Man Out On Bond For Attempted Murder Now Person Of Interest In Lyft Driver’s Disappearance

The search continues for a missing Lyft driver who was last seen giving a man a ride from Louisiana to Texas last month.

Ella Goodie was last seen on March 9th. On that day, she called her brother to let them know she was okay and was getting gas. She informed her loved one that she had to take a passenger from Scott, Louisiana, to Houston, Texas. Law enforcement officers now believe that the passenger was Brandon Jermaine Francisco, someone Goodie had previously given a ride. However, Lyft has confirmed that the ride was not booked through their app on the day of her disappearance. Family members confirmed that during a suspension with Lyft, she began offering driving services on her own.

Goodie’s 2012 Audi Q5 was spotted on March 9th on Interstate 10 toward Texas. Traffic cameras captured her SUV coming back into Louisiana 12 hours later. On April 1st, authorities located the vehicle in St. Joseph, Missouri. The 33-year-old was nowhere in sight. One week prior, Francisco was arrested on March 25th in Buchanan County, Missouri, for unlawful possession of a firearm and being a fugitive out of state. He was officially named a person of interest in the case.

Francisco has a violent past, and on the day that Goodie went missing, he was slated to appear in court on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery, unlawful use of a movable, and obstruction of justice stemming from a 2018 case. In a separate 2008 case, he was convicted of statutory rape and attempted second-degree murder for the violent assault on his ex-girlfriend, whom he stabbed 23 times.

Francisco will appear in court on April 6th for the fugitive for out of state case and on April 29th for a preliminary hearing on the possession of a firearm charge. He has not given any information regarding Goodie’s whereabouts.

Goodie’s family has pleaded for her safe return.

“All we want is for her to come home safe and whoever you are. If you’re watching this, all we ask is that you turn yourself in and let her go,” her cousin, Carron Livings, said.