HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. – The husband of a missing Carmel woman is being extradited back to Indiana.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Xavier Breland would be returned to custody in Indiana, although law enforcement officials didn’t have a timeline or clarify the reason for his extradition.
According to online court records, Hamilton County prosecutors charged Breland with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon in November. The charge stems from a Feb. 28, 2022 incident in which there was “an accidental discharge of a firearm” at a home on Baldwin Lane, according to court documents.
“I want to make it clear, that is not in relation to the missing persons case,” said Lt. Tim Byrne with the Carmel Police Department.
Breland told police he was moving a Christmas tree in the garage when he heard a gunshot. He ran out of the garage and then went back inside, where he located the gun and unloaded it. Police collected a Sig Sauer P365 during the incident and said Breland gave an officer a missing persons flier about his wife, Ciera Breland.
Xavier Breland is considered a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife. Ciera Breland was last seen at her mother-in-law’s home in Georgia on Feb. 24, 2022. Her husband reported her missing in Carmel two days later, on Feb. 26. Investigators with the Carmel Police Department have said they don’t believe she ever made it back to Indiana after visiting family in Georgia.
The probable cause affidavit in the Feb. 28 incident also revealed that police searched the Baldwin Lane residence on Feb. 27, 2022—a day after Breland reported his wife missing. During that search, police recovered a pair of handguns along with ammunition. The items were seized as evidence.
The probable cause affidavit also revealed that the Feb. 27 search included the Christmas tree in the garage. An investigator had removed a shovel from the tree and placed it in the northwest corner. The investigator said a gun was not lodged in the tree, nor “did a gun fall out of the tree.”
Xavier Breland has a previous felony conviction from 2005 and is prohibited by state law from having a firearm, police said. The conviction stemmed from a Marion County case in which he was convicted of burglary, according to court records.
Police have conducted numerous searches for the missing mother, although those efforts have proved unsuccessful so far. Xavier Breland has not been charged in connection with her disappearance and had been held in a Georgia jail since August in an unrelated case.
“It is still an active case,” Byrne said. “There have been a lot of search efforts that have been conducted.”
“People just want answers,” said Gabrielle Fedora, the founder of True Crime Replay Inc. which has covered the case. “A lot of concern is making sure Ciera is okay and still having that optimism there.”
“We have a lot of technology and we have a lot of resources, but we can’t do it all,” Byrne said. “The more people we have, the more eyes out there watching for us, the more information we have coming into us. That’s really what helps us solve most of our cases.”
Anyone with information should contact the Carmel Police Department at (317) 571-2500 or the Johns Creek Police tip line at (678) 474-1610. Information can also be called in to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or at tips.fbi.gov.