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.
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.
“I don’t believe there was foul play. I don’t believe somebody purposely took her life away. I don’t think that’s what happened.”
Corporal William Clare, the lead investigator, said police believe Layla met up with a small group of people elsewhere in Kingsport after leaving the hotel area and spent the evening with them before dying.
According to NBC affiliate WCYB, Clare said “there is a small group of people who are selfish and self-centered who can come forward and can provide where she’s at, and I know who they are. They know who they are, but they refuse to cooperate.”
Zeitler said the family has their own suspicions about who those people are — and has a direct message for them.
“Set yourself free is what I say all the time,” she said.
“I just don’t understand how you can wake up every single day and look your own children in your face and your own grandchildren and be able to face them with knowing such crucial valuable information that you hold closely to your soul.”
She added: “At this point, I really hope that they get the maximum penalty of whatever the case may be.
“Because we tried, we tried to reason, we tried. But here we are, three years later in the same situation.
“And they deserve everything on what’s coming.”
Zeitler said the family initially received Cash App requests from Layla’s account two weeks after her disappearance.
Later, they discocovered through subpoenaed IP addresses that her boyfriend, Michael Thompson, had been sending them.
Thompson was later cleared by law enforcement of any involvement in Layla’s disappearance, though he was arrested on separate charges related to the fraudulent Cash App requests.
Zeitler described Layla as deeply in love with Thompson and said she believed her stepdaughter got caught up in his lifestyle while grieving the death of her maternal grandfather, who died by suicide in 2021.
“She wanted to save him from him,” Zeitler said. “I think more so she got caught up in his lifestyle when she was going through her own troubles.”
Layla left behind a young daughter, Nova Grace, who was only a few months old when the family tragedy began.
“She was wanting to have her own family and do her own thing,” Zeitler said. “And she was robbed.”
Despite the detective’s grim assessment, Zeitler said the family is still holding onto hope.
“The hardest part of not knowing is — is she really alive? Is she suffering somewhere? Is she being held captive?” she said.
“Whether she is dead or alive, we want her home. And we’re not gonna stop until then.”
Zeitler said she has confidence in the investigators working the case, despite the slow pace of answers.
“They definitely are working very hard at this and they are not going to stop until we have the closure that we need and the answers to the questions are answered,” she said.
“Even though I feel like we have more questions than answers at this time, I do feel in time we will get to where we need to be.”
She added: “The answers will come, but it’s just not in our time frame that we want them to.”
Zeitler also had a message for anyone following the case.
“Hold your loved ones close,” she said. Always spend that extra second, that extra minute. Give an extra hug. Give an extra phone call.
“Because at the end of the day, you’re not going to know when that beginning is going to come to an end.”
She urged the public to look back at any photos or videos taken in the Kingsport area around June 27, 2023.
Even a license plate or unfamiliar face in the background could be the missing piece, she said.
Anyone with information is urged to call 1-800-TBI-FIND or the Kingsport Police Department.