'Person of interest' in Indiana lawyer's disappearance arrested in Georgia

FIRST ON FOX – The sole "person of interest" in a two-year-old missing person case was arrested in Georgia weeks after he failed to show up to court in Indiana, Georgia State Police confirmed.

Xavier Breland skipped town before his end-of-December court appearance in Hamilton County, Indiana, on a gun charge unrelated to his estranged wife's disappearance in February 2022. 

The fugitive was caught by Georgia State Police on Monday after a weekslong manhunt and taken into custody on a re-arrest warrant. Law enforcement is preparing extradition back to Indiana. 

Breland's lawyer did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

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Xavier Breland, 37, is a person of interest in his wife's disappearance. (Hamilton County Sheriff's Office)

Breland's estranged wife, Ciera Breland, was last seen at 7:17 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2022, when a surveillance camera recorded her outside her mother-in-law's home in Johns Creek, Georgia, for a delivery. 

The Indiana gun charge and arrest in Georgia are unrelated to Ciera's disappearance. He was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon stemming from an incident on Feb. 28, 2022. 

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That was two days after he reported his wife missing from their Carmel, Indiana, home. 

At that point, Ciera, Xavier, their 5-month-old son and her dog had been in Georgia for more than a week after their mid-February 2022 trip to Ciera's parents' home. 

Ciera Breland was last seen leaving her mother-in-law's house with her husband and son on Feb. 24, 2022 in Johns Creek, Georgia. Since then, she has disappeared without any clues or evidence. (Courtesy: Ciera Breland's Family)

Ciera Breland was last seen leaving her mother-in-law's house with her husband and son on Feb. 24, 2022 in Johns Creek, Georgia. Since then, she has disappeared without any clues or evidence. (Courtesy: Ciera Breland's Family)

Xavier returned to Indiana, but there is no evidence Ciera ever came back with him, the FBI said, and he has not been charged in connection with her disappearance, and she still has not been seen. 

Ciera's mom, Kelly Locklair, told Fox News Digital during an interview in March that her daughter was "scared" of Xavier, who fended off stalking and weapons charges in separate criminal cases.

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"Ciera had no intention of returning to Indiana," Locklair said. "She told me, 'However I have to leave, I'm leaving… My furniture can rot. I'm never going back.' That's how desperate she was to get out."

Xavier is the only "person of interest" publicly named by law enforcement in Ciera's suspicious missing person case. 

Graphic of a timeline outlining Ciera Breland's disappearance. She was last seen leaving her mother-in-law's house with her husband and son on Feb. 24, 2022 in Johns Creek, Georgia. (Courtesy: The Missing Alliance)

Ciera Breland was last seen leaving her mother-in-law's house with her husband and son on Feb. 24, 2022 in Johns Creek, Georgia. (Courtesy: Ciera Breland's Family)

Ciera's mom said in the previous interview that she and her husband "know" their daughter is dead after police called to say Ciera was missing, but Ciera's baby was safe.

"She's definitely gone," Locklair said. "That was the first thing my husband said when police called after (Xavier) reported her missing, and the officer said she had walked away without bringing the baby. She wouldn't even take a shower and let anybody else watch the baby."

Locklair believes her daughter's body could be anywhere in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky or Indiana. 

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Meanwhile, Xavier's jury trial for the Hamilton County weapons charge, which was scheduled for Jan. 8, was bumped back for the third time since June 12, 2023, according to the court docket after he failed to show up in December. 

Potential criminal charges against Xavier in Ciera's disappearance likely won't move on without more substantial evidence or Ciera's body.

Xavier's lawyer, Bryan Howard, denied his client did anything wrong in a March interview with Fox News Digital, and said the case will never make progress if "police continue to focus" on his client. 

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Anyone with details about the case is asked to call the Johns Creek Police Department at 678-372-8046, the Carmel Police Department at 317-571-2580, Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS (8477), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477) or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).