Overview
- James Branton, arrested Friday by Spotsylvania detectives and Virginia State Police, faces multiple sex-offense counts that authorities say involve underage victims and may include missing 19-year-old Katelin Akens.
- Branton is charged with two counts each of aggravated sexual battery, taking indecent liberties with a child in a custodial relationship, indecent exposure of a child, and child cruelty.
- Police have not charged Branton in Akens’s disappearance, and the sheriff’s office says the investigation remains active with a call for public tips to its hotlines and Crime Stoppers.
- Akens vanished on December 5, 2015 while heading to Reagan National Airport from Springfield, and her mostly empty suitcase with her ID was found two days later on River Road in Spotsylvania.
- WTOP reports the arrest followed a joint effort by the sheriff’s office, Virginia State Police, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney, while prior records note Branton was the last known person to see Akens and later declined to assist investigators.