KS MARILANE CARTER: Missing from Overland Park, KS - 1 Aug 2020 - Age 36 *Found Deceased*

Kansas mother of 3 goes missing on trip to visit family in Alabama

Marilane Carter, 36, last spoke to family from Memphis, Tennessee.

abcnews.go.com

Kansas mother of 3 goes missing on trip to visit family in Alabama

A mother of three from Kansas has now been missing for a week after leaving on a trip to visit family in Alabama.

Marilane Carter, 36, left her home in Overland Park, Kansas, just outside Kansas City, on the night of Saturday, Aug. 1, according to police. She was last seen in surveillance footage checking into a hotel in West Plains, Missouri, the following morning.

Law enforcement said Carter last spoke to family on that Sunday near Memphis, Tennessee, before her phone went dead. Police confirmed her cellphone last pinged in that area.

Her husband, Adam Carter, told Kansas City ABC affiliate that his wife spent about three hours at the Missouri hotel before leaving and was speaking to her when her phone died. She spoke to her mother minutes later and her phone died again.

The Overland Park police said she "made concerning statements to her family and has not been heard from since later Sunday, August 2nd."

Authorities did not specify what was said.

"She was seeking some mental health care and she didn't want to go to any place in Kansas City, but she wanted to go to a place she was familiar with," Adam Carter, who works as a pastor in Kansas, told KMBC on Saturday.

Marilane Carter's mother lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and she was also going to see her newborn niece.

Carter said the family has been searching in the area of the Interstate 55 bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis where the cellphone last pinged her location. She has not used her phone or credit card since speaking to her husband and mother on Sunday evening.

"We are devastated because she has three children and they cry every night," Marlene Mesler, Marilane's mother, told Birmingham ABC affiliate WBMA. "They are asking for their mommy. Her husband loves her so much."


MEDIA - MARILANE CARTER: Missing from Overland Park, KS since 1 Aug 2020 - Age 36

 

[GrandmaBear]

especially when it sounds like that is exactly where her phone last pinged. Wouldn't you want to search every inch of that particular area?

Yup. And I think the local LE main guy said it never occurred to him her vehicle would be in there or something like that but again, how could they even know they were looking for the vehicle with her in it?? She could have parked in trees and walked to the shipping container... There could have been foul play and someone put her body in the shipping container. Makes no sense whatever that they would assume any such thing...

 

[Oneofthem]

My guess is she wanted not to be found and took some pills.
On the other hand, it’s so very strange. I figure we have to wait and let the autopsy tell the story. The searchers did mess up though.

 

[GrandmaBear]

My guess is she wanted not to be found and took some pills.
On the other hand, it’s so very strange. I figure we have to wait and let the autopsy tell the story. The searchers did mess up though.

Have you been following this one? I was guessing it was carbon monoxide but reading comments elsewhere I am not so sure. Yes, I do not get searchers not looking in these containers. The PC said the ping would be something like 8200 feet in a radius. What is that, just roughly a mile and a half or so in each direction? So they knew the ping had to be in not too big of an area and you don't check in there? I guess that is easy to say, I am not the searcher but it is a bit beyond my comprehension they did not look in these things but looked at all the land and inches around them??

 

[GrandmaBear]

These tire marks... Not much room to get out of a vehicle and squeeze out of the vehicle and through to go shut the doors. And it just cements my thought of why or how could you even be sure your vheicle would fit... There seem to be varying articles of whether the doors were closed or not after she was inside... They must have been somewhat closed or someone would have seen her or the vehicle beforehand if the doors were open... I would almost wonder if she was not there or dead yet when they first searched but then what are the odds she would have come to be there afterwards... Probably nil.

 

[Oneofthem]

It’s not looking good. Be glad when that autopsy is completed. Bless her family!

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Looks like a few of us were on the right track here.

Arkansas investigators suspect carbon monoxide poisoning killed person found dead inside missing Kansas woman’s vehicle

The medical examiner is still working to confirm the woman’s identification and cause of death, but Sheriff Mike Allen says there was nothing suspicious about the scene.

www.wmcactionnews5.com

Arkansas investigators suspect carbon monoxide poisoning killed person found dead inside missing Kansas woman’s vehicle

Arkansas investigators are still waiting on the medical examiner to identify a body found dead inside a missing Kansas woman’s vehicle Tuesday, but they believe they know how she died.

The medical examiner is still working to confirm the woman’s identification and official cause of death, but Sheriff Mike Allen says there was nothing suspicious about the scene.

Based on the evidence, his investigators believe the woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Allen says the vehicle was out of gas when they found it.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I don't know. I am not buying this one for some reason. It is just a little bit too odd. Not saying foul play is involved or anyone killed her but something is missing. It doesn't pass the stink test. From the very first article something bothered me...

There is just too much that does not make sense... I am not even saying anyone killed her nor that she may not have killed herself... Not saying she wasn't found... But something stinks... Or there is a very big part we do not know. I don't believe in too many things not making sense...

Who has a POA over someone and is so concerned about their mental health as to have one but then lets them take off driving alone?

LE does not check these containers despite having a ping in not that big of a huge radius. In one article I read, family was searching as well and ignored the containers per the head of LE in the PC if true. Then after that, her uncle did find her thank goodness. Do we have an estimated time of death? She fortunately finds these containers never been there before and drives in tight and finds them and makes it inside no problem...?

The doors were assumed locked so they didn't look then--in other articles, the doors were open though when the uncle later noticed and found her... Media mistakes? They aren't uncommon, they seem to happen in every case... So it could be.

She was missing for many hours on both first parts of the trip, there are many hours unaccounted for. This is before they claim to have lost her or her phone going dead so where was she then, it is a fact that answer has not been given... Does LE not have pings and more to explain that?

I still find it odd that they could get answers from hospitals with a POA but it was said they could not access her cell records because she is an adult who may be willingly missing... That is so strange... Especially if a joint account.

Again, I don't necessarily think anyone killed her, I just think there is more to this than we know or may ever know. And I guess I don't like people saying anyone had mental problems when all one has is someone else's word for it and we know nothing of her.

All that said, prayers to her children and family and RIP Marilane.

 

[GrandmaBear]

So she backed the vehicle in per this article. I am a good driver but I still can't quite picture doing that or knowing it would fit that tight squeeze, etc. This vehicle was a 2011 I doubt it had a backup camera...

Authorities: Body believed to be missing Kansas woman likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A woman found dead in an SUV inside a storage container in a remote field in Arkansas likely died of asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide poisoning, the Crittenden County Sheriff&#8…

wreg.com

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

I don't know. I think it makes sense. As much as any suicide does. (Which is, not much sense to those on the outside, but perfect sense to the person going through it.) Or she may have been having a legitimate mental break and not been in touch with reality, perhaps due to lack of sleep.

Her changing her plans last minute so she would be traveling alone. Her taking extra time / "too long" between where she was spotted could have been her looking for the "perfect spot" or a "sign" that it was the right place. Or if it really was "getting lost" her brain wasn't firing on all cylinders. That along with her leaving her hotel after just a few hours points to some mental anguish or mental struggle of some kind. Lack of sleep from insomnia causing more anxiety, causing more insomnia, and more anxiety, and on and on... Unfortunately instead of getting to her help/clinic, it was too much.

Backing the vehicle in would make carbon monoxide poisoning easier since the exhaust would fill up the container before being able to leave. Nobody else would have been able to get her car in there, with her inside and the vehicle running and in park, and then exit. (I assume the vehicle was in park based on the tire drag marks, likely from the tow truck having to drag it out of the container, not rolling like it was in neutral and pushed inside.) And unfortunately, searchers come within feet of remains all the time and don't notice.

I will be interested in seeing more details, if they are released. But with what we know right now, I don't see anything TOO strange for this to be what it appears. Not that everything makes sense to us or lines up perfectly. But a lot of these tragic, sad cases don't make sense.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I don't know. I think it makes sense. As much as any suicide does. (Which is, not much sense to those on the outside, but perfect sense to the person going through it.) Or she may have been having a legitimate mental break and not been in touch with reality, perhaps due to lack of sleep.

Her changing her plans last minute so she would be traveling alone. Her taking extra time / "too long" between where she was spotted could have been her looking for the "perfect spot" or a "sign" that it was the right place. Or if it really was "getting lost" her brain wasn't firing on all cylinders. That along with her leaving her hotel after just a few hours points to some mental anguish or mental struggle of some kind. Lack of sleep from insomnia causing more anxiety, causing more insomnia, and more anxiety, and on and on... Unfortunately instead of getting to her help/clinic, it was too much.

Backing the vehicle in would make carbon monoxide poisoning easier since the exhaust would fill up the container before being able to leave. Nobody else would have been able to get her car in there, with her inside and the vehicle running and in park, and then exit. (I assume the vehicle was in park based on the tire drag marks, likely from the tow truck having to drag it out of the container, not rolling like it was in neutral and pushed inside.) And unfortunately, searchers come within feet of remains all the time and don't notice.

I will be interested in seeing more details, if they are released. But with what we know right now, I don't see anything TOO strange for this to be what it appears. Not that everything makes sense to us or lines up perfectly. But a lot of these tragic, sad cases don't make sense.

I don't know. I agree they don't always make sense and sometimes we never get answers that do answer all questions, not just with suicides but with other cases too. Again, I am not necessarily thinking someone killed her but could there have been a plan and a prior knowledge of this area by her for one? I am not even sure what I think but one thing I do think is if she backed that vehicle in then I don't get it... Precise, straight, backwards, how many mere inches on either side, no apparent footprints, etc.? No room to get out the doors and more...

I guess too, with me, it bothers me when any talk about mental illness comes from others... And all we have is their word for it...

I don't read elsewhere much but on this one I have read some comments under podcasts...

Again, not necessarily saying anyone murdered her but things just do not sit right or strike right... Maybe she was between a rock and a hard place so to speak...

 

[Guess Who]

I don't know. I agree they don't always make sense and sometimes we never get answers that do answer all questions, not just with suicides but with other cases too. Again, I am not necessarily thinking someone killed her but could there have been a plan and a prior knowledge of this area by her for one? I am not even sure what I think but one thing I do think is if she backed that vehicle in then I don't get it... Precise, straight, backwards, how many mere inches on either side, no apparent footprints, etc.? No room to get out the doors and more...

I guess too, with me, it bothers me when any talk about mental illness comes from others... And all we have is their word for it...

I don't read elsewhere much but on this one I have read some comments under podcasts...

Again, not necessarily saying anyone murdered her but things just do not sit right or strike right... Maybe she was between a rock and a hard place so to speak...

the no room to get out seems planned to me so she couldn't back out of her plan.

 

[GrandmaBear]

the no room to get out seems planned to me so she couldn't back out of her plan.

Yeah, it does seem to fit with that. But then how did she shut the doors or she didn't shut them? The doors had to be opened wide enough to drive in to begin with. And if she didn't shut them, she could drive out any time she liked.

 

[Kimster]

Wow. She apparently drove her vehicle into a shipping container in the middle of a field...

What????? I haven't checked on this case in a few days. How in the world does that happen? I'll read on and find out, I hope.

 

[Kimster]

Okay now I'm caught up. What a strange way to go. However, when I was reading early on about her changing her plans and wanting to drive and only staying at a motel for an hour etc etc etc, I kind of thought we were headed toward her wanting to take her life, or not wanting to be found. I wish the latter would have been the case.

 

[Guess Who]

Yeah, it does seem to fit with that. But then how did she shut the doors or she didn't shut them? The doors had to be opened wide enough to drive in to begin with. And if she didn't shut them, she could drive out any time she liked.

it said the doors were opened on the container. I am wondering if she possibly had a hose hooked up prior to entering IF it was carbon monoxide poisoning. They sure must not have looked very well in the first place if the doors were truly opened (which I have no reason to disbelieve)

 

[GrandmaBear]

it said the doors were opened on the container. I am wondering if she possibly had a hose hooked up prior to entering IF it was carbon monoxide poisoning. They sure must not have looked very well in the first place if the doors were truly opened (which I have no reason to disbelieve)

The doors seem to be screwed up in various articles as to how they were, etc. and the PC if I recall correctly. I think the sheriff or whoever said they never looked in them as they were locked or closed or they assumed they were... What does that mean, you never even came close enough to know? He also by the way does not even remember seeing them there but others do... If they were open, they would have seen her and the car no? If that is the case then perhaps she was NOT there when they were searching. Then one sees they were open or closed in other remarks and articles. after she was found. I have read the hose thought, I don't know... Whatever happened to just stuffing something in the tailpipe? For someone so confused and tired, she sure is thinking and planning and apparently preplanning... This woman just had a nonworking credit/debit card (why?) and another lady had to give her money for gas in South Haven, Mississippi...

She was within about 230 miles of her destination of Birmingham and family (from just a quick Google)...

I think what bothers me other than unusual things like shipping containers and that they were not checked, that she found them remarkably, one was empty remarkably, her vehicle fit in remarkably, she allegedly backed in perfectly remarkably and all the other oddities, including possibly the hose thing, is that any idea we have of her mental state comes from other(s). I read a remark under a podcast saying something similar. If you take away us ever hearing or knowing that and that is only hearsay to us, then what you have is a woman who simply left on a trip to see family and to be present for the birth of her sister's baby and ended up dead en route and found in a shipping container... What would we be thinking if that was all we knew?

Interesting too that she went back to Catholicism and her husband is a Baptist minister, that had to make for an interesting dynamic. Did she have issues with the beliefs in her husband's church? Catholics are very anti-suicide. I guess though that does not mean one could still not have mental illness and commit suicide...

I don't know but I am not the only one out there thinking this doesn't add up. I may be the only one here doing that though lol... I still don't know that I am thinking foul play but I don't like how this just does not add up...

The only thing I have seen for their thought of carbon monoxide is they allegedly found the vehicle in the "on" position.

I think they need to clear some of this up. Which way was the vehicle? Were the doors open or closed on searching? Were they open or closed on finding? Why would no one look in them? Why was her card declined? Where was she for all the missing hours on this trip? Honestly the planning of this trip seems very sudden, even the airline ticket, why? How long was her nap that day? No mention has been made of her phone, do they now have that? Was it in the vehicle? And now i would assume with a death and hopefully an investigation that her phone and records can be looked at?

And I still want to know how it is they had or could get a POA to get past HIPPA and check hospitals for admissions but could not check her cell phone records...? Not that our laws cannot be contradictory but it just doesn't sit right...

I also want to know her knowledge of or connection to this property. I am just not buying how this all worked out so perfectly... And oddly.

Was she in some suicide thing online...? Talking with someone online about where and how?

Just too many coincidences and too many unanswered questions for my taste to just take go with the standard story on this one thus far anyhow...

Apologies for length. Just thoughts...

 

[GrandmaBear]

The hokiest part or one here to me is the remark people can choose to go missing and because of that LE guy said they could not access her phone records, etc. or get a warrant to do so. That TELLS me there was not enough proof of mental anything from the family, etc. to show a need to do so or that she was in imminent danger or in any severe sort of mental state they could prove to obtain a warrant...

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

The hokiest part or one here to me is the remark people can choose to go missing and because of that LE guy said they could not access her phone records, etc. or get a warrant to do so. That TELLS me there was not enough proof of mental anything from the family, etc. to show a need to do so or that she was in imminent danger or in any severe sort of mental state they could prove to obtain a warrant...

Mental illness won't get you a warrant. Criminal activity will get you a warrant.
Even people with severe mental illness have the "right" to leave or disappear or whatever. People who suffer from mental illness are treated no different legally than other adults. There would likely have to be a statement from a healthcare provider that said she was a danger to herself or others. And it sounded like she had not yet had any treatment, so that would be hard to come by.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Mental illness won't get you a warrant. Criminal activity will get you a warrant.
Even people with severe mental illness have the "right" to leave or disappear or whatever. People who suffer from mental illness are treated no different legally than other adults. There would likely have to be a statement from a healthcare provider that said she was a danger to herself or others. And it sounded like she had not yet had any treatment, so that would be hard to come by.

Thank you. Good to know how that works, I did wonder.

It also though likely does mean there was no treatment or diagnosis to obtain a warrant so again, it is just what was heard from family and that was that she had sleep issues and anxiety. I have qualified for that over the past few years (and pretty severe anxiety at times) and yet never once have I felt suicidal. I am not saying it could not be the case, it certainly could be in her case, nor am I disputing anything, just that I am not satisfied with what we know, none of which I see as any verified fact from LE nor any expert, just the words of family. Not disputing what they are saying either, just saying I don't automatically decide it belongs in my fact column. Yet anyhow.

I guess I am awaiting more info and explanation. Autopsy results, etc. It really is an unusual case.

 

[GrandmaBear]

It doesn't answer all questions but this article has a lot of info in it and memories of her from her mother... Worth a read.

Sheriff: Carbon monoxide poisoning likely in death of Marilane Carter

“We had the FBI Forensics Recover Team, Arkansas State Police and sheriff’s investigators and their collective thoughts was that it was more than likely carbon monoxide,’’ said Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen. “She didn’t have any blunt force trauma or any type of wounds that would cause...

www.al.com