Marcus Maxine Stalnaker, known as Maxine, was 69 when she disappeared from her Lewis County, West Virginia, home after being dropped off by her daughter Mary Friend on the evening of December 1, 1999. The two had spent part of the day running errands; Mary left her mother at home around 5:00 p.m. and later returned to her own residence. Neither woman was seen again.

Concern grew when Mary missed work the next day and Kevin, Mary’s husband, returned from out of state on December 3 and found the house empty with no signs of forced entry or struggle; personal belongings remained. Mary’s gray 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity was found abandoned on December 6 along Route 19 near Gore. Maxine’s Doberman was discovered dead under the house and the family’s border collie turned up at a former residence about ten miles away. A purse recovered from Stonewall Jackson Lake in 2002 held identification for both women, but searches in 2002 and 2007 turned up nothing else.

Charges were later filed in 2013 against three men, including Mary’s son Joseph Edward Metz, but those charges were dismissed and ultimately dismissed again in August 2015 after a key witness was found not credible. The women’s bodies have never been found and the disappearances remain unresolved. Does anyone have memories or information about Mary, Maxine, their routines, or sightings in Lewis County in late 1999?