BROOKFIELD, Mass. - A new set of eyes is now looking over the missing persons case of Brittany Tee. It’s been more than a year and a half since the 35-year-old vanished from Brookfield on January 10, 2023. 

“We try and focus on the cases where there’s no activity. It gives the family at least some hope and knowledge that someone is working on the case,” Louis Barry said. 

Barry is a retired police chief with more than 35 years of experience in law enforcement. He now works with the non-profit Private Investigations for the Missing, who have located people before and with nearly 500 requests since 2018, its Barry’s job to decide which cases they take. 

“Brittany’s case was coming up on two years old, so it certainly fit the criteria,” he said. “It seemed like something we might be able to help out on.”

At no cost to the Tee family, Barry will assign a private investigator to Brittany’s case. After months with nothing but questions, the goal is to try and piece together any new information with what’s already known. 

“If you need to, you start from the beginning and move forward. A year and half seems like a long time but some of our cases some in from 1979,” Barry said. 

Barry said while police departments sometimes hand off cases, a private investigator is the sole person responsible for getting answers. However, a PI a doesn’t have as much access as law enforcement and Barry doesn’t expect to work closely with the Massachusetts State Police. 

“From the appearance anyways, the state police and local police have done a lot of groundwork on the case,” he said. “I honestly don’t know what the communication will be. I suspect we’re not going to get a lot, just from past experience.”

Barry said it too early to tell where the case will go, but the organization is committed to helping families like Tee’s who never lost faith.

“Parents particularly always have hope,” he said. “Sometimes it’s easier to at least accept something happened, than I don’t know what happened.”

In a statement sent to Spectrum News 1, Brittany’s sister Bethany said they've felt confident in the investigational work by state police and Brookfield police and they're grateful for their continued work on the case. She said they're at the beginning stages with a private investigator and look forward to working with them to help bring Brittany home. Bethany went on to say they'll never stop searching and will never give up hope.

The case remains under investigation by the Worcester County District Attorney's office. Anyone with information is asked to contact the DA’s anonymous help line at 508-453-7589.