What Happened to Jeramy Burt? Burned Car, Suspects, Ahren Barnard

Jeramy Burt, a 33-year-old Navy veteran and father, left his father’s house on Hervey Street in Boise around 10:30 p.m. on February 11, 2007, and was never seen again. The Boise Police Department believes he was murdered that night, but nearly two decades later no one has been charged and his remains have never been found. What happened to Jeramy Burt remains an open homicide investigation.¹

The Night of February 11, 2007

Burt was living with his father, Van Burt, and his young daughter in the 2200 block of Hervey Street. On the evening of February 11, he told family he was going to meet a friend and drove off in a red Mercury Cougar belonging to his ex-wife, Kim George, who was in Las Vegas for work.²³

Shortly after he vanished, George began receiving text messages from Burt’s phone saying he intended to disappear, start a new life, and move. She did not believe he had written them. Family friend and private investigator Marki Davis called the messages “out of character,” saying Burt would have spoken to people face to face rather than text that kind of news.³

His family rejected the runaway theory outright. Burt was deeply attached to his daughter, Mackenzie, who was three years old at the time, and relatives insisted he would never have walked away from her.⁴

When George returned from Las Vegas, her car was gone. She and Van Burt filed a stolen vehicle report.³

The Burned Car in the Owyhee Desert

In May 2007, three months after Burt disappeared, police found the red Mercury Cougar burned out and hidden in a ravine in the Owyhee Desert. The location was roughly 45 miles north of the Nevada state line and more than 100 miles from Boise.³⁴

Boise Police Detective Josiah Ransom said the terrain was so punishing that investigators had to walk the last few hundred yards on foot, because driving in risked destroying even a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Whoever dumped the car, he said, needed a second person there to get them back out. “Clearly, in my opinion, the intention was to hide it and destroy evidence,” Ransom told reporters. A search of the car produced no evidence of Burt’s whereabouts.⁵⁴

Who Police Have Looked At

Ransom has said he believes at least two people were involved in Burt’s disappearance and that the motive was “a combination of” personal and professional factors. Police have confirmed they have persons of interest but have not named them publicly. “I absolutely believe there are people out there that know exactly what happened to Jeramy, and where exactly Jeramy is,” Ransom said.⁵

One name that has surfaced in reporting is Jeannie Braun, later known as Jeannie Hughes. Braun had been Burt’s divorce attorney and then his romantic partner. According to Burt’s mother, Sheryl Burt, Jeramy secretly recorded Braun discussing illegal activities and testified against her before a grand jury in 2004. Braun was convicted of forging a judge’s signature and witness intimidation, among other charges. She was disbarred and sentenced to one year in jail and 14 years of probation.³⁴

Hughes has been identified in reporting as a person of interest in the case. She has never been charged.²

A Possible Link to Ahren Barnard

The Idaho Press has reported on possible connections between Burt’s case and the 2004 disappearance of Ahren Benjamin Barnard, another Boise man who vanished three years earlier. There is no direct physical evidence tying the cases together, but families and investigators have pointed to overlapping acquaintances.

At the center is a friendship between two attorneys: Hughes and Constance Norris, a divorce and family lawyer interviewed by police in Barnard’s case. Both families have said the two attorneys attended a wedding together, with Barnard and Burt as their respective dates. Barnard’s mother, Vicki Barnard, said her son dated Norris and co-owned a motorcycle shop with her. When reporters approached Norris, she denied knowing either man. Former detective Jeff Wudarcki said that while the cases are complex, investigators were not able to gather enough evidence to charge anyone.²

Where the Case Stands Today

The Boise Police Department continues to classify Burt’s case as a homicide. Sgt. Justin Kendall of the department’s Violent Crime Unit said in 2026: “We do know that Jeramy did not vanish into thin air. We believe he was murdered.” The investigative file has grown to more than 44 chapters of casework, and the department says it is still working to put the final pieces together.¹

Anyone with information is asked to contact Boise Police detectives at 208-570-6290 or Crime Stoppers at 343-COPS.

What Happened to His Family

Kim George remarried after Burt’s disappearance but struggled with the loss. She died by apparent suicide in July 2016. Their daughter, Mackenzie, was twelve at the time and was raised by a stepfather.³²

On October 1, 2018, Burt’s mother, Sheryl, had him legally declared dead. In February 2026, on the 19th anniversary of his disappearance, Mackenzie spoke publicly for the first time. “It almost just feels like he’s been forgotten,” she said of her father. On the prospect of a prosecution, she added: “His killers getting the justice they deserved is really what it comes down to, but I just don’t see that happening at this point, and so in a way, I think just him being remembered is what I really care about now.”²¹

1
East Idaho News. Daughter Speaks Out 19 Years After Boise Father Jeramy Burt Disappeared
2
KTVB. Two Boise Men Went Missing Three Years Apart; Connections Might Link Their Cold Cases
3
NBC News. Idaho Family Seeks Answers in 11-Year Search for Jeramy Burt
4
Charley Project. Jeramy Carl Burt
5
Idaho News 6. Cold Case: Jeramy Burt