Unsolved Ohio: Father pushes for answers in 8-year-old daughter's 2006 homicide

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) – The father of an 8-year-old homicide victim is fighting to bring his daughter’s killer to justice, unraveling disturbing details in the process including a sexual assault and destroyed evidence. 

About four months before her death, Mackenzie Branham had moved into her mother’s home, which she shared with a live-in boyfriend, on East Walnut Street in Jeffersonville. Mackenzie was there for a long visit, as her parents were divorced and her father, Donald Branham, had custody of her.

“She was a straight-A student, loved school, got along with everybody,” Branham said. “I know at the time of her death, they put up a sign in the school for kids to sign, and some kids were taping money to the sign, [because] she gave money to help kids eat lunches.”

On April 27, 2006, around 1:50 a.m., Mackenzie was sleeping in her second-floor bedroom when her mother's house caught on fire. Both the mother and her boyfriend escaped unharmed.

“That night I was at work and [Mackenzie’s mother] called me and told me that her house was on fire, and that our daughter was in there,” Branham said. “And I told her, ‘Why are you talking to me on the phone? Why are you not trying to save my kid?’ and I kept telling her, ‘Don't let my baby die.’” 

According to firefighters' statements in a coroner's report, they were at the scene for 15 to 20 minutes before being told Mackenzie was still in the home.

“[The mother and boyfriend's] pickup truck was sitting in the middle of the road with the keys in the ignition, with the doors open, the mother's cellphone laying on the front seat, but they were on the road and the fireman had to move their pickup truck to start fighting the fire,” Branham said. “Then they found out that my daughter was in there. They shut everything down and then went into rescue mode."

Mackenzie was discovered in her bed by firefighters and was pronounced dead at the scene just after 2 a.m. The blaze was later determined to be arson, with the fire originating from inside the house.

In a report taken by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the boyfriend claimed he alerted Mackenzie of the fire, then broke a window for him and Mackenzie’s mother to escape. He said he got a ladder and attempted to reach Mackenzie through her window, but she did not respond to his calls and he retreated due to heavy smoke and flames.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office completed testing on Mackenzie’s body in September 2006. Six years later, in 2012, Branham discovered through questioning the Fayette County Sheriff's Office that male DNA was found on Mackenzie's body, indicating she was sexually assaulted shortly before her death. The sheriff’s office has not publicly announced if it has found a match for the DNA.

As the years since his daughter's death pass by, Branham has expressed frustration with the sheriff's office. He raised concerns about the integrity of the investigation since a now-deceased sergeant who responded to the fire was the brother-in-law of Mackenzie’s mother’s boyfriend.

Branham also stated that Mackenzie’s clothes were destroyed at the request of the Fayette County Coroner’s Office three months after her homicide. He said he was told the clothes were destroyed because they were wet and damaged, and therefore did not hold much value. Additionally, Branham claims he has contacted eyewitnesses who said they were never interviewed by law enforcement about the fire.

“It's been a joke with this whole entire thing with my kid,” he said. 

In 2017, Mackenzie’s body was exhumed for further testing with Branham's permission. Deputies have not publicly revealed if this led to any new information.

Despite Branham's efforts, including investigating his own daughter's homicide and organizing rallies for her, 18 years have passed since Mackenzie's death and no one has been held accountable. NBC4 asked the Fayette County Sheriff's Office if it could share any updates and respond to complaints about its investigation, to which it replied that the case is still active.

Anyone with information on the homicide of Mackenzie Branham may contact the State Fire Marshal’s tip line at 800-589-2728, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 800-282-3784, or the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office at 740-335-6170. 

If you’re a family member of an individual with an unsolved missing persons or homicide case in Ohio, reach out to aboldizar@wcmh.com.