Moonshine Or Mayhem? The Disappearances Of Dan Brasher, Billy Howard Dye, And Robert Earl Dye.

The rain was pouring down in Alabama, somewhere between 2 and 3 a.m. on Saturday, March 3rd, 1956. Brothers, 19 year-old Billy Howard Dye, and 23-year-old Robert Earl Dye, were with their cousin, 38-year old Daniel Alec Brasher. 

They were in Billy’s dark green, 4 door, 1947 Ford truck headed down Crooked Creek Road between Morris and Bucksnort Road. They were on their way to a party in and looking forward to a night of dancing and drinking. Unfortunately, they never returned home.

The three men were avid drinkers and party goers. Sometimes they would disappear on drinking binges for days before returning home. So, it came as no surprise when the trio hadn't returned the next day. But when the brothers, who had been working on the construction of the new four-lane Highway 31 north of Birmingham, failed to pick up their paychecks and Dan was a no show for his construction job on the Monday following his disappearance, family members became concerned. 

Curtis Brasher and his father checked the jails between Morris and Decatur, but there was no sign of the men. So, on Thursday, March 8, they contacted the Sheriff’s Department and reported the men as missing. Over the next several days, search parties combed a 25-square-mile area in the Morris vicinity, searching roadways, wells, woods, abandoned mines, creeks, and caves. An aerial search covering three counties was also done.  Not a trace of the men or the car was found.

There was a wall of silence put up by many of the locals hindering the investigators ability to uncover the truth. I was able to construct a time line of events of sorts from when they went missing.

Allegedly, the three men were at Dan's mother's cabin in the woods in Sardis. Some reports call his mother Bessie and some call her Sarah. Robert's wife Audrey was also at the cabin as well as another married couple. Moonshine and whiskey flowed and a minor scuffle broke out. 

After the scuffle, at about 1:30 a.m, they headed to Robert’s home and dropped off Audrey. From there, they drove another couple to their home in Robinwood. 

Some articles claim that Dan's mother heard the trio come back to her house before leaving again between 2 and 3 a.m. to go to Billy's girlfriend's house to a party. Some articles say that after they drove the couple to Robinwood, they then went to a party at Billy's girlfriend's house in Jefferson County. So, i'm not sure on the exact timing of things.

There were reports of gunshots that morning in the area of Billy's girlfriend's house. Also, a man who lived next door to the girlfriend’s house, where there was no running water, said some men inside the home came out at about 2 a.m. and formed a bucket brigade to take water into the home. As if there had been an accident that had to be cleaned up. Shortly after, several men left the house carrying pickaxes and shovels and piled into two cars, one of which was Billy’s truck. Later, the first car came back, but Billy's truck did not.

A clerk of a nearby store told authorities a man had come into his store following the the men's disappearances asking for “anything that might remove blood from a floor.” The clerk recommended Red Devil lye, which the man bought.

Allegedly, a Blount County man had seen a bulldozer being used to bury a car in a construction site where US Highway 79 was being built. In the mid-1970's, investigators dug up parts of the highway and bored holes looking for evidence. Using sonar, they saw a mass of metal beneath the highway but it turned out to be scrap metal.

In 1984. An ex-convict from Louisiana named T.J. Chamblee confessed to participating in murdering the men, saying he wanted to clear his conscience. Chamblee said he helped disposed of the bodies and the Ford in an abandoned mine near Trafford. Authorities went to Louisiana to question Chamblee and discovered his story held inconsistencies. He was never charged.

Many theories about the men's disappearances have been discussed over the years. One of them is that the men stole moonshine from a bootlegger called "Redbird."  Law enforcement supposedly knows it's him, but yet to have adequate proof.

Some people claim that the men were fed to pigs at a farm.

Anyone with information on the disappearance of Billy Howard Dye, Robert Earl Dye, or Dan Brasher should call Captain Steve Green of the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department at (205) 325-5069.