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On Sunday, July 22, 2001, 28-year-old Marilyn “Niqui” McCown attended church with her nine-year-old daughter, Payton, and her fiancé, Bobby. Niqui had a lot to look forward to. She was preparing to get married in less than a month, continuing her education, and building a career in criminal justice. That afternoon, she headed out to do laundry, something she'd done countless Sundays before. But during a stop at her parents' house, Niqui seemed troubled. Her mother later recalled that Niqui had been pacing and said someone at the laundromat was bothering her. Despite the uncomfortable encounter, Niqui left to retrieve her laundry, expecting to return shortly, but Niqui never came back. As the hours passed, Niqui's fiancé began calling friends and relatives, and her family searched the roads between Richmond, Indiana, and Dayton, Ohio, hoping to find some sign of her. Payton remembers the growing panic that evening, watching family members come and go, and waking up the next morning to discover that her mother was still missing. Twenty-five years later, Niqui's family is still trying to understand what happened during those final hours.  If you have any information about the disappearance of Niqui McCown, please contact the Richmond Police Department at 765-983-7247. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode first aired on June 29, 2020. On September 26, 2018, 57-year-old Kimberly Flint disappeared from rural Rusk County, Texas. That afternoon, authorities responded to a single-vehicle accident on Highway 84 near the Angelina River. They found Kim's Jeep crashed along the bridge, but there was no sign of the driver. When police contacted the registered owner, Kim's husband, James Roy Flint, he was surprised to learn that the Jeep had been involved in an accident. Kim rarely left home, and he couldn't imagine why she would have been driving in that area. James rushed home to check on his wife, but she was nowhere to be found. Just over an hour before the accident was reported, Kim had spoken with her husband on the phone and asked him to bring home food. Her purse and phone were still at home, and there was no indication that she had planned to go anywhere. Her family struggled to understand what could have happened in such a short window of time or why she would have left the scene of the crash. Despite extensive searches involving multiple law enforcement agencies, tracking dogs, drones, and other resources, investigators found no trace of Kim. Her family was left wondering whether she had been injured in the accident and wandered into the surrounding woods or if someone else had been involved in her disappearance. As the years passed without answers, the mystery of what happened to Kim only deepened. More than three years after Kim vanished, a discovery was made just a mile from where her Jeep had crashed. Stay tuned to the end of this episode for an update on Kim's case. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In February 2022, 21-year-old Rylee James Styler traveled to Leavenworth, Kansas, to spend the weekend with friends. Rylee moved around often, splitting his time between Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, so when his mom, Teri, didn’t hear from him for a few days, it wasn’t immediately alarming. Rylee always resurfaced, but this time, he didn’t. Shortly before communication stopped, Rylee sent his best friend a scene from the movie Juice, followed by a cryptic message suggesting something was wrong. He also missed a call from Rylee that night and planned to call him back the next day, but never got the chance. Then, police contacted Teri and said they were trying to locate Rylee because of a car that had turned up in the county. They assured her that Rylee wasn’t in trouble and that they just needed to speak with him. But when Teri tried to contact Rylee to let him know the police were looking for him, her message never went through. Rylee’s family tried to understand what was happening while investigators revealed very little. What eventually emerged was far more complicated than that initial phone call suggested: a burned vehicle, a suspected murder scene, conflicting accounts of what happened inside a Leavenworth house, and a sprawling racketeering investigation involving the last known people to see Rylee. Years of arrests, trials, plea agreements, and prison sentences followed. Yet the legal process would prove that resolving one part of a case doesn’t necessarily answer the question a family has been asking from the beginning: What happened to Rylee James Styler, and why has that answer remained so difficult to find? If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the evening of August 30, 2001, 44-year-old Edgar Sanchez drove to the Baldwin, New York, home of his older brother, 53-year-old Frank Sanchez. Edgar left his car there, and the brothers headed out together in Frank’s white Chevrolet Lumina. They were believed to be meeting someone they had known for years. The brothers were close, and cars had always been a major part of both of their lives. Frank was a mechanic and accomplished racer, while Edgar had also built a career around cars. There was nothing unusual about them spending time together, but Frank seemed different that night. He was unusually quiet, and when he left the house, he did something his family immediately noticed: he didn’t kiss his wife goodbye. Frank and Edgar never came home. By the following day, Frank’s Lumina was parked on Grand Street in Chinatown, more than an hour away from where the brothers were believed to have been headed, and in the opposite direction. The car began accumulating parking tickets, but it would take time before anyone connected it to the missing brothers from Long Island. Then, just twelve days after Frank and Edgar disappeared, September 11 changed everything. As law enforcement resources across the region were redirected, the Sanchez family was already searching for answers of their own. Over time, they learned more about what may have been troubling Frank that night, a large amount of money the brothers may have been trying to retrieve, and parts of Frank and Edgar’s past that raised an entirely different set of questions. Twenty-five years later, Frank and Edgar Sanchez have never been found. Their family is still trying to understand where they went that night, how Frank’s car ended up in Chinatown, and what happened after the brothers drove away from Frank’s home. If you have any information about the disappearance of Frank and Edgar Sanchez, please contact the Nassau County Police Department Missing Persons Squad at 516-573-7347. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode first aired on August 8, 2022. On March 26, 2020, 45-year-old Eugene Prins planned a short road trip with a friend to drop off a wood splitter. They started out in Woonsocket, South Dakota, and drove about 25 miles east to the tiny town of Fedora. Afterward, Eugene and his friend stopped at a bar in Forestburg, along their route home. The two were captured on surveillance footage leaving the bar at 7:38 PM. Eugene had been drinking, but witnesses said he didn’t appear to be visibly intoxicated. He had also mentioned that he wanted to get home because he had work the following morning. According to Eugene’s friend, they made one final detour to a mutual friend’s farm. Eugene stayed in the truck while his friend went inside. When he returned approximately 20 minutes later, Eugene was gone. Despite extensive searches of the surrounding farmland, Eugene remained missing for more than two years. His family struggled to understand why he would have walked away on a cold March night, leaving behind his job, his loved ones, and his beloved dog, Shadow. As the years passed without answers, they began to question whether there was more to his disappearance. Just weeks after we shared Eugene's story, a farmer made a discovery that would finally bring his family some answers. Stay tuned to the end of this episode for an update on Eugene’s case. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Twitter Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In April 2010, 24-year-old Tanner Sharp left his sister’s home in California and told his family he was heading to Kansas, where a friend had a job waiting for him. Over the next few weeks, Tanner remained in contact, but his calls were brief, and he shared very little about his new life. During his final calls to family, he said he was getting a new phone and would reach out once he had the new number. But they never heard from Tanner again. As Tanner’s family began looking for him, they discovered that some of what they believed about those final weeks wasn’t true. What followed was a trail of strange details, unanswered questions, and evidence that seemed to point in more than one direction. More than 16 years later, Tanner’s family is still searching. Was he trying to leave his old life behind, was he struggling with something his family couldn’t see, or did someone else become part of the story? If you have any information about the disappearance of Tanner Sharp, please contact the Galt Police Department at 209-366-7000. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last week, in Part 1 of Wade Hack’s story, we followed Wade’s final months in Baltimore and the account of what happened in the days before he disappeared. But as his family and friends began trying to verify that story, they kept running into the same problem: so much of it depended on information they could not independently confirm. In Part 2, we’ll learn what Wade’s loved ones uncovered when they began working from the opposite direction, setting aside the pieces they could not independently verify and focusing instead on the information they could confirm. As they retraced his time in Baltimore, they uncovered inconsistencies surrounding Wade's belongings, new questions about his relationship with Tony, and messages that suggest Wade may have made other plans to get back to North Carolina. What they found did not solve the mystery of Wade’s disappearance, but it did suggest that his final days in Baltimore may have looked very different from the story his loved ones were first given. If you have any information about the disappearance of Wade Hack, please contact the Baltimore County Police Department at (410) 887-2214. Wade’s loved ones have also created an email address for anyone who may have information related to his disappearance: [email protected]. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In June of 2024, 31-year-old Wade Hack traveled from North Carolina to Baltimore, Maryland, to spend time with a man he had met online. What was supposed to be about a week-long visit stretched into several months. By late October, Wade was making plans to return home. But just days before his family was expecting him back in North Carolina, Wade disappeared. The initial account of Wade’s disappearance centered on a note he was said to have left behind, suggesting he intended to be gone only briefly. But as his family and friends began retracing his final days, even the most basic details became difficult to pin down. Accounts of when and where Wade was last seen shifted, key stretches of time remained unexplained, and his loved ones were left trying to reconstruct his movements in a city where he had spent only a few months and had very few connections of his own. In Part One of Wade’s story, we will examine how he ended up in Baltimore, his final days before he disappeared, and why the timeline his loved ones were initially given became increasingly difficult to verify. If you have any information about the disappearance of Wade Hack, please contact the Baltimore County Police Department at (410) 887-2214. Wade’s loved ones have also created an email address for anyone who may have information related to his disappearance: [email protected]. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode originally aired on December 5, 2022. Since then, there have been significant developments in Aidan Spear’s case. Stay tuned to the end of the episode for an update. On January 24, 2022, 21-year-old Aidan Spear had plans to meet with her mother, Jessica, at 11 AM. About 20 minutes before they were due to meet, Jessica received a message from Aidan stating that she had to say goodbye to someone and would be a little late. She promised to call later and said she would still meet her, just not at the original time. Jessica never heard from her daughter again. At first, Jessica assumed that Aidan had just flaked on her, but the days continued to pass with no sign of Aidan. Then, Jessica began hearing from Aidan’s friends that they hadn’t heard from her either. Nearly a year later, Aidan was still missing, and Jessica was desperate to uncover the truth. More than four years after Aidan disappeared, her remains were identified after being found in a wooded area on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The circumstances surrounding her death remain under investigation. If you have any information regarding Aidan Spear’s disappearance or death, please contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office at (253) 798-7530. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 26, 2026, started like any ordinary day for 53-year-old John Kapaun. He got up that morning, packed a lunch for his daughter, Alyssa, spent some time playing guitar, and later played a game with his son, Jacob. Around 2:00 p.m., John left the Burnsville, Minnesota, home he shared with his children for his daily walk. John was known to walk long distances and usually followed the same route to Terrace Oaks Park, where he often walked several laps and foraged. His routine was predictable, and he was usually home before 5:00 p.m., around the time Alyssa returned from work. John often had dinner waiting for his children. When Alyssa arrived home that afternoon and John wasn’t there, it seemed unusual, but not immediately alarming. She assumed he was running a few minutes late. As more time passed, she tried calling him, only to hear his phone ringing from inside the house. That’s when she realized John had left without it. Alyssa began searching the places her father normally walked, but there was no sign of him. John has Type 1 diabetes and followed a regular insulin schedule, so when he failed to return in time for his evening dose, the situation became increasingly urgent. That night, law enforcement began searching the areas John was known to frequent, but they found no trace of him. Later, a witness came forward, stating they had seen John shortly after he left home. The person recognized him from seeing him on his walks many times before. But according to the witness, John was walking in the opposite direction from the route he normally took to Terrace Oaks Park. If that sighting was accurate, John may never have been heading to Terrace Oaks that afternoon. Was he intentionally taking a different route? Was he heading somewhere else entirely? Did he suffer a medical emergency, accept a ride from someone, or make a decision his family never saw coming? Nearly three months later, John remains missing. His family continues searching, revisiting possible sightings and trying to understand what happened after he walked away from home that afternoon. Somewhere between his front door and wherever he was going, John’s trail goes cold. If you have any information about the disappearance of John Kapaun, please contact the Burnsville Police Department at 952-641-1126. John’s family has also created a website dedicated to bringing him home. There, you can find additional information about the search efforts, along with a detailed map tracking areas that have been searched and where possible sightings have been reported. You can also follow the family’s ongoing search efforts through the John Kapaun Search Party Facebook group, where they share updates and information related to the search. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On May 13, 2020, 21-year-old Lillian Payne was spending time with her brother and his girlfriend when they encountered a man at a Flying J truck stop in York County, South Carolina. Lilly had met him once or twice before and knew him as Ray Atkinson. The group decided to continue hanging out, with Lilly riding with Ray while her brother and his girlfriend followed in their own vehicle. Lilly’s brother began having trouble with his vehicle and decided to leave. He asked Lilly to come with them, but she chose to stay with Ray. Around 4:00 a.m., her brother and his girlfriend drove away. It was the last time anyone in Lilly’s family saw her alive. When Lilly’s family reported her missing and provided the name of the man she had last been seen with, they were shocked when investigators told them that Ray Atkinson did not appear to exist. Unwilling to accept that as a dead end, Lilly’s family turned to social media, sharing his photograph and asking anyone who recognized him to come forward. Before long, a woman did, providing them with a different name and opening an entirely new line of questions about the man Lilly had last been seen with. More than two months later, Lilly’s remains were discovered in neighboring Chester County, South Carolina, and her death was ruled a homicide. Finding Lilly ended the search for where she was, but it began a new search for answers. What happened after her brother drove away that night? Who killed Lilly, and why? And what did the man she knew as Ray Atkinson know about her final hours? If you have any information about the disappearance and murder of Lillian Payne, please contact the Chester County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 581-5131. To follow Lilly’s family’s ongoing fight for justice, visit the Justice for Lillian Payne Facebook Group. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode first aired on November 2, 2017. In February 2016, 19-year-old Morgan Bauer left Aberdeen, South Dakota, with plans to begin a new life in Atlanta. She’d arranged to stay with people she met on Craigslist, but within weeks of arriving, Morgan stopped contacting her friends and family and vanished without a trace. Her case was soon overshadowed by damaging internet rumors that called her disappearance into question and diverted attention from the people last known to have been with her. Nearly six years after our original episode aired, investigators recovered Morgan’s remains in Porterdale, Georgia, and arrested the same couple discussed in our 2017 coverage. One has since pleaded guilty to her murder, while the other remains accused. Stay with us after the replay for an update on the major developments that finally revealed what happened to Morgan. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode originally aired on January 26, 2026. Since this episode first aired, there have been significant developments in Amy’s case. Stay tuned after the original episode for more information. On June 13, 2016, 44-year-old Amy McHale said goodbye to her mother and left her home in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nothing about that moment suggested it would be the last time her family would see her, but it was. In the early morning hours of June 14, Amy called her daughter, Amanda, and left a voicemail. When Amanda listened to the message later that morning, it didn't raise any immediate alarm, but when she tried calling her mother back, the call went straight to voicemail. In the message, Amy said she was staying at her ex-husband's house, something she did from time to time. At first, no one was overly concerned. Amy was an adult with her own routines, and her family believed she would return, as she always had before. But as hours turned into days with no word from Amy, concern quickly grew. Amy's ex-husband told family members that she had been at his home when he went to bed on the night of June 13. When he woke the following morning, he said she was gone. From that point forward, there were no confirmed sightings of Amy and no clear answers about what happened to her. A decade has passed since Amy vanished, and her loved ones continue searching for answers, hoping that someone who knows the truth will finally come forward. If you have any information about the disappearance of Amy McHale, please contact the Philadelphia Police Department at (215) 686-3013. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Part 4 of Junaliza Chappell’s story, we focused on Ashley and the weight she has carried since her mother disappeared. As Ashley grew older, memories from her early childhood began to connect with records, conversations, and details shared by the people who had been searching for Juna for years. Those discoveries were painful. They helped Ashley better understand her mother’s fear, but they also forced her to confront parts of her own story that remain unresolved. We also examined the frustration surrounding Juna’s case: missing records, confusion over which agency had what, and the question of whether Juna’s disappearance ever received the attention it deserved. Retired U.S. Marshal Katrina, who had worked alongside Atlanta Police years earlier, still had files connected to the case. When Ashley reached out to her earlier this year, it reignited Katrina’s effort to get that information into the right hands. In this fifth and final episode, we take a look at where things stand now. Nearly two decades have passed since Juna vanished. For many of those years, the people connected to this case had at least some peace of mind knowing that Timothy Chappell was behind bars. But his release date is now approaching, and for Ashley, Kareen, Faye, and Katrina, that has brought back fear they have never fully been able to put down. In Part 5, we will discuss Tim’s alleged hit list, the concerns surrounding his release, the search for any remaining legal options, and why the people who have spent years fighting for Juna believe her case cannot be allowed to sit quietly in the past. If you have any information about the disappearance of Junaliza Chappell, please contact the Atlanta Police Department Missing Persons Unit at 404-546-4235. Tips can also be sent anonymously to: [email protected]. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve been untangling the disappearance of Junaliza Chappell, a young mother who was trying to leave her husband, Timothy Chappell, and start over in California with her 3-year-old daughter, Ashley. Juna had a plan. Ashley was already in California with people Juna trusted. Juna had completed job training in Florida and was supposed to return to Atlanta, get her car, and drive west. But Juna never made it back to her daughter. After Juna vanished, Timothy disappeared with Ashley. U.S. Marshals eventually found him driving Juna’s car with Ashley in the backseat. Many of Juna’s personal belongings were still inside the vehicle. Timothy was arrested that day, but not for anything connected to Juna’s disappearance. In Part 3, we looked more closely at Timothy’s history, the records Ashley later found, and the pattern that began to emerge, including his 2010 arrest for exploiting a 15-year-old girl, a case that eventually sent him to federal prison for 20 years. Part 4 is different. This episode centers on Ashley and the way her story is intertwined with her mother’s disappearance. Ashley was only 3 years old when Juna vanished. For most of her life, she carried memories from that time, some painful, some confusing, and some so fragmented that she questioned whether she could trust them at all. But as Ashley began searching for answers, some of those memories began to connect to records, conversations, and details she had never fully understood before. Ashley is not only trying to understand what happened to her mother. She is also trying to understand what happened to her and what Juna may have been trying to protect her from. If you have any information about the disappearance of Junaliza Chappell, please contact the Atlanta Police Department Missing Persons Unit at 404-546-4235. Tips can also be sent anonymously to: [email protected]. If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form. Follow The Vanished on social media at: Facebook Instagram Patreon See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.