Karen Elizabeth Knechtel Mero was 27 when she was last seen on February 15, 1997, on the front porch of a McCloud, California, home on east Minnesota Avenue. She had been living there with her boyfriend, Ed Henline Jr., and was separated from her husband. Mero relied on $700 a month in disability and had had a liver transplant in 1994, requiring regular medication.

No missing person report was filed until October 1997, eight months after she vanished. Early on, investigators and her family wondered whether she had left voluntarily because of an outstanding warrant, but concern grew as months passed with no contact. Suspicious financial activity was later discovered: Ed Henline Sr. and his wife were accused of forging checks from Mero’s account and in April 1998 were arrested; they pleaded guilty to perjury related to the forgeries and received probation and restitution.

The Henlines were questioned and their home searched in connection with Mero’s disappearance and with the June 1997 disappearance of 17-year-old Hannah Zaccaglini. Authorities have identified the Henlines as potential suspects in both unsolved cases. Did anyone in McCloud in 1997 see Karen after February 15 or notice unusual activity at the Henline residence?