Oxygen Insider Exclusive!

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!

Sign Up for Free to View
Crime News The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins

Could John Millbrook Have Known What Happened To His Missing Daughters Jeannette And Dannette Millbrook?

An incarcerated man named Ernest Vaughns suggested that John Millbrook knows how Jeannette and Dannette Millbrook died.

By Gina Pace & Gina Tron

John Millbrook is the father of Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, who vanished off the street near their home in Augusta, Georgia in 1990. Despite being one of the few cases of missing twins in American history, their disappearance gained little media attention and many question whether it was properly investigated. Even their own father seemed barely interested in finding them, according to the family.

“He basically didn't even want to be involved in the girls' case,” Shanta Sturgis, the twins’ sister told the producers of the Oxygen special “The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins.” “He didn't even want my mom looking for them.”

Sturgis couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to help.

“We've been trying to find out for the longest why didn't he want to be involved,” Sturgis said. “These are your daughters. Why wouldn't you want to look for them? 

Could Millbrook know what happened to the twins?

According to one man’s allegations, yes. An incarcerated man named Ernest Vaughns suggested that John Millbrook knows that his daughters are dead and theorized that he went crazy because of it.

Vaughns definitely has connections to John Millbrook. Millbrook actually spent time in prison for helping dispose of a body in 1996 after the victim was killed by Vaughns, according to court documents. Millbrook was sentenced to four years in prison for concealing a death, but it’s unclear how much time he actually served.

Vaughns says he spent time at Millbrook's home, which he claims Millbrook lent to drug dealers as a dealing location. 

Years before he was convicted for killing two people Vaughns claimed that when he was about 12 years old he witnessed what he believes led to the murder of the twins. 

Vaughns gave an account of what happened to former prosecutor Laura Coates and former homicide detective Page Reynolds who gave the case a fresh look for “The Disappearance Of The Millbrook Twins.” He said that one of the twins got intoxicated while the two were at their dad’s home and that some of the men — he said there was 8 to 9 present at the home in total — at the apartment took advantage of her. The other twin "she saw this and she see how it was going down and nobody was saying nothing, and she said something,” Vaughns said.

Vaughns said he watched one of the guys hit the outspoken twin. She fell back and hit her head on a table and it busted open, according to his story. Then, Vaughns said he heard one of the twins screaming and some of the people present told him and others to leave. He said he was told to come back inside when “things got quiet.” 

Vaughns thinks the girls were likely killed and dumped nearby.  Vaughns did not claim that Millbrook killed the twins or was involved in the alleged dumping. 

“I think that’s what really drove that man crazy,” Vaughns said. 

Millbrook is currently still alive but is in a nursing home with dementia, according to Shanta Sturgis, and producers were not able to confirm or deny Vaughns’ account with Millbrook. 

Richmond County Sheriff’s Department investigators spoke with Vaughns in prison after Coates and Reynolds relayed details of Vaughns’ account. Investigators told producers of “The Disappearance of the Millbrook Twins” that while some details of his story were corroborated, they did not find his account of what happened to the girls to be credible.