By LANA FULTON
On Feb. 27, 1991, Brenda Condon mysteriously vanished from her place of employment, Carl’s Bad Tavern. The boots that she was wearing on the day of her disappearance were found in the men’s bathroom of the tavern and her car was found in the parking lot. However, multiple news outlets at the time reported that there were no signs of a robbery or struggle in the bar.
The tavern was located on Zion Road in Bellefonte and is now the location of Robin Hood Brewery.
Thirty-three years later, the case was picked up pro bono by cold case detective, retired marine and Penns Valley High School graduate Kenneth Mains.
He is known for his work on the History Channel as the on-air specialist for the series “The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer.” Hewas also featured on episodes of the series “Conspiracies Decoded” onDiscovery Science. Additionally, Mains appeared as an on-air consultant for the show “When Friends Speak” on Reelz.
He is the founder of The American Investigative Society of Cold Cases, which was created to assist law enforcement and victims’ families in solving cold cases. Mains has also written and collaborated on multiple books related to cold cases.
Now retired from law enforcement, Mains continues his passion and dedication to cold cases on his YouTube Channel, “Unsolved No More.” The channel has over 111,000 subscribers. Mains recently gained the attention of many Centre County residents and Condon’s friends and family for his YouTube series titled “Brenda: The Carl’s Bad Tavern Mystery.”
In the series, Mains does a deep dive into parts of Condon’s disappearance, with interviews from family members, friends, coworkers and suspects in her disappearance.
Mains was denied the opportunity to review Brenda’s case file. Mains said that he relied mostly on tips provided by the public and from interviews he conducted to make his case theories. Many of the tips sent in from the public stemmed from theories and gossip over the years, which proved unreliable. However, from the diminutive amount of credible leads he received, Main deduced multiple “possibilities and probabilities.”
Prior to the series airing, people have taken to social media to speculate the reputation of two Centre County residents and their connection to the case. Despite public speculation, Mains debunked these theories throughout his series.
On Monday, April 1, the final episode of the 26-part series “Brenda: The Carl’s Bad Tavern Mystery” aired. Mains provided Brenda’s family, friends and the community with his professional opinion on what likely happened to Condon on the night of her disappearance.
In an earlier episode, Mains learned about a group of four men from out of town who were supposedly in town at the time working on a waste management project in the Snow Shoe area. All four men were identified, though one has since died. Mains was able to connect and interview thethree remaining men.In the interviews, he was told that one of the men was characterized by his coworkers as a “womanizer” and was known to have a bad “temper.” The other two men, Mains said, attest to knowing that said man had frequented Carl’s Bad Tavern and even alluded in the interview that they believed he could be capable of such a heinous act. While the interview with the man Mains thought most likely to be the suspect was not released in the series, the detective detailed portions of the conversation throughout episodes.
In the final episode, Mains explained that in his professional opinion, his best theory was that one of the four men from out of town were responsible for Condon’s disappearance.
Mains also explained in the final episode that he shared all this information with Condon’s family and noted he empathetically will always support the family in whatever way he can to bring justice to the case.
A comprehensive review of this case and all episodes of “Brenda: The Carl’s Bad Tavern Mystery” can be found on the Unsolved No More YouTube channel.
