Never Again: A grieving mother has shared a chilling new theory about her missing daughter, who was last seen barefoot in haunting hotel surveillance footage
THE stepmother of a missing Tennessee woman has revealed her heartbreaking theory about what happened — believing the 20-year-old overdosed and that a group of people who were with her covered it up.
Brittany Zeitler spoke exclusively to The US Sun three years after Layla Santanello vanished from Kingsport, Tennessee, on June 27, 2023 — last seen barefoot on hotel surveillance footage.
Mom of one Layla Santanello has been missing for three yearsCredit: Jennifer Santanello
Layla Santanello & Jennifer Santanello (her biological mom)Credit: SWNS
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The disappearance came just days before the Kingsport Police Department announced that its lead detective now believes Layla is dead.
“I think she was with a small group of people and she was curious and wanting to try maybe something new, try something different when it came to the drug world, and maybe something happened,” Zeitler told The US Sun.
“I feel maybe she accidentally overdosed and maybe people panicked.
“And when you’re faced with a situation like that that’s life-changing like that, you are not going to act accordingly.”
Layla was last seen wearing a white tank top, black leggings, and no shoes.
Surveillance footage captured her walking barefoot near the Americourt Hotel before she vanished.
Zeitler said Layla had no phone, no wallet, and no purse when she disappeared — and that someone at a friend’s house had taken her money and her shoes before she ended up at the hotel.
“Something is wrong. Something happened,” Zeitler said.
