Families of Missing Women Asked for Thousands of Dollars to See Them Again as Part of Apparent Scam
Courtesy of Laura Saxton/Lancaster Family
Kelsie Schelling was eight weeks pregnant when she was last seen in February 2013.
The 21-year-old stopped answering her phone on Feb. 5, 2013, worrying
her family and friends. Police say Schelling was meeting her boyfriend
on Feb. 4, 2013, in Pueblo, Colorado, which is about two hours away from
where she lived in Denver, before she disappeared. The only trace left
was her abandoned car, found days later.
To this day, Schelling's family and friends continue their intense
search for Schelling and are desperate to know what happened to her.
Courtesy of Laura Saxton
"It's like a needle in a haystack. All I can say is [I have] my love for
my daughter. And [there's] the fact that I don't think I can survive if
I don't find her," Laura Saxton, Schelling's mother, told ABC News'
"20/20."
Kelsie Schelling: Family Desperate for Answers in Pregnant Colorado Woman's Mysterious Disappearance 3 Years Ago
Some 1,200 miles away, and just two months after Schelling disappeared, a
strikingly similar fate befell Marcella Lancaster, whose 25-year-old
daughter Megan Lancaster vanished from Portsmouth, Ohio, also leaving no
trace but her abandoned car.
So far the Portsmouth police
have drawn a blank. But Marcella Lancaster and her family have been
relentless in their search. For more than three years, the parallel
tragedies of Schelling and Megan Lancaster's disappearances have played
out separately in different time zones. In Ohio, Megan Lancaster's
family organized searches and set up a Facebook page to field leads. In Colorado, Saxton did the same.
But last October, as Saxton began to come to terms with her worst-case
scenario, there was a startling development: a mysterious message of
hope came through the family's "Help Find Kelsie" Facebook page.
ABC News
"It was from a woman who I'm not familiar with," said Saxton. "She just
approached originally by saying, 'If I have information about Kelsie,
can I remain anonymous?'"
The woman said her name was Jenna McClain and that it was risky for her
to come forward because her life was in danger. She passed the
conversation on to a male associate, who wrote: "Ma'am, please, your
daughter is not dead. She will be back home alive."
The man knew all sorts of details of the case and offered a troubling
account of what he said had really befallen Schelling, claiming Donthe
Lucas, Schelling's boyfriend, hired a friend to kill her: "Donthe has no
idea she is alive," the mystery man wrote. "He thinks she is dead.
Cliff who was ordered to kill her, opted to keep her and sell her."
"[He says] that the friend did not kill her. He sold her into sex
trafficking," said Saxton. "And he had a fake grave dug and showed that
to Donthe as proof that he had killed Kelsie -- that the baby had been
aborted, that there was a video of it being done, of Kelsie screaming
for help."
Pueblo County Sheriffs Office
Donthe Lucas, who police consider a person of interest, refused to talk
to ABC News about Schelling's disappearance. At the time, he told police
that he "would never hurt her." No charges have ever been brought
concerning Schelling's disappearance, and the case remains open.
Saxton was devastated by the mysterious emails and the possible break in the case.
"It made me sick," she said. "I mean, I could barely function. It tore
me up so much and I just thought, [what] if she's been out there and I
could've found her, and we haven't and she's suffered all this time."
That same month in Portsmouth, Ohio, a nearly identical development
occurred in the disappearance of Megan Lancaster. One "Jenna McLain"
reached out to Megan Lancaster's family through Facebook, said she had
news about the case, then passed the conversation on to a male associate
who seemed well-versed in the details of the case.
"And then out of nowhere, he pops up," Kadie Lancaster, Megan
Lancaster's sister, told "20/20." "He says I know where Megan is. And I
can get her back. [He] tells me how she was tortured and that she was in
sex trafficking. And he told me that they kept her on chains in a
room."
Then, the situation became even more ominous. Both families received a
nearly identical, highly bizarre proposition: Each missing woman could
be brought home alive, but it would take money -- lots of it. The
emailer told Kadie Lancaster to bring $25,000 dollars in cash to a
Vancouver, Washington, McDonald's and deliver it to a man named
"Marcus," who would be wearing a red hat.
"The exchange was that if I would come to Washington [that] I could have
Megan and we could just leave and go on our way," said Kadie Lancaster.
Saxton received an almost identical offer.
"If we sent someone with money to this McDonald's in Vancouver,
Washington, once the money was exchanged this courier person would go
and get Kelsie and bring her back to the McDonald's," she said.
And while the whole scenario appeared suspect from the start, these desperate mothers found it impossible to ignore.
"I just thought you know what if she's been out there and we could've found her," said Saxton.
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Families of Missing Women Were Asked For Money to See Them Again
Despite her skepticism, Saxton decided to play ball, letting the messenger know she was ready to make a deal.
Concerned about possible criminal involvement, Schelling's family asked the Vancouver police to meet the courier undercover.
"We didn't know if this actually was a sex trafficking issue or if it
was extortion," said Saxton. "And so I felt like, you know, law
enforcement from Vancouver should have been involved in this situation."
But just before the appointed time, the Vancouver police concluded this
was nothing more than a cruel scam, not actual sex trafficking, and
backed out –- leaving no one to intercept the courier.
However, "20/20" was there for the drop and placed the fast food
restaurant under surveillance. Cameras were rolling as a man with a red
hat entered. He sat quietly and didn't order. After no one showed up, he
then left.
"It was just all a matter of trying to get down to the truth of this,"
Saxton said. "I want this person found. I mean, I was, like, hell-bent
of this person being found."
Kadie Lancaster also agreed to work with "20/20" to set up a sting
operation at the same fast food restaurant two weeks after Laura's
aborted rendezvous had taken place.
"I wanted to know the truth," said Kadie Lancaster. "That's all I
wanted. I wanted to know why. Why did you randomly pick us? Why did you
randomly pick the other family? Why?"
Kadie Lancaster arranged to meet Marcus, but she also brought ABC News producer Gerry Wagschal along with her.
Kadie and Gerry walked into restaurant at the appointed meet time. They
spotted Marcus and walked over to him. They told Marcus they brought the
money, but the cash was in the trunk of a car parked outside.
"20/20" confronted Marcus, who claimed he was suckered, too –- lured
online into a supposed jewelry venture. He said he was supposed to pick
up the money and wire it to someone he's never met.
"I didn't think nothing of it," he told ABC News' Ryan Smith, denying
that he knows anything about Megan Lancaster or Schelling's whereabouts.
"I had no clue about a missing person…. I didn't know anything about a
missing person, if I did know I wouldn't have been involved."
However, it has been difficult determining who sent the original
messages to Schelling's and Megan Lancaster's families. An FBI analysis
revealed the con men utilized an IP address which traces back to Russia.
But since "20/20" confronted Marcus, Saxton and Kadie Lancaster have
stopped receiving the tormenting messages.
"I'm really grateful to know that we know the answer," said Saxton. "And
this needs to just be a lesson or a warning to all of, you know, the
other families, [who] have missing family members that these people are
out there. They're looking for you. They're studying you. They don't
have a problem with hurting you and taking your money."
If you have any comments about the Kelsie Schelling or Megan Lancaster cases, please email Jawad Ameer ©2016, copyright @ jawad ameer
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