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On Wednesday, August 28, 2013, 22-year-old Brittany Stykes was on her way to her parent’s house, driving her yellow Jeep through Brown County, Ohio to celebrate her dad’s birthday. She was 17-weeks pregnant & she also had her 14-month-old daughter Aubree in the car with her when their normal drive turned into an absolute nightmare.
As they drove along a quiet road about three miles from her parent’s house, someone opened fire on their car. Although nearly 13 years have gone by, Brittany’s loved ones are still left to wonder if it had been a random act of violence or a targeted attack as her case remains unsolved.
Brittany Stykes was born on May 4, 1991 as the second child to parents David & Mary Dodson who were married 1987. They welcomed their son Josh that same year & Brittany was born four years later followed by three more children, Dustin, Tanner & Emily.
Even as young as 8-years-old, Brittany had an incredibly nurturing spirit & she would take her two youngest siblings, Tanner & Emily, up to bed at 9 pm each night. Acting as a second mommy, she made sure they brushed their teeth & changed into their pajamas before she read them a bedtime story.
She was a lover of all holidays, especially Halloween, since her sister Emily was born that day. Before Easter had a chance to arrive, Brittany would hide eggs around the property so her younger siblings would be ready for their upcoming egg hunt.
In 2002, after the family of seven moved to a farm in the quiet country town of Ripley, Ohio, it was clear to David & Mary that Brittany was meant for the county. She showed goats & chickens at the county fair & loved riding horses. Above all else, the most important thing in Brittany’s world was the love for her family & spending time with her siblings. The Dodsons did everything together, including going to car shows & drag racing.
At only 12-years-old, Brittany was mature & compassionate enough to insist on taking over Mary’s role as a Sunday school teacher since she wanted her mom to have a break. David & Mary described their oldest daughter as a loving, family-oriented child who even as a teenager, when most other kids her age were mostly focused on their friends, always wanted to spend time with her family.
When Brittany was about 20-years-old, she got a job at Subway which is where she ended up meeting her future husband, Shane Stykes, a single dad of two who saw his kids over the weekends. When he was kid-free during the week, he ate dinner most nights at Subway & over time, he & Brittany gradually got to know each other.
Their relationship started as platonic since Brittany was dating Dusty Puckett, her boyfriend since high school.
Shane recalls coming in from mowing his yard one day when he got a phone call from Brittany who explained that things had ended with Dusty. Despite their 15 year age gap with Shane being 35 & Brittany 20, they went out on their first date, four-wheeling in Shane’s yellow Jeep. From that moment on, they were inseparable.
Brittany was still living with her parents at the time while Shane had a home of his own & it wasn’t long until Brittany realized she was pregnant. Although they were both shocked, after about a year of dating they made a spur-of-the-moment decision to get married in February 2012. Four months later, they welcomed their baby girl, Aubree in June 2012.
Moving forward to a little more than a year later, the Stykes family was living in their own home in Ripley & Brittany was about four months pregnant with their second child in August 2013.
According to Brittany’s friend Samantha, when Brittany realized she was pregnant with their second child in June 2013, she was terrified to tell Shane since he didn’t want any more children. When she did finally tell him about two months later, he was furious & began throwing things around the house before storming out to stay at his mom’s house.
According to Mary & Dave, it was right around this time when Brittany began opening up to them about the frustrations in her marriage. Since Shane left for work at about 5 am & didn’t come home until after she was asleep, they rarely saw one another.
When Brittany called to confront him one day about him spending more time with Aubree, she placed the call on speaker so her parents were able to hear. Shane told her that she could move herself & Aubree out & he would pay child support, not yet aware that she was pregnant with their second child.
Brittany told him about her pregnancy that night which was when he left in a fit of anger to sleep at his mom’s house. When Mary saw the couple the next day, Brittany told her mom that when Shane came home, his tune had changed entirely. He was in a good mood, suddenly excited at having a second child, discussing potential baby names. Brittany felt uneasy by the sudden change of heart & didn’t feel that her husband was being genuine.
While they spent time at Mary & Dave’s that day, Dave couldn’t help but notice that Shane was using their home computer to look at new motorcycles. He was frustrated to see this since he knew the couple’s finances were tight & now they were expecting another child.
Shane later told investigators that Wednesday, August 28, 2013 had started like any other day & he left for work, making the hour & a half drive to Star Manufacturing in West Chester Township. He left at about 5 pm & although he normally stopped home before going to his gym in Decatur, he stopped for gas at 6:15 pm & then went straight to the gym.
After he got to the gym at 7 pm, he worked out for about 2 hours. When he got home at about 8:50 pm, the house was quiet since Brittany & Aubree were going to her parent’s house for her dad’s birthday. He ate leftovers for dinner & then fell asleep.
While Shane was at work, Brittany planned to go to her mother-in-law’s house to fill out a job application. She was applying for a seasonal position with the IRS after she left her job at Walmart & since neither she & Shane nor her parents had reliable internet, she needed to use Cathy’s computer.
When she texted Cathy at 9:15 am, she let her know that she & Aubree were on their way to her house 25 miles away in Bethel. After they ate dinner together, she & Aubree planned to head over to her parent’s house to celebrate her dad’s 49th birthday.
She was on the phone with her mom as she pulled into Cathy’s driveway, they were chatting about her dad’s birthday & her plans for the day. As they ended the call, they each said I love you & this was sadly the last time Mary ever heard her daughter’s voice.
Brittany left Cathy’s a little after 7 pm, strapping Aubree in her rear-facing car seat beside her in the passenger side of Shane’s yellow Jeep. At 7:15 pm she texted her parents, It’s raining up in town.. Just a ways from ur house. Aubree was out 5 minutes ago.
After CCTV from town captured images of the Jeep passing through at 7:29 & 7:32 pm, they headed south along U.S. Route 68, about three miles from her parent’s farm along the Ohio/Kentucky border.
About 30 minutes later, 50-year-old Craig Labell was driving with his wife Sandy from their home in Charlotte, North Carolina to visit family in New York. Since visibility was poor from a torrential downpour, he missed a turn onto U.S. Route 62 in Brown County.
As the rain began to slow just before sunset while they drove on U.S. Route 68 near Gooselick Road, Craig began to look for a place to turn around. This was when he noticed headlights coming from a Jeep in a wooded area about 200 feet off the road & about 75 feet into an area of trees. Since he worried that someone might need their help, he decided to go back to check things out.
After Craig pulled over, he walked down an embankment & began calling out to the driver as he entered the wooded area. He was able to hear the car’s radio playing loudly while the windshield wipers ran as he came upon the yellow Jeep Wrangler with a gray soft top.
Worrying that the driver had suffered a medical event, he saw that the plastic driver’s side window had a hole in it so he put his face through & saw a young woman behind the wheel. She was slumped back in her seat with her head turned to the side while her hand faced up as it rested on her knee & it appeared that she was sleeping.
Craig began yelling into the car while he banged on the door in an attempt to wake Brittany up, but she was unresponsive. He’d yet to notice any obvious injuries so he ran back up to the road to call 911, trying to figure out their exact location since they were from out of town. He told the dispatcher that a young girl seemed to be unconscious in a Jeep that had driven off the road into the woods.
At that point, Craig believed that Brittany was the only person in the car, but when he went back down to the passenger side, he came upon Aubree as he opened the door. She quietly looked at him as she tried to wipe the blood that covered her face as she sat in her carseat. with blood all over her face. When she looked to the side & noticed her mom, she began to whimper & cry for her mama.
Craig began to hear his wife yelling out that someone was coming. An off-duty firefighter from a neighboring town just so happened to be driving by. As he reached into the driver’s side of the car & held his hand to Brittany’s neck, he sadly found no pulse. At this point, Craig noticed a wet spot under her right armpit & realized it was blood.
More & more first responders began arriving at the scene as Craig & Sandy answered each of the officer’s questions. They were devastated to learn that Brittany hadn’t survived, not yet realizing that she was about 4 months pregnant.
As this devastation & chaos was happening, Mary, Dave & Emily were sitting on their back porch three miles away, completely unaware, just waiting for the rest of their kids to arrive. As they heard sirens in the distance, they began to worry since they expected Brittany & Aubree to be there by then.
Dusty called to tell his parents that something big was going on near their house & asked if they’d seen Tanner. When Mary hung up & planned to call Tanner, he called her first, letting her know that he wasn’t able to get through because of all of the first responders on scene.
Mary said she immediately felt in her gut that whatever was going on had something to do with Brittany, speculating that she’d gotten into a car accident. Dave quickly hopped in his truck & when he got near the scene, he asked officers if there was a yellow Jeep & a girl with long dark hair involved & the officer told him yes. When he was told that the passenger had been shot & was being rushed to the hospital, he immediately knew that it was Aubree.
While Dave rushed to the hospital, Shane called the Dodson home to break the devastating news to Mary that Brittany had been pronounced dead at the scene while Aubree had been airlifted to the nearest children’s hospital. She felt that her world was crumbling around her as she grappled to understand that their young, pregnant daughter was dead & their baby granddaughter had been injured after someone had shot them.
At the time of their sister’s death, Josh was 26, Dusty was 20, Tanner was 16 & Emily was only 12.
The Brown County Ohio Sheriff’s Office indicated that Brittany had been shot multiple times while Aubree, who had been strapped into her car seat in the passenger seat, had been shot in the head as Brittany drove, the bullet entering just above her eyebrows. Brittany lost control of the Jeep after she was struck, careening to the left, crossing over the yellow line that divided the two lanes before she drove down an embankment into a wooded area where the Jeep was partially hidden from view.
After Brittany died behind the wheel, her unborn baby, starved of oxygen, also died. According to Shane, after his wife’s death, he was told that their baby was a girl.
Meanwhile, Aubree was rushed to Cincinnati Children’s hospital where she underwent extensive surgeries, including a metal plate that was fitted into her skull. She had been shot once in the head with the bullet entering her forehead, exiting at the top. During the several months she remained in the hospital, Mary & David made the two-hour round-trip drive to visit her each day.
According to her autopsy, Brittany had been shot twice. One bullet entered her neck causing a superficial wound while the second shot had been fatal, entering the left side of her chest, puncturing her lungs & heart. There was also a bullet wound to her right arm that was likely a re-entry wound.
Each bullet entered her body from the left & exited the right-side in a slightly upward movement. She also suffered contusions to her forehead, her right forearm & her right thigh as well as abrasions above her right eye, chin, below her left ear, right leg & left hand. The report made no mention of what may have caused these injuries.
Based on the pattern of shots, it was clear that they had been directed toward the driver’s side of the Jeep which made investigators sure that this had not been a random act & instead, Brittany had been targeted in an ambush-style attack.
There were five bullet holes in total, three through the metal driver’s side door, while two came through the soft-top section of the Jeep. No shell casings were found at the scene. It’s likely the shooter fired from another moving vehicle from a distance away which would explain why no gunshot residue had been found on Brittany’s body. Since the $125 in cash she carried & the jewelry she wore were still at the scene, this had not been a robbery.
Not only was something this violent an odd occurrence in Brown County, but it seemed entirely random as Brittany didn’t have an enemy in the world. She was a young married mother who was expecting a second child. She lived a quiet life that didn’t involve drugs or shady people.
Brittany typically drove a minivan, but two weeks before the murder, Shane had told Brittany that he wanted to swap cars since the Jeep needed a new stabilizer. Since he drove long distances to work, he felt the minivan would be the better option for him. Brittany’s friend Samantha found this odd since Shane never previously allowed Brittany to drive his Jeep.
At the time of Brittany’s death, Shane had been working out at his gym fifteen minutes away. He said he went straight home after he left, ate dinner & fell asleep. The next thing he realized, he was being woken by the sound of pounding on his front door.
When he opened the door, he found two officers standing on his front porch who asked him a slew of questions before they sat him down & told him that his wife had died. When he asked about Aubree, Shane was told she was being airlifted to the ICU at Children’s Hospital.
Shane told officers that he’d gone to work & then to the gym, something that witnesses were able to confirm. His hands tested negative for gunshot residue. Although he described his marriage to Brittany as solid & happy, her parents strongly disagreed with this. He did admit that their finances were a stress in their relationship, but they’d been hoping that Brittany would get hired with the IRS to alleviate these stresses.
There was no life insurance policy to receive, he had an alibi, he passed a polygraph & Shane was eventually ruled out as a suspect.
Shane pointed investigators to Brittany’s ex-boyfriend, Dusty Puckett, indicating that he hadn’t gotten over their breakup. However, Dusty had been three hours away at college & since he had a solid alibi, he was quickly ruled out as a suspect.
Shane speculated that maybe because Brittany had been driving his distinctive car, he had been the target & she’d died in a case of mistaken identity. He told investigators about a man named Donald Chamberlain who had pulled a gun on him during an argument. Each man had filed a police report against the other. He also mentioned David Kilgore, another man he’d had issues with. However, both men had an alibi & passed their polygraphs.
Very quickly, the case went cold, but in June 2015, two years after the attack, Brown County Chief Deputy Sheriff Carl Smith announced to the media that an arrest in the case was imminent. The girlfriend of Tommy Lopez told police that she had been with him when he shot Brittany & that he’d received two $10,000 payments for the murder from an unnamed person. Her death was allegedly payback for Shane not paying money that was owed.
According to the girlfriend, they were in a white car at a gas station when they noticed the yellow Jeep. After following it for 25 minutes, Tommy utilized a blue police-style light that plugs into a car’s cigarette lighter to signal Brittany to pull over near Gooselick Road. When the Jeep stopped, Lopez walked up to it & fired several shots. The girlfriend claimed that when she looked through the window, she saw that Brittany was bloody.
Tommy Lopez was arrested on drug charges, but released six months later & has never faced charges in connection with Brittany’s murder. He denied any knowledge of her murder & said he had no idea where Georgetown or Brown County were located.
To her family’s frustration, the Ohio Bureau of Investigation was not initially brought in & when they were, they only worked the case for a couple of years.
Since investigators continued to hold Shane’s Jeep as evidence, he eventually grew frustrated with waiting & when he sued the department, he won. Many people were surprised by this since they couldn’t understand why he would want the vehicle back after his wife & unborn child had been murdered inside while his daughter had been critically injured.
According to Shane, he wanted the Jeep home because of everything that was tied to it; he & his dad built it together before his dad’s death & he & Brittany had their first date in it. He went on to say that for the million good memories, there is one that is very bad.
Shane believes that the lead investigator in Brittany’s case thought he had something to do with his wife & unborn child’s deaths. Although he was cleared as a suspect, he indicated that his reputation has been forever tarnished. His life was chaotic in the aftermath as people would follow him & take photos of him.
Throughout the investigation, more than 75 people were interviewed & close to a million dollars were spent. According to Sergeant Carlson, each lead they developed led them down another dead-end. He doesn’t consider Brittany’s case to be cold since it’s always being worked on, although, to this day there are still no suspects.
Over the years there have been theories & speculation. Many people, including Mary & David, have pointed a finger at Shane. There have been questions regarding the state of their marriage, the fact that he didn’t want another child & had been angry when Brittany told him she was pregnant, that they’d switched cars in the days before the murder, as well as his actions after.
About two weeks after his wife’s death, Shane filed a claim & received $50,000 from a charity supporting victims’ families while Dave Dodson says he only paid $7,500 toward Brittany’s funeral to cover half the costs & there were no medical costs for Aubree. There have also been disputes regarding Aubree’s custody & the push to get the Jeep back. Although Mary & Dave wanted full custody of Aubree, they were given shared custody, getting her every-other weekend, on some holidays & for four weeks over the summer.
Investigators have maintained that there’s no evidence linking Shane to the crime.
According to Mary, when she went to her daughter’s house to get her clothes for the funeral, she noticed that all of Brittany’s clothes had been bagged up. This was when Emily told her mom that Brittany had been getting ready to leave Shane.
There has also been the talk about a potential hitman as well as a case of mistaken identity & even the possibility of road rage. The bullet patterns on the Jeep are consistent with coming from another moving vehicle since no shell casings were found at the scene & had likely remained in the vehicle where they were shot from.
Road rage incidents are difficult to solve since the victims don’t know the perpetrator, the crime scene is contained & if there aren’t cameras in the area, the killer can easily get away if there aren’t any witnesses.
Shane also told investigators that when Brittany had been on her way to his mom’s house earlier that day, a man in either a white or silver minivan ran her off the road & they’d gotten into a verbal altercation, something she also texted her friend Samantha about. When they spoke on the phone a little later, Samantha said that Brittany hadn’t sounded upset or scared about the incident.
After Aubree’s discharge from the hospital, she went to live with Shane & his mother. As Aubree grew & her personality began to shine, Shane indicated that he was struck by how much her personality resembles that of her mother. Since she’d been so young when her mother was murdered, Aubree has no memory of her or anything to do with her mom’s murder & her own recovery.
Mary & Dave are thankful that through the custody disputes in the years following their daughter’s death, they now have a relationship with their granddaughter. For a decade, the Dodson family held a candlelight vigil at the scene of the shooting, community members showing up year after year while Shane never did.
On May 4, 2026, on what would have been Brittany’s 35th birthday nearly thirteen years after she was killed, her family returned to the roadside cross marking where her Jeep went off the road & another memorial vigil was held. Her family has also created a Facebook page to advocate for the daughter’s case & to keep her name alive.
Nearly thirteen years have passed since a then 14-month-old Aubree nearly lost her life after her mom & unborn sibling were shot dead beside her. She is now a 14-year-old girl who never got the chance to know the person who had brought her into this world & placed her at the center of her world.
According to the Facebook page in honor of Brittany, she was a person who was deeply loved, she had a huge heart & cared about those around her. Her family was her entire world & she was strong-willed, fiercely independent, determined & full of life. She dreamed of one day opening up her own motorcycle shop to prove that women could succeed in a male-dominated industry.
Someone out there knows who is responsible for Brittany’s death. There’s a $50,000 reward with information leading to an arrest. If you have any information in this case, please contact the Brown County Sheriff’s Office at 937-378-4435 x 114 or contact Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.
References:
- Medium: Someone knows what happened on Route 68: The unsolved murder of Brittany Stykes
- E.C. Nurre Funeral Homes: Brittany Stykes
- NBC News: Nearly 10 years later, the murder of pregnant Ohio mother Brittany Stykes remains unsolved
- NBC 4: Unsolved Ohio: Who killed Brittany Stykes & shot her 1-year-old daughter
- Fox 19 Now: Jeep, other items returned to husband of Brittany Stykes
- Fox 19 Now: Husband of Brittany Stykes: ‘I believe that she was paced alongside & fired on’
- Fox 19 Now: Court docs: Woman says she witnessed Brittany Stykes’ murder
- Final autopsy report
- Local 12: Vigil marks Brown County woman’s 35th birthday as 13-year-old murder remains unsolved
- WLWT5: Final autopsy results for Brittany Stykes released
- Culpable: Season 2, Episode 1: The Bystander Effect
- Apple Podcasts: Culpable, Season 2, Episode 2: Our Life, Our Story
- Apple Podcasts: Culpable, Season 2, Episode 3: Road Rage
- Apple Podcasts: Culpable, Season 2, Episode 4: Elephant in the Room
- WCPO: Man describes finding woman, infant daughter after Brown County shooting
- The Ripley Bee: Stykes’ case remains active
