SALON

Tuesday, Mar 19, 2013 12:30 PM UTC

Sheriff: Missing Missouri mother faked abduction

By

Topics: From the Wires,

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A woman and her 4-year-old daughter who were reported missing last week have been found safe in central Missouri, and the mother faces charges of faking their abduction, a sheriff said early Tuesday.

Rachel Koechner, 28, and her daughter, Zoee Sandner, had last been seen Thursday in the Brookfield area, about 100 miles northwest of Kansas City, and were reported missing that night after her boyfriend received a text message from her that read, “help me.”

Authorities believed Koechner and Zoee were with her ex-husband, Devon Sandner, 37, who is Zoee’s father, and that they could be in danger because of a history of domestic violence, Chariton County Sheriff Chris Hughes said.

Those concerns were compounded when Koechner reached out to her boyfriend from a motel in the Kansas City suburb of Blue Springs on Monday.

“She called her boyfriend and said everything is OK, but it sounded like she was reading off a script,” Hughes said.

Linn County sheriff’s police and Missouri State Highway Patrol officers located all three about 10 p.m. Monday at a home in Linn County, just north of Brookfield. Hughes would not say whose home, but stressed that no one was injured.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation, but the good thing is everyone is safe,” Hughes said.

Koechner was taken into custody and was being held in Chariton County Jail pending charges.

“Through investigation police learned she fabricated the (abduction) story,” Hughes said. He provided no details.

Sandner was not charged in connection with Koechner and Zoee’s disappearance, but was taken into custody on an outstanding forgery warrant, Hughes said. The child was placed in state custody.

When Hughes called the Blue Springs motel later on Monday to find out if Koechner was there, a motel worker said she was standing at the check-out desk and handed her he phone.

“She said she couldn’t talk now,” Hughes said. “I asked if she was OK, and she said, ‘No.’”

By the time Blue Springs police arrived at the motel, Koechner was gone.

More By Bill Draper.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
From global warming to fluoride: Why do people deny science? An interesting question.
48 points49 points | 61 comments
vote
Developers evict historic women’s shelter to build luxury hotel - The 104-yr-old Anna Louise Inn has ended its 2-year legal battle with a Fortune 500 company & will now move. Many view the victory of the insurance company over a community touchstone as a major blow to the city.
33 points34 points | 2 comments
vote
Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
32 points33 points | 35 comments
vote
The GOP Is the 'Party of Crybabies' for Demanding No One Criticize Their Policies or Donors
24 points25 points | comment
vote
Illinois' fracking and coal rush is a national crisis: Illinois and its Mississippi River banks are becoming another ground zero in the war over climate change.
20 points21 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations