The Texas Missing Podcast
Two best friends who are previous law enforcement officers seek to highlight active missing person cases in Texas.
Contact kate@thetexasmissing.org for case recommendations.
The Texas Missing Podcast
06: Maegan Hembree
In 2013, Maegan Hembree was supposed to be headed to a friend's house but never arrived and when she failed to make it home to her son, Aiden, her family feared the worst. As police began to unravel the trail to find Maegan it seemed that all roads led back to one suspect.
Maegan is 4′11 and weighs 120 pounds. She has dark blonde hair and green eyes. She has a large Houston Astros logo tattoo on the back of her neck, and a tattoo on her lower left leg. She was last seen wearing pajama pants and a hooded sweatshirt.
If you know anything about the disappearance of Maegan Hembree, or anything related to the case, call the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office at 806-775-1601.
References:
https://www.kcbd.com/story/21529027/police-locate-maegen-hembrees-vehicle-in-lubbock/
https://www.kcbd.com/2019/11/13/police-search-west-lubbock-reference-missing-meagan-hembree-smyer/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070745040360
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/what-happened-maegan-hembree-n546266
https://www.kcbd.com/story/28181914/maegan-hembree-still-missing-after-two-years/
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/police-officers-crime-scene-vehicle-respond-to-field-in-west-lubbock-related-to-megan-hembree-case/
https://www.instagram.com/thetexasmissing/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550699270048
https://www.threads.net/@thetexasmissing
Hey y'all, it's Kate and only Kate, and welcome to the sixth episode of the Texas Missing Podcast. Bree is out this week, but I promise she'll be back for the next one. I am actually recording this Thanksgiving night. We had a really good Thanksgiving. I went to my aunt Shishi and Uncle Michael's house down in Montague County. If anyone knows where that is at, I will be incredibly surprised. No, my aunt's real name is not Shishi. When I was little I could not say Patricia, so the best yes, the best I could come up with was Shishi, and 30 years later it's still what I call her. But we had a really good time. Shout out to Shishi the Thanksgiving spread was was lit. It was a really good time. I appreciated spending time with family, I guess doing these cases and you know, I guess for the last little bit I've spent a lot of time researching these cases and it definitely puts a different perspective on appreciating family, especially kind of knowing that there's so many people out there that have you know I'm missing a missing person at their Thanksgiving table. So definitely a day to just be thankful for family.
Speaker 1:So before we get into this week's episode, I wanted to give an update on a case that I covered a couple of weeks ago. It's going to be regarding a missing teacher's assistant from Dallas ISD, jennifer Mendez Oluscoga. Jennifer went missing September 27th in Segoville after dropping off her friend at a Creekside mobile home park. Now, what made this case concerning is that when Jennifer's family went to file the missing person report, it was found that one of Jennifer's friends was receiving text messages from an unknown number stating that they would never see Jennifer again. Now, on October 12th, human remains were found in the woods about two miles from where Jennifer's vehicle was abandoned, off of Interstate 20 in Lawson Road. And unfortunately, last week, on Monday November 13, those remains were confirmed to be Jennifer, but as of now, the medical examiner's offices have not released a cause of death. Obviously, their thoughts are with the family at this time. This is never the outcome that is wanted in a missing person case, but we hope that the family can have some sort of resolve, and only they can at least be provided with answers.
Speaker 1:If you all haven't already and would like to learn more about Jennifer's case, I did upload a short episode that can be found on our podcast platforms. I'll also post updates as they come in. So, to get into this week's episode. I'm taking you to the small town of Samire, texas, which is about 30 minutes west of Lubbock, and I will be telling you the story of Megan Himbry. Now, fair warning, this case will most likely pitch you off. It's one of those cases where it feels like all the answers are right there, but still just a little bit out of reach, and I can only imagine how Megan's family has felt all these years trying to navigate through all of this.
Speaker 1:Megan, who was born September 6th of 1982, was just 30 years old when she disappeared on February 26th 2013. Megan left her home from Smyr in her red two-door Saturn and had planned to drive to Lubbock to see her friend, but she never made it. And when Megan did not come home to her five-year-old son, her family immediately knew something was wrong and immediately filed a police report, and I do want to mention so. I know I talked about Smyr at the beginning of the episode, but that is just because I wanted to make sure and note that that is where Megan is from and that's essentially where the case begins. But, as you'll kind of find out more into the episode that, according to a lot of the evidence, lubbock is most likely where Megan was last seen, and so when you do look up her case, a majority of it of the case information will be from Lubbock and you'll hear more from Lubbock PD and Lubbock Sheriff's Department. So just to clarify if it seems a little bit confusing so according to reports, the night that Megan went missing Megan's phone pinged one last time in Southwest Lubbock and from there the trail kind of goes cold in terms of Megan's final location and it wasn't until three days later that there was any type of break in Megan's case. And guys, it's a little baffling and maybe a little confusing, I guess, based off of the information that I found.
Speaker 1:So at first police simply released that Megan's vehicle had been located, and it's a very, very simple article and it states just that that Megan Hembrey's vehicle was located and that's all it says. But then articles begin to surface that reported that Megan's car was found in front of an apartment complex. And then it goes into a little bit more depth a couple months later when it is stated that Megan's car was found to be in possession of a man named Michael Todd Ramsey and yes, the vehicle was found to be in his possession after her disappearance. In new sources state, megan was last seen accompanied by Michael Todd Ramsey, a man she had reportedly met just a few months earlier. And when Ramsey was stopped by police while in possession of Megan's vehicle, he was reportedly taken into custody in question but never charged, and he was let go after the police encounter.
Speaker 1:And I know you're thinking like how could he be let go immediately? But at that point, if there's not enough evidence, there's not enough evidence. And I know it sounds inferior, infuriating, and I, I, I understand that and I, I get that. But as we all know, and I've said time and time again, we never know what's going on behind the scenes and I wish I could know what he said in those interviews. But honestly, if there's not enough evidence, you can't, you can't hold someone, you just can't do it. So who is Michael Todd Ramsey? Well, in short, he is not, he's, he's not a good person.
Speaker 1:I found his criminal history. It's it's long, it's very long. It includes burglary, possession, and when I say possession I'm talking about drugs and usually it's controlled substance, penalty group one, and that correlates for Texas drug law. Those are like your, your well done drugs, guys like cocaine, heroin, meth, fentanyl. He has some, he has an escape conviction where he served five years. He attempted to take a weapon from an officer. Yeah, there's, there's lots of drugs there was. He has. He has a lifetime of of drug charges and he has spent several stints in prison, like he had two year, three year, five year.
Speaker 1:And I know that this is brought up and I saw this on some of the I guess more of like the Reddit and on Facebook. So I know some people, for their first thought is why would Megan be hanging out with a guy like this, like a career criminal? But guys, career criminals, they can be so manipulative. Someone like Ramsey, they spend their entire lives using people. Because of their criminal histories. They can't. They can't obtain anything, okay, they can't get housing, they can't get a job, so instead they manipulate nice people in order to obtain those things so like money, food, clothing. And Megan could have very well not even known that he had a criminal history, and so I couldn't ever you know that's just to play the blame game. I could not imagine doing that and I just have a hard time believing that she even knew who he was, especially if he's using that kind of persona to get what he wants out of her and so I don't accept that. I just I can't, I don't like to blame the victim, especially for this incident.
Speaker 1:Anyways, so now that you kind of know Ramsey's background and kind of the garbage can that he is, let's let's go to 2014. So, one year after Megan went missing and this one, this one's the kicker guys Ramsey was found to be in possession of Megan's phone SIM card yes, her, her, her SIM card to her phone, the same SIM card that was in, that was in her phone that pinged the night that she went missing. And when I, when I read this, my my jaw literally dropped to the floor. I was kind of, I was, I was baffled at this and, based off of the source material that I read, that Ramsey was was questioned about this, but he there was no charges brought up for this. So, if we kind of look at the circumstances, so people, there were apparent witnesses that said that they saw Megan with Ramsey the day that she went missing. He was seen. Apparently, he was found to be in possession of her vehicle three days after she went missing and then, a year after she had been missing, he was found to be in possession of her, her SIM card to her phone and that's that's. That's crazy.
Speaker 1:And I've thought about this in terms of like a warrant and is that is, is this enough PC to write a warrant? And so when I was a police officer, I didn't write a lot of warrants. I I was not a detective, I purely did patrol. And if you were to write a warrant for using PC, I would imagine it would be a warrant to find more of Megan's belongings. But if we were to look at Ramsey, he's a career criminal. Does he even have a place to stay to write a warrant for? Does he even have a car to write a warrant for? And if there is no other physical evidence, then what else can can there? What else is there to do? And so I've I've kind of been going back and forth about that.
Speaker 1:I think there's, there's a, there's a, there's a lack of physical evidence other than those two things. But also at the same point it's kind of like damning evidence. Oh wow, you're in possession of these things. You were the last person to apparently see her. But then also there is.
Speaker 1:If we go back to the beginning, there was kind of a difference in reporting of okay, initially her car was just found in front of an apartment complex and then her car was found in. He was in possession of it, and so it's also there's a potential that maybe he was not in possession of her vehicle, and so those are things that I kind of looked for and I couldn't find. But I do want to say that I found several more articles that did state that her vehicle was found to be in possession of with Ramsey. Like Ramsey was found to be in possession of her vehicle when he did get he got pulled over. So I'm more inclined to believe that than it just being in front of an apartment complex. But you know I that's just me. So and I also want to talk about one more kind of piece of evidence. So it was also spoken about in some more source material that police did identify drops, like minimal drops, of Megan's blood in her vehicle. But nothing ever ever came of that. And okay, to be fair, if it's minimal blood and it's her car, I can see how it would be hard to assess that as as evidence, because I look at it as like I, I cut my finger the other day and there is definitely blood in the back of my car from cutting my finger, and so I understand how that can't be an automatic link of evidence. So I understand that part, but I'm not. I'm not so sure on the SIM card and in the vehicle possession.
Speaker 1:Now, unfortunately, after 2014, when Ramsay is found to be in possession of Megan Simcard, nothing really happens with her case, but that doesn't mean Ramsay stays out of trouble. He was arrested multiple times after Megan went missing, but unfortunately, none of them had to do with her case whatsoever. Notably, in October 2015, he was arrested for parole violations and being in possession of meth, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and then he actually received an 80-year sentence in 2018. And this actually stemmed from an incident that occurred in April of 2015 in Vanzant, texas, when police attempted to pull Ramsay over in his white Chevrolet van. When a pursuit ensued that ended with Ramsay evading on foot, police ended up finding identification documents for the name Wayne Michael Horton and meth in the vehicle. The documents ended up helping lead police to their prime suspect, who turned out to be Michael Todd Ramsay. The police uncovered that Ramsay had assumed the name Wayne Michael Horton, who was a deceased military vet. Ramsay's sentence expiration is set for 2095. So I guess uh, hopefully this one will stick.
Speaker 1:So I know you guys are probably wondering like was Ramsay ever approached by police again? And he was, and this part will make you sick. And he was actually. He was approached multiple times by police. He was questioned multiple times by police as well.
Speaker 1:So when Ramsay was arrested in October of 2015, like I mentioned above for the evading and possession, jerry Himbry, who is Meghan's father, called Vanzant County District Attorney Chris Martin and he asked for help and he explained Meghan's case to him, chris Martin. He ended up offering to make a deal with Ramsay that would drop all of the pending charges against him in exchange for information and helping to find Meghan. Ramsay declined the offer and instead asked for an attorney and he ended up he he refused to to give any information about Meghan or talk talk about her at all and he instead just took all the charges and into this day, he is the only, as far as I can find. He is the only person of interest that that I've been able to find and guys, I searched through so many articles. I feel like that's and he is the only name that I could find as a person of interest in connection with her case and I think it's so sad that he's just sitting there and he probably holds the key to at least finding Meghan and it's it's just sick.
Speaker 1:But so over the years, several agencies have helped search for Meghan, including Texas Rangers and, obviously, local Lubbock police, lubbock County Sheriff's Department and Hawkely County Sheriff's Department, and in total, there have been at least five searches conducted for Meghan, and the most recent in 2019, it was a joint effort between Lubbock police and Lubbock Sheriff's Department, and I can only imagine so when I talked about it earlier that they said that her phone pinged one last time in Southwest Lubbock. I'm thinking I'm not for sure if this area is maybe kind of where they're searching, but I'll talk about that in a minute. So the report states for this search report states that police officials investigated the area of 50th and Milwaukee Avenue based on credible information. Now what I could find is that this is the fifth search of this location and it's a pretty large location. But I wanted to clarify this fifth search. It's not because of new information. It is a follow-up search from credible information that they have received in the past. So this they didn't conduct this search in 2019 because they got brand new information at that moment. It is information that they had had in the past and this is their fifth follow-up search at this same location. And so I wanted to clarify that, because I had to read over that too, because I was a little confused, and I am going to read you the actual article information from the Lubbock Sheriff's Department. So it says the Metro unit conducted a search of approximately 200 acres and guys, just to put it in perspective, I looked it up and 200 acres is about 150 football fields, if you need like a visual of what that would look like. So, 200 acres of open land with human remain detection canines. On November 11th and 12th. The canines are being provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife personnel and their connection with certified remains detection animals from other search agencies.
Speaker 1:The property begins in the 6000 block of Upland Avenue and spans a rectangular area approximately 900 feet wide from Upland East until it borders the Milwaukee Avenue area. The property also surrounds the Water Rampage Complex. This search is generated as the fifth follow-up search connected to Megan Himbry since February 26th 2013. The search is based on proximity to the last known location of Megan, on the date that she went missing, and is not based on any new or evidentiary information. And guys I looked, I found the photos of kind of where they searched and it's an interesting area. It's kind of a very large piece of land that is surrounded by kind of commercial property and also on the other side there's neighborhoods and then you've got kind of some railroad and train tracks kind of like in between it. I'll post kind of what it looks like just so you can kind of get an idea of number one, how big it is, and number two, just kind of so you can have a visual of what the police officers are kind of up against when they're searching this type of area.
Speaker 1:But regarding the search that did happen in 2019, unfortunately nothing came of the search and, from what I can tell, there has not been another search since. And, matter of fact, in 2020 the Lubbock Avalanche Journal released an article asking for the public's help and it specifically stated investigators with the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office and the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit have exhausted all leads in the case and are hoping someone will come forward with information that will help in this investigation. And, honestly, after 2020 there really isn't any other information that comes up on Megan other than tributes from her family, and I do know that her family does hold a vigil, I think just about every year for her, but other than that, I have not seen any additional information come out on her or additional searches or anything of that matter. Now I did want to note one more thing and it's something very brief and it's singular that I found in one of the articles, and it comes from Megan's dad, jerry, and in one of the articles he states that there may be an unnamed woman who could know what happened to Megan. The article states this particular person, this woman that worked at a medical facility, was seen in scrubs talking to this man on the same day after Megan went missing. Finally, there is no other articles or information about this woman, and that's really the only thing that was said about this information, but I felt it was important to at least note it, because you never know who could be listening, and it's just. I wanted to briefly at least put it in there, just just in case. And then, speaking of Megan's dad, it seemed, based on all the information I found that he truly led the way and trying to find his daughter. He is in all the articles. He's giving interviews. He was doing everything he possibly could to bring his daughter home, and Unfortunately, according to the help find Megan Henry Facebook page, jerry passed away this year on April 10th.
Speaker 1:Megan's sister, jill, gave a tribute to him, calling him Megan's biggest advocate, and she also shared something else that I thought was incredibly moving, and it was a post from Bo Roberts, who is with the Lubbitt County Sheriff's Office and has been over Megan's case since 2013, and it reads my name is Bo Roberts and I was almost 20 years into my career when I had the opportunity to work on Megan's case. I had worked many cases and I talked to numerous family members about tragic situations and their lives. I I developed a method of keeping myself at a distance from the family to try and remain objective about the case, and Then, in June of 2013., I met Jerry Henry. Jerry was obviously the loudest member of the family and his desire for answers was ever present in each conversation. I Tried to keep Jerry at a distance and remain open to all of my work equally, but Jerry wasn't going to fit into that Category at all. Not only did Jerry demand to be heard with his questions, he soon started to educate himself about all the factors involved with working to find Megan. He inquired, asked questions, presented ideas, research methods and continued to demand and insert himself into any part of the process where he could. I Realized that Jerry's tenacity was based on his love for his family and he proved time and time again that he would always bring that determination to each meeting in conversation that we had. There is no way anyone could not learn to respect the never-ending drive that I have only witnessed by this man. His love for his family is at a level that cannot be measured. During the last ten years I was honored to continue my work and to have Jerry and his motivation be part of that. But, more important than that, I was blessed to have Jerry Henry as a friend. I Will certainly miss my friend moving forward, but I will believe with all my heart that his pain was relieved and His efforts were rewarded as he was reunited with Megan, and he will still be holding her when we get there to see them together as of this February.
Speaker 1:Megan has been missing for ten years. Megan is 411 and weighs 120 pounds. She has dark blonde hair and green eyes. She has a large Houston Astros logo tattoo on the back of her neck and a tattoo on her lower left leg she was last seen wearing pajama pants and a hooded sweatshirt. If you know anything about the disappearance of Megan Himbree or anything related to the case, call the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office at 806 775 1601. As always, I'll post Megan's photo and information on our social media platforms at the Texas Missing and make sure to share her story to all that will listen. And and that's it, guys. I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and I'm Kate, and this is the Texas Missing podcast. You.