
About this episode
In July 1990, a 13-year-old girl disappears in the early hours after sneaking out to see her twin sister in Killeen, Texas. When she is reported missing, police quickly classify her as a runaway and the case receives little to no investigation, leaving her family without answers and her case to fade into obscurity. But as the years pass, a troubling pattern emerges - one involving abuse allegations, inconsistent witness accounts, and a system that failed to properly follow through. With every new detail, the question of what really happened that night becomes more urgent, and more complicated. Decades later, her younger sister begins digging into the truth, uncovering long-buried information and reigniting an investigation that had gone cold for years. In episode 408, Jac and Lex explore the disappearance of Deanna Merryfield, and her sister Melissa’s relentless fight to finally uncover what happened to her.
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