Police say Shannon Anderson collected food benefits under her missing daughter’s name years after the 18-year-old vanished.
NASHVILLE, TN — The mother of a Nashville woman missing since 2017 has been arrested on felony food stamp fraud charges after police said she used her daughter’s identity to claim benefits, renewing attention on a cold case with few public answers.
Shannon Anderson, 51, was arrested Wednesday and charged in Davidson County with food stamp fraud tied to her daughter, Jodie “Brooke” Anderson. Brooke Anderson was 18 when she disappeared in Nashville. Police have not announced a break in the missing person investigation, and no one has been charged in connection with her disappearance. The arrest has instead raised new questions from relatives about the years after Brooke vanished, the delay in reporting her missing and how benefits could be collected in her name.
Brooke Anderson was reported missing on Aug. 9, 2017, but cold case records list her last known contact in early June 2017. The Nashville cold case entry says she was last heard from on the morning of June 10, 2017, and was supposed to appear in court on July 10, 2017, but did not attend. Other missing person summaries have placed her last sighting days earlier in East Nashville. Her aunt, De’Anna Anderson, said Brooke was last seen with her mother at a Jack in the Box on West Trinity Lane, where Shannon Anderson said she went to the restroom and returned to find Brooke gone. “They waited from June until August to report her,” De’Anna Anderson said. “That’s a lot of wasted time.”
Authorities have described the current criminal case against Shannon Anderson as a benefits fraud case, not a charge alleging violence against Brooke. Court listings for Davidson County show several open food stamp fraud counts for Shannon Anderson, along with open sex offender registry violation counts. The food stamp fraud cases were listed for review Friday, May 29, in General Sessions Court at the Birch Building. Public court records also show past sex offender registry cases involving Shannon Anderson, including guilty outcomes in earlier years. Police said she remained jailed after the arrest. The exact amount of benefits at issue was not included in the first public reports, and authorities have not said when the alleged fraud began or how it was detected.
Brooke Anderson’s missing person case has long centered on a small area of North and East Nashville. Cold case records list Dickerson Pike and Doverside Drive as her last known location, while other case summaries say she was known to spend time around Brick Church Pike and Trinity Lane. She was described as White, 5 feet 4 inches tall and about 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her ears and upper lip were pierced, and she had a tattoo reading “Daughter of a King” on her chest. Family members have said she was active on social media before she vanished, making her silence after June 2017 stand out. She also left behind a young son, a fact relatives have cited as one reason they believe she did not simply leave without contact.
The case has remained classified as a missing person investigation, though police and family members have said foul play is suspected. In a 2022 interview, Metro Nashville Detective Matthew Filter said investigators believed someone had information about what happened after Brooke’s last known contacts. He said cold cases often turn on one tip or one person becoming willing to talk after time passes. De’Anna Anderson has said Brooke was independent, loved animals and loved her child, but also had been struggling before she disappeared. She said Brooke and Shannon Anderson were homeless and dealing with drug addiction around that time. Police have said Shannon Anderson was incarcerated when Brooke was reported missing, a factor that may have played into the reporting delay. De’Anna Anderson has said Shannon Anderson was briefly out of jail in June 2017 and already knew Brooke was gone.
The new fraud case adds a separate legal track to a disappearance that has stretched nearly nine years. Shannon Anderson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in the fraud and registry cases. Her next listed court step was a review hearing on May 29, where the cases could move toward later hearings, dismissal, settlement, indictment or other action depending on the court’s findings and any filings by prosecutors. The missing person investigation remains with Metro Nashville police cold case investigators. No public court record reviewed for the current case showed a charge accusing Shannon Anderson of causing Brooke’s disappearance.
For Brooke’s relatives, the arrest reopened old anger as much as it created a new court case. De’Anna Anderson said she was disturbed by the allegation that benefits were collected while Brooke remained missing. “Your baby’s missing and you’re capitalizing by going and drawing government benefits,” she said. She also questioned why a missing person’s identifying information would not be flagged in benefits systems. Police have not publicly said whether the alleged fraud produced any new evidence about Brooke’s location or fate. The closed Jack in the Box on West Trinity Lane, the court dates Brooke missed and the neighborhoods where she spent time remain part of the timeline investigators have tried to piece together.
As of Friday, Brooke Anderson was still listed as missing, and Shannon Anderson’s fraud cases remained open in Davidson County court records. The next public milestone was the May 29 review hearing in Nashville General Sessions Court.
Author note: Last updated May 29, 2026.