In the early summer of 1999, a 33-year-old woman named Sheri Lynn Montague was leading a busy life in Columbia, Missouri. Holding down two jobs, one as an administrative assistant at MFA Inc. and another at a local restaurant, Sheri was known by her family to be responsible and caring. This portrayal of her character makes the events that followed her last known conversation even more unsettling.
On the evening of June 14, 1999, she mentioned to a friend that she had plans to meet an unidentified person for drinks. After that conversation, Sheri Lynn Montague was never seen or heard from again. The first sign that something was gravely wrong appeared the very next day when her white Honda Accord, distinguished by its personalized 'OZ KID' license plate, was found abandoned. The vehicle was located outside a medical building in Wentzville, Missouri, a city approximately 75 miles east of her home, leaving a trail of questions for investigators.
Back at her home in Columbia, the scene was one of quiet confusion. There were no immediate signs of a struggle or foul play at her residence, but there were concerning indicators that she had not planned to be away for long. Sheri had left behind her beloved cats and kittens, and no arrangements had been made for their care, an action her family insisted was completely out of character for her. As investigators began to piece together the timeline of her disappearance, a complex and troubling picture emerged involving significant sums of money. It was discovered that Sheri had recently acquired a large amount of cash, totaling around $28,000, through loans from relatives and her own personal savings. She had told her family the money was intended for stock market investments and remodeling her home. However, authorities would later come to believe she was the victim of a financial scheme.
The investigation into Sheri's disappearance eventually connected her case to that of another missing person, Rick Simpson, who had vanished a year earlier. A witness, Robert Allen Rohrer, provided a chilling account to investigators, claiming that both Simpson and Montague were murdered on a farm in Osage County. The alleged motive was to prevent them from exposing a fraudulent scheme designed to defraud Sheri of up to $41,000. According to this account, the perpetrators disposed of both victims' bodies in a nearby river. Despite this lead, a search of the property in 2001 yielded no evidence related to either disappearance. While some of the men allegedly involved faced charges for unrelated fraud and theft, no one has ever been criminally charged in connection with Sheri's vanishing. In 2008, her parents were awarded $15.1 million in a wrongful death lawsuit they filed against the individuals they believed were responsible. The overview of this case is one of profound loss and lingering uncertainty; a woman vanished after telling a friend she was meeting someone, her car was found miles from home, and a dark story of financial deception and alleged murder surfaced, yet without a body ever being recovered, the case officially remains an unsolved and painful mystery for her loved ones.Last Seen: Jun 14, 1999
