Disappearance Of Elizabeth

Jan 2021 marked 2 years since Elizabeth Breck was last seen at the Sierra Tucson treatment center in Saddlebrooke AZ on January 13, 2019. The high school teacher and mother of two had checked into the capability on Jan 10th for a 30 day treatment period for PTSD.

Three days later she would vanish. Was Elizabeth a victim of her struggles with mental health? Did she slip through the cracks of the luxury treatment facility, dealing with its chequered past, – or does Elizabeth’s disappearance have to do with a larger and more sinister pattern - where patients at rehab facilities have been sold into human trafficking or threatened into sex work?

Elizabeth comes to the Sierra Tucson treatment center on Thursday, Jan 10 around 7 pm. The teacher at a local magnet school had decided to check herself in for a 30-day stint of therapy for dealing with trauma and PTSD. The only data known about that evening is that Elizabeth reached out to her adult daughter to let her know that she was checking into Sierra and going to seek some help.

As is customary, Breck spent the first night at the facilities intake unit, known as the “desert flower hospital”, normally used for detox and other acute procedures, but most importantly for observation.

Intake staff determined Elizabeth was not a threat to herself or others and was discharged at 9 am Sunday to move into the residential unit for the remainder of her stay.

Later that afternoon, Elizabeth’s tracking bracelet and personal belongings were found in her room, but she was nowhere to be seen. the only items missing were her driver's license and some money from her wallet. Leaving behind her cell phone, car keys, and other personal belongings.

Due to a lack of security cameras at Sierra Tucson and the fact she was not wearing her tracking bracelet, there are no confirmed accounts of Breck from the Sunday she vanished. Later, a behavioral health tech would report having seen Elizabeth on the facilities campus and approaching her, although it has not been disclosed what was said or the outcome of their interchange.

That would be the last time anyone would see EB.

Law enforcement thinks that Elizabeth left the grounds of Sierra Tucson on foot, wearing a grey shirt and skirt. Temperatures that January in the dessert dropped to 30 degrees at nighttime, leaving many to believe she would have wanted shelter.

Sierra Tucson is located on 160 acres of campus, surrounded by the mountain peaks and dry rt of southeast Arizona. Although the area is far from any shops or restaurants, there are houses and other structures within a mile in almost all locations, so if she was out walking on foot she would likely be seen or found by someone who worked or resided in the region.

Questions began to arise about the role sierra Tucson may have played in her disappearance. Breck’s family filed a complaint with the Arizona Dept of Health Services alleging fault by Sierra Tucson. The family questioned why Breck was not wearing her blue-tooth style patient tracking bracelet, which was later found destroyed, and also why Breck was moved into the residential wing before she had completed the facility’s standard 72-hr intake period.

Sierra Tucson is no stranger to controversy. Arizona DHS records suggest a pattern of fines against Sierra Tucson spanning back years before Breck came there for treatment. In 2019, just 4 months after Elizabeth was last seen, the new jersey family of Steven Johe, 20, was rewarded a $5 million settlement against Sierra Tucson for his wrongful death in 2014. Jo0he was in treatment for drug rehab and mental health problems, and died from a fatal intoxication of drugs only 6 days after checking in. it’s unclear whether it was intentional or not. The lawsuit accused sierra Tucson of medical negligence, for among other things not following up on John's suicidal emotions he had expressed during intake and not providing the needed supervision or follow-up. Since 2014, 3 other patients had also been found dead at Sierra Tucson. One – was a retired medical doctor, whose body was found 2 weeks after he vanished, and was found in some bushes on the facility's property, unfortunately, it was too decomposed to determine the cause of death.

Many former patients and their families and loved ones have also left an unsavory mixture of “not recommended” reviews on Yelp, with some of them being downright horrifying.