WINONA, Minn. – In two sit-down interviews Megan Kingsbury remembered the last time she heard from her “little sister,” now missing almost two weeks and feared to be the victim of foul play. The last time was a text message the morning that Maddi disappeared. Megan had sent a “funny picture” from a family trip to Rhode Island. Maddi messaged back. “She replied, kind of laughing at the photo, and that was it,” Megan said. “It was the last message that I got from her.” The brief reply, at 8:15 a.m. on March 31, didn’t signal anything amiss. Megan Kingsbury shared remembrances, among others, in two interviews, with KSTP and KTTC. The interviews were the first comments from the Kingsbury family since a public announcement on April 5 of a $50,000 reward for information to find Maddi.
The last exchange. A photo from a sunny family vacation to Rhode island last summer.
Hope against hope
Megan Kingsbury said the father of Maddi’s two children, 5 and 2, has cooperated with investigators but has not been involved with the family. The family has theories as to what happened and who is to blame, sid Megan.“I think each of us family members have different ideas or thoughts about may have happened, but nothing has been confirmed by law enforcement through any of their investigations.” Megan, at 31 five years Maddi’s senior, used a hopeful present tense in talking about about Maddi. “Her kids are her life. She doesn’t really take a lot of time for herself, but she’s always kind of happy and looking for new things to do with the kids.”
Explaining family silence
Why did Megan come forward now? “There’s no rule book to tell you how to go about this,” said Megan Kingsbury, who lives and works in Minneapolis. She said the family has been out searching and the past week. It’s been exhausting, she said. family is amazed by the number of people helping in the search. Last weekend there were 2,600 volunteers “We don’t want to go home because then we can’t, we feel like we’re not doing anything but even when we’re here in town, we feel kind of helpless.” she said.
Sister Megan. In a shirt with Maddi’s picture at the announcement of the $50,000 reward.