, somewhere around the tiny town of Oil Trough, Arkansas — out in the flats, past where the Ozarks drop off and the land goes level to the horizon — 37-year-old Brooke Allensworth vanished.
Brooke was a licensed practical nurse. In 2012 she’d graduated from the University of Arkansas Community College with an associate’s degree in nursing. She was divorced, a single mother of three, living in an apartment on Roundabout Circle in Searcy and working at the Newark Medical Clinic.
Around the time she disappeared, Brooke had been to a beauty salon in Newark — nails done, her naturally brown hair dyed blonde. That detail matters: photographs showing her with brown hair don’t reflect how she looked in her final days.
She’d also been having trouble with a tire on her black 2007 Toyota Camry. Someone helped with a can of Fix-a-Flat. The repair didn’t hold.
What happened next is reconstructed from conflicting accounts — and the conflicts themselves are part of the story. Brooke was traveling between communities in northeast and central Arkansas. She was reportedly driving from Newport toward Searcy when the tire failed again, somewhere along the highway between Newport and Oil Trough.
Two weeks later, police found her Camry near the Highway 122 White River Access outside Oil Trough, by a boat ramp. The tire was flat. The doors were locked. The keys were missing. The car looked as though it had been abandoned for days, maybe weeks.
And Brooke was gone.
A note on the date: published accounts differ — some give July 2018, others July 2017, and even the day (July 10, 11, or 12) varies between sources. Her father filed the missing-person report with the Searcy Police Department roughly two weeks after her last known movements. We use July 2018, the date given by the most recent in-depth reporting, and note the discrepancy.
The two weeks of silence
One of the most troubling aspects of Brooke’s case is how long it took for anyone to officially notice. Because Brooke was an adult living on her own, and because her movements in those final days are still being pieced together, approximately two weeks passed before her father filed the report in Searcy.
Two weeks. In a missing-person case, the first 48 hours are everything — tire tracks fade, witnesses forget, surveillance footage is taped over. Brooke’s investigation started fourteen days late.
Her family — her three children, her father, her half-sister — never saw her alive again and are still searching for answers.
The podcast that wouldn’t let go
Brooke’s case might have stayed a local file if not for Catherine Townsend’s Hell and Gone. The iHeart true-crime podcast’s “Murder Line” took up Brooke’s story, laying out the flat-tire timeline, the abandoned Camry, and the family’s anguish for a national audience. The episode’s refrain is the plain facts: the car near the boat ramp, the flat tire, the locked doors, the missing keys — and a mother of three who never came home.
Independent researchers have continued the work. A 2026 deep-dive noted how much turns on small discrepancies — whether she vanished on a Wednesday or a Thursday changes which witnesses, phone records, and surveillance footage matter — and urged that conflicting early accounts be treated carefully rather than as settled fact.
Theories: what might have happened
She was stranded and met with foul play. This is the theory the geography suggests. A woman alone on a rural highway with a dead tire, near a boat ramp on the White River — isolated, dark, no houses close. Someone stops to “help.” What supports it: the vulnerability of the scenario, the locked car with the keys gone (she took them with her — or someone took them), and the fact that she never reached out to anyone after. What is unproven: everything. No witness, no suspect, no sign of a struggle has been publicly reported.
An accident at the river. The car was found at a boat ramp with access to the White River. If Brooke walked toward the water in the dark — disoriented, looking for help — the river is the other explanation the landscape offers. What undercuts it: searches of the area did not recover her, and the locked car with missing keys reads more like a person who left deliberately than one who stumbled.
Someone she knew was involved. One account reports Brooke was seen arguing with her former husband, Brad Durham, around the time she disappeared. This is a single reported account, not a finding, and it must be treated with full presumption of innocence — he has not been charged with anything in connection with her disappearance. It is included because in cases like this, the people in the victim’s orbit are always examined, and the public record contains the claim.
Have information?
Contact the Searcy Police Department in Arkansas or the Independence County Sheriff’s Department at 870-793-8838, or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST). Catherine Townsend’s Hell and Gone Murder Line can be reached at (678) 744-6145. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- 2012 — Brooke Allensworth graduates from the University of Arkansas Community College with an associate’s degree in nursing.
- July 2018 — Around July 10–12, Brooke is seen in the Newark/Newport area; visits a Newark salon (nails done, hair dyed blonde); has tire trouble with her black 2007 Toyota Camry. She is reportedly driving from Newport toward Searcy when the tire fails near Oil Trough.
- ~Late July 2018 — Brooke’s father files a missing-person report with the Searcy Police Department, roughly two weeks after her last known movements.
- ~Two weeks after disappearance — Police find her Camry near the Highway 122 White River Access boat ramp outside Oil Trough: flat tire, doors locked, keys missing, apparently abandoned for days or weeks.
- 2018–2026 — Hell and Gone (iHeart) profiles the case on its Murder Line; independent researchers continue to reconstruct the timeline. Brooke’s family keeps searching.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Brooke Allensworth still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Brooke Allensworth has been missing for eight years. She was 37 when she vanished near Oil Trough, Arkansas, in July 2018.
Was Brooke Allensworth ever found?
No. Only her car has been found — abandoned near a White River boat ramp with a flat tire, locked doors, and missing keys. Brooke herself has never been located.
When did Brooke Allensworth disappear — 2017 or 2018?
Published accounts differ. The most recent in-depth reporting gives July 2018; some earlier accounts (including the Hell and Gone podcast episode) say July 2017, and the exact day varies between July 10–12. Her father filed the report about two weeks after her last known movements.
What was found in Brooke Allensworth’s car?
Her black 2007 Toyota Camry was found near the Highway 122 White River Access boat ramp outside Oil Trough. The tire was flat, the doors were locked, and the keys were missing. The car appeared to have been abandoned for days or weeks.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information can contact the Searcy Police Department or NCMEC at 1-800-843-5678.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Searcy Police Department, Arkansas.
- News: Local Arkansas press (via podcast and research sourcing).
- Reference: The Charley Project; disappearedblog.com, “The Disappearance of Brooke Allensworth.”
- Media: Hell and Gone Murder Line (iHeart), “Brooke Allensworth” (Catherine Townsend); Faith, Fire and the Forgotten (Substack), “The Disappearance of Brooke Allensworth” (2026).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.