MO MO - Echo Michelle Lloyd, 47, no bank & cellphone activity, Edwards, Benton Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest*

[kelsie]

I really, really hope the LE are taking a close look at that neighbor and anyone else who lives with them. MOO

 

[RumorMonger]

I noticed when she first went missing a sex offender worked nearby, and was absconded, I believe, at the time. It listed his work address as being less than a quarter mile from Echo’s, which is close for a rural community. Now, when I look it up, he’s been arrested in Benton County for violation of a protective order (same sex), also from Benton County this year. I hope they search that property. Which is no longer on the sex offender website. His family members show up as living there, so I hope they give permission.

@tweety933 Sorry, I'm dull. Why is this property relevant to EL? What link does the person have to EL?

 

[MimosaMornings]

As Kelsey pointed out in her interviews, she had a new baby and was busy taking care of it. I think the baby was 1 or 2 months old. She was still concerned and got over there as soon as she could get away.

I’m guessing Echo’s other children, family members live far away from where Echo was currently living. Perhaps they didn’t keep in contact with her like Kelsey - so no one else was suspicious when they couldn’t reach her on Mothers Day or the following days.

 

[tweety933]

@tweety933 Sorry, I'm dull. Why is this property relevant to EL? What link does the person have to EL?

She could be on that property, it is in the neighborhood.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Search Continues For Missing Benton County Woman

 

[chaz]

Candllight vigil for Echo Lloyd.
Bring Echo Home

 

[YaYa_521]

Benton County MO Sheriff's Office

 

[mlhenn]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

I apologize for not knowing what was modified on her NamUs page, however it was edited Jan 12 2021.

 

[Rush4087]

It seems that if there was a boundary-crossing neighbor - someone who had previously "taken over" (or taken liberties with) EL's house and car - somebody who was perhaps habitually invading her space, I would think that he'd have been one of the first people interviewed by LE. Has he offered any guess as to why EL might have been outside her house that night with a gun?

Did EL maybe hear somebody outside - either getting into her auto or attempting to break into her auto or house - and decided to put a stop to it - so maybe she grabbed her gun and went outside to confront the intruder (neighbor or whomever)?

In any event, was the neighbor questioned? Did he have any injuries? Did the neighbor live with anyone? Did the neighbor have an alibi? Are his prints or DNA anywhere on EL's gun or on EL's vehicle, or on any of the locks of EL's house?

Unless the lock sets and keys were changed out before or immediately after EL bought the house, it could be that the neighbor may have known the location of a spare old stash key that still worked, hidden somewhere outside. If so, he could have had access to the house anytime he desired (speculation)

If such a key did exist, was it found (or put back) in its normal hiding place? If not in its normal hiding place, has there been a search for it using metal detectors? If found (assuming such a key exists) were there any prints on it?

Just doin some headscratchin

 

[kelsie]

wish this case was on the move...

 

[MimosaMornings]

Without the cooperation of the people that were with Echo when she disappeared or someone snitches - it might take a long time.
JMO

 

[Choochoobella]

Marissa Jones, host of The Vanished Podcast, released a Patreon only podcast on January 15 about Echo Lloyd. I’m a patreon supporter for a dozen podcasts, but The Vanished Podcast is one of the best I support. Marissa digs deep and puts out phenomenal content. Maybe consider becoming a patreon supporter. The information I’m providing came from the podcast.

I'll separate this into several posts by topic to make for easier reading. I'd like to proof it more but I have to leave in a few minutes. Hope the editing is okay.

Some Background about Echo

Marissa spoke with Echo’s cousin, Mary. Mary’s mom and Echo’s mom are sisters. Echo and Mary grew up together in a small town, Pleasant Hill, Missouri. Echo was always fun, outgoing, and was popular in school. She has a strong lifelong friend group that has been very instrumental in looking for Echo. Mary always appreciated Echo’s courage and adventurous nature. Growing up, Echo rode horses and played sports. She and her friends put on a scavenger hunt every year that huge groups attended.

Kelsey, Echo’s oldest daughter, said her mom is “the life of the party,” with a bubbly personality who is typically happy-go-lucky. Kelsey doesn’t know of anyone who doesn’t like her mom. Echo didn’t think people had a bad bone in their bodies; she could always see the good in people. She was so kind and giving to everybody. Kelsey said, “She was so kind that she was naïve.” Echo wanted to “make the rest of the world happy all the time.”

Echo has 3 daughters, one son, and 3 grandchildren.

Echo’s oldest daughter, Kelsey, has a different dad than Echo’s other 3 kids. Echo and Kelsey’s dad split up when Kelsey was 3 months old.

Growing up, Echo was primarily a stay-at-home mom, but occasionally would get a job. She did a lot of projects at home. She was very artistic and loved to rearrange the house and restore things. As the kids grew up, Echo, took in many stray and rescue animals.

 

[Choochoobella]

Echo and Tony

Echo had 3 children with Kelsey’s stepfather, Tony. Kelsey said Tony is a very good man, hard-working, quiet. He loved Echo so much. Kelsey never saw them fight in front of the children. Tony was still taking care of Echo financially while they were separated. Tony still held onto hope that Echo might come home, but he was letting her live her life and choose her path. Kelsey said there were some major things that Echo and Tony couldn’t get on the same page about, but they still loved each other very much.

 

[Choochoobella]

Echo’s Move to the House in Edwards, Missouri

Echo loved the lake life. She loved to fish and go out on a paddleboat. Kelsey said Echo wanted to prove she could do life on her own and that her kids were basically grown up now. Echo was living on a 10 acre property in Edwards, Mo.

Echo’s close friend, Dana, has known Echo since 2002. She said Echo is so much fun, outgoing, with a great personality. She loved to laugh. Echo has a group of friends who have been “together forever.” They are very close. Through the years, Echo and Dana have taken girls’ trips to the lake, had Christmas parties together and were golf partners.

Dana said Echo’s rape changed the course of her life. She was raped 10 years ago. After that, she didn’t like big crowds anymore. Echo only went to a few counseling sessions and she isolated herself from everyone for a while.

Dana said Echo’s relationship with Tony was complicated because Echo was complicated. Echo had had a lot of trauma in her life. She needed certain things to heal. Dana said no one she knows ever suspected Tony in Echo’s disappearance.

 

[Choochoobella]

Echo Goes Missing

Echo called Kelsey on May 9th in the evening. Two friends had dropped by Echo’s house to visit with her earlier on the 9th. During the conversation on May 9th, Echo said her iPhone was misbehaving. It would only send texts iPhone to iPhone via email. Kelsey’s mom ended the call by saying she loved Kelsey and that she would call her soon.

Kelsey didn’t call her mom before bringing over flowers and a card the next day, on Mother’s Day, May 10th. She said her mom had been giving her different reasons not to visit: her house was dirty, other excuses. Kelsey went to Echo’s house around 3:30 or 4:30pm to leave a plant and a Mother’s Day card. She also left a note asking her mom to call her when she got home. Echo’s car was not at the house.

After many unanswered calls and texts, Kelsey returned to her mom’s house the morning of May 15th. Echo’s car was in the driveway. Kelsey knocked on all the windows and looked in the shed but got no answer.

Kelsey immediately suspected Echo’s neighbor. The neighbor came into Echo’s life shortly after Echo moved to the Edwards, Missouri property.

Kelsey said the neighbor had recently stolen one of Echo’s phones. Echo had 2 phones due to spotty cell service where she lived. She had T Mobile and Verizon phones. Due to the spotty T Mobile service, Echo bought a prepaid Verizon phone that Kelsey set up for her. The neighbor talked Echo into letting him borrow her Verizon phone. He only had a land line. Kelsey thought it was weird that a 34-35 year old man didn’t own a cell phone.

On May 14, the day before Kelsey returned to her mom’s home, she texted the Verizon phone and talked with the neighbor guy. The guy still had her mom’s phone. The neighbor said that he wasn’t at home and that Echo wasn’t at home. He said he expected to be home that evening and he would tell Echo to call Kelsey when Echo got home. The guy also said he was sorry that Kelsey had missed them on Sunday, Mother’s Day. He said they had been at Walmart.

Kelsey texted the Verizon phone early on the morning of May 15th and asked the guy, “Where the hell is she and why haven’t I gotten a call?” He said he hadn’t seen her yet, that he’d have her call in just a little bit. Kelsey said, “No need. I’ll go check on her.”

Since Echo had moved in, the neighbor spent a lot of time at Echo’s home even when Echo didn’t want him there. This made Echo and others uncomfortable. Kelsey believes their relationship was strictly platonic, but he seemed to have gained a lot of control over Echo, her home, and even her finances.

On May 15th, Kelsey confronted the neighbor at his home. She kept banging on the door saying she wouldn’t leave unless she saw or spoke with her mom. The guy suddenly sprinted from his front door when he saw Kelsey pick up the Verizon phone which she found in the neighbor’s driveway. He snatched the phone out of her hands and refused to give it to Kelsey. Kelsey told him she needed the keys to her mom’s house or else she would break in the house.

The neighbor said Echo had taken the keys from him recently because she said she wanted to be left alone. The neighbor swore up and down he hadn’t seen Echo for days. Kelsey got in the house through the window after telling the neighbor she would call the police within the hour if she didn’t find her mom.

The plant Kelsey brought for her mom on Mother’s Day was still outside but was moved. The card was inside the house on her mom’s dresser.

 

[Choochoobella]

Inside Echo’s House

Kelsey saw Echo’s purse under her bedroom nightstand. Echo’s cigarettes and lighter were on top of the nightstand, but they were not the kind of cigarettes her mom usually smoked; instead, there was a really cheap brand. Kelsey thought it was odd to see this other brand but wondered if her mom bought the cheap brand because her mom had told her this guy had taken over her mom’s spending. Kelsey said Echo’s purse, ID, wallet, and cash were there. Missing were Echo’s keys, pistol, medication, and T Mobile cell phone.

Kelsey went back outside yelling for mom. The neighbor came over as Kelsey was on the phone with police dispatch. The neighbor said he’d try to help find her mom. He said he’d go check in one direction where she might be picking wildflowers; he’d also check a nearby dump area because Echo sometimes pulled things from the dump and repurposed them into art pieces or renovated the pieces she found.

Kelsey explained more about Echo and the neighbor. When Echo and the neighbor initially met, Kelsey said maybe they both needed a friend. Unfortunately, Kelsey thinks the neighbor say Echo needed a friend and preyed on her mom’s naivete. Echo was trying to find a new path and was separated from her husband when she moved into the house. Kelsey had warned her mom about the neighbor. Kelsey asked her Mom if anything was going on between Echo and the neighbor and her mom said, “Absolutely not.” Their relationship was platonic. Kelsey said there was no reason for her mom to tell her anything but the truth.

Echo had been to Kelsey’s home 2 weeks before she went missing and told Kelsey she was scared of the neighbor. He wanted more from Echo; he wanted what he couldn’t have. Echo could never get this guy to leave her alone or to go away all the times she told him to leave.

Echo also said the neighbor wouldn’t return Echo’s Verizon phone to her. He wouldn’t show Echo pictures that Kelsey had sent her mom of Kelsey’s child’s birth. He wouldn’t let Echo text Kelsey back on that phone. Echo started calling Kelsey from her house phone.

Kelsey and Echo talked for 3 hours about what was going on. Echo told Kelsey that when he was sober, the neighbor was such a nice person. Kelsey told her mom that once people show you who they are, believe it. He’s not a nice person. He stole your phone. He won’t leave you alone. You can’t change him. Kelsey wanted her mom to stay at Kelsey’s house but Echo said she was calm now and insisted on going home. Echo said she was going to go back and take over her own house. Kelsey made sure her mom had her pistol on her when she left Kelsey’s home.

 

[Choochoobella]

Contacting the Police

As soon as the police arrived, Kelsey told them she was worried Echo had been harmed by the neighbor or was holding her hostage at his house. The police went around and questioned neighbors. It took the police about 6 hours before they were able to talk with the neighbor. Despite all the pounding the police had done on his door, the neighbor said he had been napping when the police were knocking on his door and didn’t hear them.

While Echo’s gun was found on her property, her cousin said it wasn’t that close to her house. It was in the woods of her property. Police said they don’t think anything happened to Echo in her home or on her property because they didn’t see evidence of a struggle.

Echo’s cousin, Mary, said the state of Echo’s home was concerning. Her house was in a state of disarray, that it was dirty, with stuff laying about. Police might not have thought it looked weird, but it looked very off to those who knew Echo. Echo was very clean, an OCD type of person about neatness. The kitchen was dirty. There was mold on dishes in the sink and in opened cans. Mary said it looked like something had been going on there for a while. Mary wondered if someone had been in the house with Echo? Had someone been in there with her for a while, then had taken her away from the house?

 

[Choochoobella]

The Neighbor’s Grandfather

The neighbor lived with his grandfather whose name was Larry. Two weeks after Echo disappeared, Larry died of complications from a broken back. “I’ll just leave that there,” Kelsey said. Kelsey said the grandfather was “sweet on her,” referring to how he felt about Echo. (Not said in a bad way.) Echo and the grandfather were friends. Echo would make the grandfather dinner; he’d make her pies. The grandfather didn’t have a companion.

A neighbor found the grandfather in his home 3 days after his back was broken and the grandfather died on the 4th day in the hospital. Neighbors found some of Echo’s mom’s medications in the grandfather’s basement after he died and handed them over to the police. Kelsey doesn’t know which of her mom’s medications or how many pills they found.

Kelsey said people might think that finding her mom’s meds in the grandfather’s basement wasn’t significant since Echo would go over to the grandfather’s house. However, Kelsey said her mom was never careless with the location of her meds. Echo never left her medications ANYWHERE but where she stored them at home; she always had them “put up.” Echo was on estrogen (she had had a hysterectomy); she had been on antidepressant and anxiety medications long-term; and ADHD medication. Kelsey noted the potential for theft of the anti-anxiety and ADHD medications which are popular drugs on the street.

The neighbor was kicked out of the grandfather’s home by his family after the grandfather’s death.

 

[Choochoobella]

Other Accounts of the Neighbor and the Last Time Echo Was Seen

Other women who had been in past relationships with the neighbor said the neighbor was “abusive” and “explosive.” They were still in fear of him. He was described as a person who is very possessive of other people. He wanted to control people and didn’t respect boundaries.


Echo was last officially seen on Mother’s Day, May 10. There was a receipt with Echo’s signature on it in Echo’s house. Echo was seen at Walmart and a Warsaw Dollar General. However, the official police statement said Echo was at the Climax Springs Dollar General. Kelsey doesn’t know if Echo went to both locations of Dollar General or if the police report saying Echo was in the Climax Springs Dollar General is an error. They are still trying to get clarification on that.

The clerk at one of the Dollar General stores contacted the family because she had a vivid memory of Echo. The clerk knew she had seen Echo on Mother’s Day because Echo was trying to buy a cell phone and a prepaid card so she could call her children on Mother’s Day. Her check kept getting declined. Echo told the clerk someone had drained her account or taken her money, which is why the check wouldn’t go through. The clerk offered to let Echo use the store phone to make a call. The store supervisor said that while Echo was alone in the store, Echo mentioned that people were waiting for her outside. The clerk said Echo seemed “rushed and scatter-brained.” Echo’s cousin Mary said they know the police didn’t follow up and talk with the Dollar General clerk; LE only talked with the Dollar General store manager who didn’t even interact with Echo.

The cousin stated the following questions: Who was in the car waiting for Echo? Why didn’t her check go through? Was the account closed or was there not enough money to cover the check? The family can’t get any answers to these questions from the police.

 

[Choochoobella]

Family Interactions with Law Enforcement

In the early stages of the investigation, LE told the family not to go public with Echo’s disappearance. Kelsey eventually made the call to go public when it seemed like no new information was being uncovered after more than a month passed. Initially, the family was told not to put anything on Facebook, not to go to media or radio, not to ask for help, and not to tell anyone about the gun being found outside. Kelsey was initially scared by LE into not speaking about the neighbor. LE said she might scare the neighbor away or scare him into doing more. They told her she could be accused of slander. Kelsey finally decided, “Screw it. We need help.” The sheriff’s department did say the neighbor’s story was changing, but they didn’t tell her in what way. LE thought maybe the guy might trip up and indict himself.

Kelsey said dogs were not used in any searches. She feels so much was not handled correctly. Kelsey can no longer sit back and hope that LE is doing their job. Since Kelsey started talking, the story is now getting a lot of attention. Unfortunately, the family has also seen the ugly side of online sleuthing communities. Some people attack Kelsey when she has done nothing but be an advocate for her mother.

Despite the family’s strong suspicions about the neighbor, police say they have no suspects or persons of interest. LE says any information they have is circumstantial. They won’t share any information from the phone with the family.

Friends and family did a search 4 miles out in all directions from Echo’s house on May 16. The neighbor didn’t help with the search. The family knows LE caught the neighbor in a lie. I don’t know the details, but during a day the neighbor said he hadn’t seen Echo, LE found video of the neighbor and Echo at an ATM shortly before she went missing (no exact date given).

LE has done a forensic audit of phone and financial records that point to the neighbor being involved in Echo’s disappearance. The cousin thinks people may have helped the neighbor or may know what happened to Echo. These are people who don’t have much of a conscience and may not think this is a big deal. The family is hoping for a change in loyalty to the neighbor. Maybe as time passes, these loyalties will dissolve and someone will come forward to tell the family what happened.

The family is frustrated that the police keep saying there is no evidence of foul play. They say Echo would never have left her children and grandchildren. Dana, one of Echo’s long term friends, explained that Echo married within weeks of high school graduation. Her life revolved around her kids. That was her purpose in life. She was a private person who was dealing with a lot, but she would never have gone anywhere without telling her family.

Echo wasn’t looking for a new relationship; she was trying to find herself. The family thinks the neighbor took advantage of Echo’s naivete. Echo was trying to end their friendship and the family thinks that is when something went wrong. Echo has a generosity of spirit and sees the good in people despite “all she has been through.” She didn’t realize she was endangering herself by being friends with the neighbor.

Mary, the cousin, doesn’t think Echo is alive. She said there are so many places to dispose of someone. The area is very rural, very wooded, with so much water. They worry they may never know what happened to her.