OZARKS UNSOLVED: What happened to Michelle Henri?

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. (KY3) - It has been 19 years since anyone has seen or heard from Michelle Henri.

She was supposed to go to Kansas City but never made it.

“She had sat us down on the couch and told us that she loved us and she was going to stay with a friend for a little while,” said Bailey Crossland.

That was the last time Bailey Crossland saw his mom Michelle.

Michelle was one of four daughters. All four sisters were very close.

“Michelle was a great mom. I remember she was the first one in our family to have a baby, and I was like, I want to be just like her,” said her sister Melissa Henri.

She talked on the phone with her sister, who often lived in Florida. That’s why her sister Melissa thought it was odd when she had not heard from her sister in weeks.

“I immediately knew something was wrong. We didn’t have cell phones back then. So it was kind of like, you’re calling, no answer, which made everybody very nervous after about two weeks. We just kept in touch with her husband. We’re like, you have to report her as a missing person,” said Henri.

Her sister says Michelle left with nothing.

“She didn’t take her purse. She didn’t take anything with her,” said Henri.

Michelle was a respiratory therapist, but her license has not been renewed.

There are no driver’s licenses in her name. Detective Doug Renno has had the case for the past ten years.

“It possibly bothers me at times. It bothers me more that her mother, her sister, and her children don’t have an answer. I can only imagine if one of my children were missing and not know where they were or what happened to them,” said Detective Renno.

He says detectives have entered DNA into a system in case of any hits.

“DNA for her children were taken, and that’s a continuous run through a database of coders to see if it comes up anywhere else, but other databases take a little more work,” said Detective Renno.

Melissa just knows something happened.

“I just I just feel like they won’t ever find her, unfortunately,” said Henri.

Her son Bailey has one thing he wants his mom to know.

”She’s got a grandson on the way.”

If you have any information on her disappearance, contact Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office at (573) 774-6196

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com

Copyright 2023 KY3. All rights reserved.