Article dated October 3, 2016:
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How she disappeared from a small town in the middle of Kansas with a population of roughly 150 is a mystery that starts with the desire to be reunited with a biological parent and includes a looming fear of an allegedly abusive boyfriend.
“I’m Megan’s stepmother,” Dawn explained Monday. “But she’s been my daughter since she was 9 years old — that was three years after Todd (Foglesong, Megan’s father) and I got married.
According to Megan’s longtime friend Maranda Hootman, Dawn and Megan were “very close.”
“I’ll be honest — Dawn was Megan’s mother,” Maranda said. “Megan originally moved here with her father because there were problems. Dawn just loved her like one of her own.”
Maranda said she and Megan became friends in late grade school and the early part of junior high.
“It’s funny because I don’t think we liked each other at first,” Maranda said. “She knew all my dirty little secrets and I thought I knew hers. We were best friends all through high school and we stayed very close, even when she moved to Kansas the first time.
Megan’s
first move to Alden was in 2012, after graduation. And it came as a surprise.
“Megan was set to go to college and play softball,” Dawn explained. “And then she got a chance to go visit her (biological) mother.
“And the next thing we knew, Megan said she was moving to Alden. We didn’t expect that.”
There are indications Megan developed personal problems in Alden. Friends admitted she started using methamphetamine while living there.
Megan also met a man in Alden who became her boyfriend.
Dawn and Maranda learned of the Megan’s problems when her daughter
returned to Oneida in late 2014.
Dawn said it was hard to get Megan to open about her time in Alden. Maranda heard some of the story.
“Megan came back to get away from (her mother) and to get away from (her boyfriend). She told me that,” Maranda said. “I know she was being abused by her boyfriend and she got help from a woman in Alden.
“That woman drove her halfway home, and Megan’s father drove the other half and brought her back.”
According to Maranda, Megan found happiness back in Oneida. She got a job and started dating Maranda’s brother.
“We were all back together,” Maranda said. “She did say she was scared of her boyfriend. She was afraid of him and glad to be out of (Alden). I thought things were going well here.
“Megan never told me about any plans to leave — and never said anything about going back to Kansas.”
Dawn said
in June 2015 Megan returned to Alden and her biological mother.
“Megan never said anything about going back,” Dawn said. “One day she was just gone.”
Maranda said she didn’t know her best friend left until she saw pictures of Megan in Alden posted on Megan’s Facebook page.
“I contacted Megan and she said her (biological) mother got a hold of her and didn’t want there to be ‘bad blood’ between them,” Maranda said. “So she was back in Kansas.”
Dawn said her daughter fell out of contact in late November — and Megan wasn’t posting anything to Facebook.
Megan’s last day of Facebook activity, according to Dawn, was Nov. 30. A friend in Kansas said she received a text from Megan simply stating “I’m OK.”
As Christmas passed, Dawn was fighting to have Megan reported as missing. After months, Dawn convinced authorities to consider Megan a missing person.
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This summer, Dawn learned the KBI think Megan’s disappearance could be linked to a missing man. But Dawn hasn’t been given any other information. There are endless questions, many rumors and no answers.
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