Family members searching
West Side, hanging up fliers
Tuesday July 25, 2006 article link - http://www.dailymail.com/
Friends and family of a missing Belle woman searched Charleston's West Side after the woman's minivan was found there Sunday.
Melanie Metheny, 21, a mother of three, was reported missing Wednesday after she failed to pick up her kids up from a day care center that evening.
Calls from West Side residents led Kanawha County sheriff's deputies to Metheny's gold minivan parked at the corner of Wyoming Street and Beuhring Avenue. Neighbors said the van had been parked there since at least 2 p.m. Wednesday.
"I didn't even know she knew anyone down there," said Matt Harper, the father of Metheny's two youngest children.
He and Metheny's father, James Metheny, drove the West Side's streets looking for Melanie until 3:30 a.m. Monday, Harper said. A few people said they saw a woman matching Metheny's description, but the leads went nowhere, he said.
Harper's mother, Donna Miller, put up fliers all over the West Side on Monday, receiving prayers and condolences as she went, she said.
"She may not be down here, but it's not going to hurt to put these fliers up," Miller said.
Harper said he and Metheny split up eight months ago and have had limited contact since. During their three years together, he never knew of her to visit the West Side, he said.
Lt. Sean Crosier of the Sheriff's Department said the case has not developed much since the discovery of the minivan Sunday.
A search of the vehicle turned up several documents and phone numbers, but further investigation did not yield anything substantial as of Monday afternoon, Crosier said. Investigators continue to conduct interviews, he said.
Metheny came to Charleston for nursing classes at the Garnet Career Center on downtown's Dickinson Street, said Jared Davis, her current boyfriend. He and Metheny have been together for about five months, he said.
Davis knows people on the West Side, but not in the area the minivan was found and no one Metheny knew well enough to visit without him, he said.
Recent news reports quoted James Metheny as saying that Davis was the last to see Melanie. Davis said he last saw her before he left for work around 7 a.m. Wednesday.
He later tried to call her around noon, but she did not pick up, he said. She usually called him at least once before noon, but never called him Wednesday, Davis said.
The Kanawha County woman disappeared one week ago today.
Story by Kimberly Beary - link - http://wowktv.com/
A reported reward, a website posting and new fliers are being used to help find the young mother of 3.
Melanie Metheny disappeared last Wednesday after dropping off her 3 children, including Michael Lilly's son, at day care.
When asked, "Have you told him that you don't know where she is?" Michael Lilly said, "No, we're kind of trying to shield the children from it as much as we can right now."
That is becoming more difficult. Fliers are posted near the home Metheny shared with her boyfriend, in the town where her family lives, and in the Charleston neighborhood where her van was found last weekend. While the family, now reportedly offering a reward, is frustrated, Passersby are concerned.
"We can't understand it," said Belle resident Joyce Hill, "There's a lot of leery people around, and comes around in the neighborhood too and everything, so its hard to tell what happened to her."
Kanawha County Sheriff Deputies say there's nothing new in Melanie's disappearance but her family says those fliers have led to tips that cause them to search neighborhoods like Campbells Creek over night.
"If anyone wants to come out and help search around Campbells Creek," Lilly said. When asked "Any reason why, other than the fact that she lived there?" Lilly responded, "Well, we have a few ideas but like I said we can't really speculate on anything. We don't really know anything yet."
Lilly says they will search until the 21 year old is found because the family "can't have any closure without knowing."
Melanie's disappearance is now featured on the website www.someoneismissing.com. She is described as five feet tall, blonde hair, brown eyes, weighing about 100 pounds.
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