Vadie Michelle Maynard, known in contemporary coverage by her married name Michelle Stroud, was 29 and a mother of one when she disappeared after dropping her child at school on the morning of September 21, 2009. She lived in the Kermit, West Virginia area and worked for the Mingo County Health Department; she had previously worked with the Mingo County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators found her vehicle near the old Heilig-Meyers property along U.S. Route 52 in East Kermit, about five miles from home. Authorities say her estranged husband, Roger Stroud, picked her up there, drove to an isolated mining site tied to Kermit Coal, and that an argument ended when Stroud pulled out a revolver and shot Maynard multiple times. Her body was placed in an old refrigerator kept in his truck and later abandoned in woods on Newsome Ridge between Dingess and Kermit; a family member discovered her remains about 30 hours after she went missing.

Stroud was arrested the evening of September 22 and was charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a body; reporting said he admitted shooting her and hiding her body. The case later reached a guilty plea and sentencing. If anyone knew Vadie Maynard, her movements that morning, or saw her vehicle near U.S. Route 52, please come forward with information.