Oprah show prompts tips about missing woman

Cathy Scott

Monday, June 30, 1997 | 4:21 a.m.

T. Brazzel

A New Jersey father is hoping there's some truth to two tips generated from the "Oprah Winfrey Show" that his missing daughter is working in a Las Vegas casino.

Tracey Brazzel, then 22, disappeared two years ago from Lynnwood, Wash., near Seattle, where she was working as a cosmetologist.

"I want her to get in touch with me," said Bill Brazzel, her father. "I miss her. I'm desperately searching for her. If she's having problems, I want to help."

Two years almost to the day Tracey disappeared from her garden apartment complex in Lynnwood, Brazzel, his wife and Tracey's half-brother appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" to tell their story. Two days later, on June 3, Snohomish County Sheriff's Department detectives received two tips that people had spotted his daughter in an unnamed casino here.

Brazzel feels in his heart that his daughter is a victim and that she's running away from someone.

"I want to know that she's OK, and I want to help her if there's any problem," he said.

Tracey never picked up a final paycheck from the hair salon where she worked, and she left $2,700 in a bank account. Her car, which she usually parked in a space in front of her apartment, was instead found parked on the side of the building. It had a dent in the side that wasn't there before and evidence of blood was found in the car, Brazzel said. Tracey was last seen at 1:45 a.m. on May 27, 1995, at a local bar in South Everett.

The boots she was wearing that night were found just inside the front door of her apartment.

Brazzel had last seen his daughter nine days before her disappearance when he flew to Washington to talk to her because "she was having problems."

"I felt there were some problems," Brazzel said in a telephone interview from his home. "I met with her and then I flew back to New Jersey. She was having a problem with a woman in her salon."

Because of that personality conflict at work, Tracey had quit her job the day before her disappearance.

When asked if tests showed that it was in fact blood on her car, Lt. Kevin Prentiss, who oversees the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department's investigative unit, said it was considered evidence and he couldn't comment.

Brazzel has spent two years and more than $150,000 searching for his daughter. He's hired a private investigation firm, a nationally known psychic and clairvoyant, and, most recently, a private criminologist to do a profile of his daughter and the details surrounding her disappearance.

He hired a private detective "partly out of frustration, partly out of fear."

"I understand the trail starts to grow cold after 72 hours," he said. "That had already passed. I wanted to find her."

Brazzel didn't learn his daughter was missing until June 6, 1995, 10 days later, when his other daughter, Lisa, called him.

Prentiss said he hopes Tracey simply "walked away." Police hadn't had any new leads in the case until the tips came in from the Oprah broadcast.

Earlier this month, Brazzel and his family went on the show to tell their story. From that show, police received 100 tips. Seven were considered solid, two of which were from Las Vegas.

"The tips were pretty general in nature," Prentiss noted.

It wasn't until Snohomish County Sheriff's Department detectives received a call from a reporter last week that they notified Metro Police's missing persons bureau about the tips.

Prentiss explained that "we have several other tips we feel are also viable" and they were working on those first.

As for the Las Vegas sightings, he said, "One woman said Tracey was working in an unnamed casino."

The other tip came from a couple who called in and said they had seen a woman who looked like Tracey working in a casino.

"The only thing that caught our attention was that there was more than one (tip)," Prentiss said.

The difficulty with the case is the two years that have already passed, he said.

"With the length of time that's gone by since she disappeared, judging by past experience, there's a chance that she was killed," he said. "We've checked all of the Jane Does (bodies) that we've come across and we have not had any positives yet."

Brazzel has less than complimentary things to say about Snohomish County deputies. He's critical of the way they've handled the investigation from the start.

But Prentiss responded that Brazzel "doesn't have all the facts in this case," adding, "The trail was cold to begin with."

A check with the office that approves work permits in Las Vegas didn't have a work card on file for Tracey Brazzel either under her own name or under her Social Security number, said Metro Sgt. Walt Quering.

Prentiss said he would be asking Metro to "maybe have them take her photo around to casinos."

In the meantime, Brazzel and his family wait.

"It's been a difficult time for all of us," he said.

Anyone with information on Tracey Brazzell should call the Young Victim's Society at (800) 999-9024.