The Brownwood Police Department issued the following press release Friday morning:

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, the Brownwood Police Department was dispatched to a report about a missing person in the 900 block of Melwood.

When officers arrived on scene it was reported that 58-year-old Melanie Rose Pancake had not been seen at her residence for several days, possibly weeks.

An investigation commenced and detectives with Brownwood’s Criminal Investigative Division were assigned to follow up on information. 

The active investigation led detectives to a rural farmland in Brown County near the Zephyr community.

On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, human remains were discovered on the property buried in a shallow grave. The remains were exhumed and transported to the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office where a preliminary autopsy identified the remains as those of Ms. Pancake.

This investigation is now an active, criminal, investigation and arrests are anticipated. No further investigative information is available at this time.