Hartville, MO. – A Jefferson City man is in custody after the teen he was responsible for transporting to the Wright County Children’s Home appeared to be drunk and a victim of statutory rape earlier this month.
On November 1, 2023, at roughly 4 p.m. law enforcement and emergency services were alerted to the Wright County Children’s Home in Norwood for a naked, unresponsive 15-year-old female in the back of a black minivan. The girl was confirmed to be in State custody.
The driver of the vehicle, Brandon Tolliver, age 24 of Jefferson City, was questioned by law enforcement about the girl. He initially said the teen had gotten naked and sick in the back of the vehicle after stopping at the Walmart in Mountain Grove and asked for help from workers at the Children’s Home after he couldn’t get her to wake up.
Investigators noted that Tolliver’s breath smelled of alcohol and detained him for DWI. A search of the vehicle revealed the internal security camera of the vehicle had been covered with toothpaste, empty alcohol bottles, and a substance suspected to be semen.
The Wright County Sheriff was able to obtain security video from the Mountain Grove Walmart that revealed that the suspect and victim had entered the store and stolen alcohol.
Tolliver was arrested and in a post-Miranda interview stated “I had sex with a minor, my life’s over”.
Witnesses spoke with the Sheriff’s Office the following day stating they saw Tolliver and the victim at a secluded area, known locally as “The Right Spot”, in various states of undress going in and out of a black minivan.
When the teen regained consciousness, she was combative and refused a rape kit.
Brandon Tolliver is being held in the Wright County Jail without bond on the charges of felony 1st-degree rape, 2nd-degree statutory rape, two counts of 1st-degree endangering the welfare of a child-sexual contact, and misdemeanor DWI-person less than 17 years of age in the vehicle.
