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The Disappearance of Maegan Hembree · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Gone Call podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. In the Texas High Plains, winter
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: nights carry a kind of weight. The flatlands stretch out
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  Speaker 1: in every direction, endless short grass prairies, long stretches of highway,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: small towns clinging to the edges of Lubbock's reach darkness.
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  Speaker 1: On one such evening in twenty thirteen, a thirty year
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: old woman left her home in the tiny town of Smyre.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: She was heading to Lubbock to see a friend, but
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: she never made it. Later, her car would be found,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: her phone used only one more time that night, vanished,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and the man last seen with the woman had driven
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: her car after she disappeared. From the beginning, investigators believed
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: he knew more than he admitted, and so did the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: woman's family. Twelve years later, those beliefs have not changed.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Gone Cold, Texas True Crime. I'm vincent
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and this is the disappearance of Megan Jane Anne Hembury.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: On February twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, thirty year old Meghan
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Hembury left her Smier, Texas home at around six thirty pm.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: It was bitterly cold and snowing. On the way to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: her car, she left a trail of breath. Megan climbed
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: into her red Tudor nineteen ninety nine Saturn and turned
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the key in the ignition. Her destination a friend's house
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: in Lubbock. It was a relatively quick trip. The drive
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: was thirty minutes, tops she never arrived. It wasn't like
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: her family quickly grew concerned. Megan was reported missing. Cell
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: records were subpoenaed and showed that Megan's phone pinged for
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: a while after she drove off. That night, it showed
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: she left smire, but then it stopped. One call was
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: placed from her phone before it went dark. Within days,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the family's fears began to take shape. On March first,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, just three days after she vanished, it was
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: reported investigators discovered her red Saturn in the parking lot
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of an apartment complex in West Lubbock. By March eleventh,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, there was still no sign, no trace of Megan.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: The case had moved well past urgent. The Texas Rangers
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: joined the investigation. Hackley County Sheriff R. C. Creek confirmed
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: investigator's work working leads and tracking down every possible angle.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Megan's description went out everywhere. Four feet eleven inches tall,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: about one hundred and twenty pounds, brown hair, last scene
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: in either pajamas or blue jeans, a gray hoodie with
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: a purple Jimmy Hendrick's design, and black tennis shoes. She
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: had tattoos the Houston Astro's logo on the back of
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: her neck, a butterfly on her right shoulder, a biohazard
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: symbol on her ankle, and a Christian fish on her foot.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Her saturn was distinct as it bore New Mexico license plates,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a detail investigators believed might give them the edge on
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: tips if only someone had noticed. Within days of her disappearance,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Megan's case profile was posted to Texas ECU Search, and
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: searchers and volunteers poured time and resources into the hunt.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: In early April, her family and friends launched a Facebook page,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Help Find Megan Hembry. They posted photos, updates, and please
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: for information, hoping to spread her face and description as
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: far as possible. Months dragged on with no resolution. Then
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: in the summer of twenty thirteen, investigators finally confirmed what
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: they had suspected. In mid August, the Lubbock County Sheriff's
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: office officially named Michael Todd Ramsey, then forty eight years old,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: as a person of interest in Megan's disappearance. Ramsey, from Mesquite,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: had been arrested that June on a warrant for unrelated
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: charges burglary, attempting to take a weapon, and with those
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: violation of parole. He was being held in the Lubbock
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: County Detention Center. It wasn't Ramsey's criminal history necessarily that
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: peauked police interest, though it surely added a layer of suspicion.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: It's extensive, after all, with several arrests in Dallas and
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Kaufman Counties. Authorities, though mostly tight lipped, announced he was
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: last seen with Megan the night she vanished, and he
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: had been in her saturn. At a press conference, Lubbock
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: County Sheriff Kelly Rowe explained that his department was taking
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: over the missing person's case from Hockley County. My conversation
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: with the sheriff this week was first and foremost an
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: offer to assist, he said, adding their consensus over there
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: is that anything that did occur occurred in Lubbock County.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: We've got the resources, and we've already been working with
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: them on some of the details. He didn't mince words
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  Speaker 1: about Ramsey. Roe said investigators had approached him, but he
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: wasn't willing to cooperate. If Ramsey had information about Megan's
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: disapp appearents and no involvement, then he should come forward
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and tell what he knows, the sheriff urged. Rowe also
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: confirmed investigators had located Megan's Saturn, but details including where, when,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and in what condition were withheld. The sheriff explained that
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: they were still trying to piece together a complete picture
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: of Megan's life before she went missing, isolating details, he said,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and following up on leads. He avoided answering the question
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of how Megan and Ramsey knew each other, but as
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: they fought for answers, the missing woman's family filled in
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: at least one gap later. Her mother, Robbie, said she
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: believed Megan met Ramsey through friends and only several months
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: before she vanished. On August thirty first, twenty thirteen, a
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  Speaker 1: family member posted on Facebook, Yes, this is the guy
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  Speaker 1: who was last seen with her and driving my grandma's
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: car without her in it or at least not visibly.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: We have at least that evidence. It would be some
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: time before investigators placed Ramsey in Megan's car. They usually
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: opted to say they simply found the vehicle. The heartbreak
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: deepened in October when Megan's little boy turned six. Megan's
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: sister posted, he misses her so much. My heart aches
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: for him. My mom and brother went to see him
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: so he knows he is very loved and missed. Thank you.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: The family was now living in the brutal in between
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: no Magan, no answers, and a growing sense that the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: man who might know the truth wasn't going to speak.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: On December thirteenth, twenty thirteen, investigators spoke again. Lieutenant Brian
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Taylor of the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office said they had
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: a very strong theory, and he made it clear their
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: focus was on Ramsey. I would like people to focus
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: on him, Taylor said bluntly. The lieutenant confirmed that investigators
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: knew Megan and Ramsey had been in a relationship, though
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: it hadn't been long term. Ramsey remained locked up on
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: unrelated charges, still refusing to cooperate, and Megan's family remained
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: in limbo. By the end of twenty thirteen, all they
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: knew was this. Magan had left Smyer on February twenty sixth,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: heading for Lubbock. She never arrived, her car was found,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: her phone was gone, and the man last seen with
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: her was behind bars but silent. The Hembry family entered
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: a new year the way they had ended the last one, waiting, praying,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and pleading for someone, anyone, to come forward. But the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: silence would stretch on, and what followed in the years
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: ahead would test their patience and their hope for justice.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: By the time the year turned to twenty fourteen, Megan
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Hembry had been gone nearly a year. Her family was
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: still organizing, still posting on social media, still pressing investigators
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: for answers, but the investigation itself was stalled by one
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: unmovable obstacle. Michael Todd Ramsey, the last person Megan was
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: known to be with, wasn't talking. On April first, twenty fourteen,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: court documents show that Ramsey had pleaded guilty to a
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: burglary of a building. In exchange for his plea, he
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: received two hundred days in jail time served a charge
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: of failure to identify as a fugitive was dismissed. He
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: should have been released that week, but on April fourth,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: an additional charge of fraud was added. That filing came
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: just three days after he should have walked out of custody.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Ramsey's attorneys argued the new charge was unfair, saying had
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: either the attorneys for the defendant or the defendant himself
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: been aware that the charge was forthcoming, a guilty plea
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: would not have been entered. On April first, twenty fourteen,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: they filed a writ of habeas corpus, the principle that
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: protects against unlawful detention, and on May first, a judge
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: granted a hearing by May twenty eighth, twenty fourteen. After
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: that hearing, Ramsey walked free, but freedom didn't last long.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: He was still a wanted man for multiple parole violations
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and still a person of interest in Megan's disappearance. Investigators
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: kept him in their sights. Court records also show investigators
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  Speaker 1: made a point of telling Ramsey's attorney, Sarah M. Gunter,
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  Speaker 1: that they were investigating him in connection with Megan's case.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: They told her they had a solid case against her
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: client and wished to speak with him, but Ramsey even
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: then gave them nothing. By early twenty fifteen, the family
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: was still living without answers. On February twenty fourth of
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that year, Megan's mother, Robbie, spoke to the press. She
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: admitted the search had shifted from rescue to recovery, but
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: she remarked that the family didn't want to give up.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: They wanted resolution. They needed to find Megan. A candlelight
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: vigil was announced for the evening of February twenty six, six,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the second anniversary of Megan's disappearance. It would be held
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: on the lawn of the Lubbock County Courthouse. Robbie said,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: if we don't do things like this, it's going to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: be forgotten, just turn into a cold case. For her,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: keeping Megan's name alive was as important as finding answers.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Michael Todd Ramsey remained at the center of the case.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Lubbock County Sheriff's Sergeant Bo Roberts commented, investigators believe Ramsey
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: knows what happened to Megan. The man himself had admitted
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to being with Megan the night she vanished, but he
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: insisted he didn't know what happened afterward, and by February
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. He wasn't just uncooperative, he was gone. Investigators
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: said Ramsey was now missing. He'd last been seen around
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  Speaker 1: Mesquite in October twenty fourteen. He was supposed to report
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to a parole officer in East Texas, but he never did.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: To law enforcement, it was just another sign of a
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: man with something to hide. On February twenty sixth, twenty fifteen, family,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: friends and community members gathered in the cold outside the courthouse.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Snowflakes fell, echoing the conditions on the night Megan vanished
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  Speaker 1: two years earlier. Her mother told the crowd she went
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  Speaker 1: missing on a night just like tonight. It was cold,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: it was snowing, and every time it gets cold and
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: snowy in the weather, you can't help but wonder where
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: she's at and is she okay. More than a dozen
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: people stood with candles, including parents of missing children. Among
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the attendees was Ray Ciphers, who had been with the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Hockley County Sheriff's office when Megan first went missing. He
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: told reporters he still followed the case even though it
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: had passed to Lubbock. Megan's still out there. Cipher said,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: there is no justice. The story must be kept alive
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: until Megan is brought home, until the case goes before
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: a jury. He admitted the case weight on him, but
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: remarked that it was the family who needed answers. Outside
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the courthouse, vigilgoers wiped away tears. Robbie explained her choice
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: of location. I wanted to hold the vigil outside the
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: courthouse to symbolize that it's time for justice. It feels
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: every bit the two years. Every day has been hard.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: It just doesn't get easier, it gets harder. I think
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: it was probably more of a shock the first year,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: like in a fog or something, but the second year
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: has been more discouraging. After the vigil, investigators again appealed
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to the public. They admitted they were focusing on Ramsey's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: activities at the time of Megan's disappearance, but needed help
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: filling in the blanks. The Sheriff's office continued to press
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the public to call in tips, not just about Megan,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: but also about Ramsey. Because the Lubbock County District Attorney
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: was insistent that a body be found before charges were filed,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: they needed more information about their suspects movements. Although they
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: refused to refer to Ramsey as such, even if they
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: wanted to speak with the man himself, they couldn't find him,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: but by October in a way, he found them. On
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: April fourth, twenty fifteen, Kaufman County Constable Mickey Henson tried
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: to stop a white Chevy van with a headlight out.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: The driver, however, refused to pull over. This led to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: a pursuit, and after both the van and the constable's
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: ruser drove through high water, both vehicles stalled out. The
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: van's driver fled on foot. Officers soon arrived at the scene,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: but after a search of the area, were unable to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: find the man. In the abandoned van, officers found zero
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: point two two grams of methanthhetamine, along with military records,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: a social Security card, love letters, and pictures. The somewhat
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: lengthy investigation revealed that Ramsey, then fifty, was a wanted
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: parole violator who had assumed the identity of Wayne Michael Horton,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: a deceased military veteran. He used variations like Michael Todd
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: or Mike, even conducting a year long relationship under the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: false identity. Ramsey was arrested in October twenty fifteen and
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: indicted for evading with a motor vehicle and possession of
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: a controlled substance. Though he was taken into custody without incident,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: it took the cooperation of the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the US Marshall's Office, and the Canton Police Department's canine
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: unit to find and capture him. Finally, he was back
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: in police custody. Investigators in Lubbock were thrilled, but their
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: suspect still wasn't talking, despite vigils, press conferences and appeals
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: to the public. Despite Ramsey's latest arrest, twenty fifteen ended
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: like the two years before. It no Magan, no crime scene,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: no body, and still no answers from the one man
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: believed to hold the key. By then, the Hembry family
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: had marked two birthdays for Megan's son without his mother.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: They had held two anniversary vigils. They had lived through
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: two years of silence from the man investigators believed knew
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: more than he ever admitted. By early twenty sixteen, the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: investigation had momentum in one direction, keeping Michael Todd Ramsey
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: in view, if not for Megan, then for other crimes.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: National attention took shape as Dateline. NBC highlighted the case
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: in an online article on March twenty seventh, twenty sixteen,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: centering on the voices of Megan's parents and the persistent
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: hope that legal pressure might force Ramsey to cooperate. Megan's father,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Jerry Hembury, put it plainly, kids are the common denominator
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: in a family. It's a gut wrenching feeling when you
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: think it's possible something has gone wrong. Investigators reiterated the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: timeline megan thirty last scene on February twenty sixth, the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, driving the red two door Saturn from Smyer
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to Lubbock and never arriving. Ramsey admitted to being with her,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: was found with her car days later, was questioned multiple times,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: but was never charged in her disappearance. The piece noted
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: dog teams had conducted multiple searches, most recently the past December.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Jerry framed the family's faith as forward motion. When you
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: can't do any more, you have to keep moving forward.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: On December twelfth, twenty sixteen, a billboard went up in
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the Mesquite area featuring Megan Henbry's photo beside Ramsey's, identifying
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: him as the last person seen with her. A town
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: hall at the Maggie Treyho Supercenter in Lubbock, intended for
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: coming Unity Center discussions, turned into a forum for parents
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of missing Lubbock children. They pressed city leadership about engagement,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: policy and momentum. Other missing Lubbokites highlighted that night included
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Zoe Campos, Joey Gonzales, Jennifer Wilkerson, and Dane Lee Hubbard.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: The call to action was community wide, report problems, press
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: for reviews, and keep cases visible other than showing up
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: at city council meetings and asking questions. One family member said,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: there's nothing much parents and loved ones can do. At
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, These folks just wanted to
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: know that the police were doing all they could to
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: find their missing relatives. Magan Hembry's case went quiet in
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the media, but when Michael Todd Ramsey's name once again
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: hit the news, her name came along with it. In
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: September twenty eighteen, Ramsey's legal exposure crystallized far from Lubbock,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: more than four hundred miles away in Van Zant County.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: He was finally convicted and sentenced for possession of methanthetamines
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and evading arrest. Ramsey was given twenty four months on
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the possession charge and eighty years for evading. While he
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't in trouble for anything having to do with the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Megan Hembry case, investigators in Lubbock hoped that prison time
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: might finally yield cooperation. It didn't. Ramsey still wasn't talking,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and Megan remained missing. The six year mark. In February
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, distilled the Lubbock case status, officials reaffirmed Ramsey
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: as the last person seen with Megan driving at home.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Once again. They said he was found with Megan's vehicle
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: three days after she vanished, and a year later with
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: her cell phone sim card, something they hadn't yet disclosed.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Investigators had also discovered a small drop of blood in
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: her car, but not enough to charge Ramsey. Apparently, they
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: stressed that there was still no crime scene. In November
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, authorities conducted a large scale search in northwest
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Lubbock tied to the case, approximately two hundred acres of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: open land around fiftieth Street and Milwaukee Avenue, spanning from
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the six thousand block of Upland East toward Milwaukee. Multiple
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: human remains detection canines were deployed through a joint Metro
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: unit operation. The Lubbock County Sheriff's Office clarified this was
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the fifth follow up search since February twenty sixth, twenty thirteen,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: based on proximity to the last known location, not on
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: new evidentiary information. It functioned as a follow up exercise
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: after prior searches yielded no results. This sweep again rendered nothing.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: In the same period, a reward was increased. Kirbian Wade
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Law Offices added five thousand dollars to crime line's original amount,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: bringing the total to ten thousand dollars. With callers able
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: to remain anonymous, authorities again urged the public to help
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: bring closure. Another year past, February twenty sixth, twenty twenty
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: marked seven years since Megan drove away from Smyer and vanished.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: A Lubbock Avalanche Journal article stated that investigators with the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Lubbock County Sheriff's Office and the Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: had exhausted all leads and were hoping someone would come
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: forward with new information. Someone knows something. The message hadn't changed,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: but the plea had hardened, media again went silent. As
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: September twenty twenty two approached, the story took on a
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: painful new angle. This was the year Megan would have
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: turned forty. Her father, Jerry, told KCBDTV that the family
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: would never stop searching, but needed more support from the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Lubbock County Sheriff's office. The family still gathered every year
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: at one of Megan's favorite restaurants and left an empty
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: seat for her, but Michael Todd Ramsey occupied their minds.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: He's going to be in prison for a long time,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: but we need to know where she is, Jerry said
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of Ramsey. He added that investigators told him they believed
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Ramsey knows what happened and needs to confess. Even the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's office statement remained the same, No new leads had
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: them at a standstill. Jerry's resolve did not waver. As
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: long as I'm living and as long as I'm breathing,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and we haven't found her yet, We're going to keep
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: looking and we're going to keep calling. The tenth anniversary
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: in February twenty twenty three brought the community back together
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: at a candlelight vigil hosted by First Assembly of god,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: a video of Megan played. She could be heard singing
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and tears were visible across the room. Lead pastor Tom
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Lakey told the gathering that the candlelight represented both hope
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and Megan's light in ten years of darkness. The family
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: again asked for prayers and support, still hoping for justice
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: for Megan. Then a couple months later, the family underwent
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: another profound loss. Jerry Hembry, Megan's father and the family's
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: public face in the search, died from pancreatic cancer. In
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: a post shared by Megan's sister Jill, the family wrote
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that Jerry had likely been suffering in silence for at
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: least a year, and by the time of the diagnosis
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: on March thirty first, it was already stage four. He
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: died on April tenth, twenty twenty three. Jerry chose to
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: donate his body to medical and cancer research at Texas
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Tech University. Jill called him a kind, selfless man who
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: would be deeply missed. Investigator Bo Roberts attended Jerry's memorial
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: and shared a tribute that doubled as a window into
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a decade of dogged advocacy. He described trying to keep
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: emotional distance on cases a method to try keeping him
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: objective until June twenty thirteen, when he met Jerry. That
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: distance didn't hold. He said, Jerry didn't fit that. Bill
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Roberts detailed the man's relentless, informed, respectful pressure questions, ideas, research,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: involvement at every turn, fueled by love for his family,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and a drive that could not be measured. I was
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: blessed to have Jerry Hembry as a friend, Roberts wrote,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I will certainly miss my friend moving forward, but I
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: believe with all my heart that his pain was relieved
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: and his efforts were rewarded as he was reunited with Magan.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: February twenty ninth, twenty twenty four, marked eleven years since
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: anyone saw or heard from Megan Hembry. Her mother, Robbie
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: told Everything Lubbock, the anniversaries remain a gut punch. She
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: was discouraged that the case had gone on so long
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: without resolution. Robbie said she still thinks of Megan every day,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: replaying the last moments watching her daughter walk out the door,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and how you don't realize it will be the last time.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: When they become adults, Robbie remarked, you can no longer
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: protect them from everything she had written. Ramsey in prison,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: pleading for information, He did not respond. The Sheriff's office
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: stated that while investigators and detectives have searched every tip
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: and thread, the investigation is now largely in the public's hands.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Someone out there may hold the detail that breaks the case.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: If you have any information about the disappearance of Megan
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Jane Anne Hembry, please call the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: at eight zero six seven seven five one four nine four.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: crime Line at eight zero six seven four one one thousand.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: You may be eligible for a large cash reward for
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: your information. If you'd like to join gon Cold's mission
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: to shine a light on unsolved homicides and missing persons cases,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: get the show at free and have access to bonus content.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: You can at Patreon dot com slash Gone Cold podcast.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: You can also support the show by leaving a five
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: star rating and written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: else you listen. However you choose to support Gone Cold,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Thanks for listening, y'all,