What Happened to Michelle McMullen?

Michelle McMullen was last seen on Sept. 28 after she dropped her son off with a friend and headed back to college in Louisiana.

(Courtesy McMullen Family)

Mother Disappears During Car Trip

When the young mother discovered she had the weekend of Sept. 27-28 off from work, she took Jayden to a local carnival and then drove with him up to Harrisburg, where she was going to leave him in the care of his father and her parents, Michael and the Rev. Lillie McMullen.

Michael McMullen said his daughter, after driving through the night Saturday, dropped Jayden off with her friend Sunday evening and then left an hour later to return to Louisiana. He and his wife didn't even know she was in Harrisburg, he said, or they never would have let her leave without resting.

"She said she would sleep along the way," Michael McMullen said, recounting a conversation his daughter had with her friend. "She had a pillow and a few things in the car."

That friend called the McMullens on Monday to let them know that she had Jayden. She said Michelle had called around 9 p.m. Sunday night to say good night to Jayden and told her friend, "I will give you a call when I'm a little further down the road," according to Michael McMullen. That was the last anyone heard from her.

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When no one had heard from her by Monday night they became worried. Michael McMullen said they called police Tuesday morning and then again around noon on Wednesday after waiting the requisite 72 hours to file a missing persons report.

Michael McMullen said police didn't do much until that following Saturday and they later apologized to the family, noting that they had been busy and the detective that handles such cases had been on vacation.

Messages left with the Harrisburg police chief and mayor were not immediately returned Friday.

Few Clues in the Car

The abandoned car was reported to the Washington Sheriff's Office in Maryland after it had sat on an access road outside the Volvo Powertrain plant, a couple of blocks off I-81, for about a week. Hagerstown is about 70 miles west of Washington, D.C., and a little more than an hour drive from Harrisburg.

Washington Sheriff's Lt. Mark Knight said it was not unusual for cars to be parked in that area, so police were only called after security guards noticed it hadn't moved in several days. A bloodhound and "air-scent" dogs trained to sniff out cadavers were called to the scene, but they found nothing.

Though her father is certain his daughter is in danger, Knight said police found no blood or other evidence that she met with foul play.