UPDATE, 4/4/22: Buchanan County, Mo., court officials tell News 10 that Brandon Francisco — the person of interest in the disappearance of Ella Goodie — has been denied bond for a second time after a hearing this morning.
The news comes after Goodie’s vehicle was found this past weekend by police in Missouri near the town where Francisco was arrested.
Francisco’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 29.
ORIGINAL POST: BUCHANAN COUNTY, Mo. (KLFY) — The main person of interest in the disappearance of a Scott contact driver Ella Goodie will fight attempts to extradite him back to Louisiana from Missouri, according to Buchanan County Court officials.
Brandon Francisco, 36, of Mansura, La., is the main person of interest in Goodie’s disappearance on March 9 and is believed to be the last person who came in contact with her. He had a warrant out of Rapides Parish for failing to appear in court the day that Goodie was last seen, according to Scott Police Chief Chad Leger. That warrant was for illegal possession of a firearm.
Francisco was arrested near St. Joseph, Mo., last Friday, March 25 by U.S. Marshals. Francisco initially tried resisting arrest, but he was ultimately taken into custody, according to officials.
Francisco appeared in Buchanan County Court in Missouri today, March 29, and asked the court to appoint him a public defender in an attempt to fight being extradited back to Louisiana, according to court officials who spoke to News 10. The judge denied Francisco’s bond.
Goodie had been a driver for Lyft and was last seen reportedly “driving a customer to Houston, Texas,” according to police. Leger confirmed to News 10 today that Goodie was suspended from her contact driving job with Lyft at the time of her disappearance, meaning that if she was driving a person to Houston, it was not as a driver specifically for Lyft.
Francisco will reappear before the court on April 4 for a bond hearing. He also has a hearing on his charges set for April 29, according to court officials.
Francisco has a criminal record that includes a 2003 conviction of possession of a stolen firearm, a 2008 conviction of statutory rape and a 2008 conviction of attempted second-degree murder, according to the probable cause statement obtained by The News Press Now.
The probable cause file is attached below.
