Three Unsolved Missing Person Cases from Wisconsin
**Information is obtained from the Where Are They? Podcast and other online sources as cited**
Michael Matthews Wyatt, Madeline Edman, and Chandra Jennings have all vanished out of the state of Wisconsin under bizarre or mysterious circumstances.
Michael Wyatt, or Mike as he was known, was last seen the morning of June 7, 2017, getting ready to go to work.
Strangely, later that day, his personal belongings such as his cell phone and wallet were left in the home, but Mike was nowhere to be found.
Even stranger, his vehicle would show back up at his house, but no one saw who had delivered it there.
Madeline Edman, just 15 years old, disappeared from La Crosse, Wisconsin on July 29, 2005. She had gone with her mother to the laundromat but left to go home while her mother stayed to finish the laundry. When her mother arrived home, however, Madeline wasn’t there.
Chandra Jennings was last seen at a house on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 28, 2003. Chandra was 36 years old at the time.
There are very few details on Chandra’s case, but her family continues to plead with authorities to keep searching.
Where are Mike Wyatt, Madeline Edman, and Chandra Jennings?
Michael Matthews Wyatt.
When I first read Mike’s story, I thought it might be a purposeful disappearance, possibly something he staged himself. And I suppose that’s still possible, but there are no clues in his life that have led authorities or family to that conclusion.
However, it’s also fair to say that there just aren’t many clues in general.
Mike was from Albuquerque, New Mexico, but in 2017 he was living in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin with his wife, Ginger, and three kids- all elementary school age.
Pleasant Prarie is located in the Southeast corner of the state- on the shores of Lake Michigan, and near the Ilinois border. Milwaukee is 37 miles to the north.
In 2020, Pleasant Prarie had a population of just over 21,000.
On the morning of June 7, 2017, Mike was home getting ready for work. I’m not exactly sure what he did for work, but his Facebook profile does state that he went to school for HVAC certification and also studied criminal justice in college.
We can also see that Mike had a sense of humor- the tagline on his profile states he is a ‘professional VCR clock setter’.
On the morning of June 7, Mike’s wife, Ginger, was home with him that morning, before she left the home.
Later that day, when the family returned home, Mike’s car was gone, but his personal belongings were left behind, including his cell phone and wallet.
Of course, this makes no sense. Who left home without their wallet or cell phone in 2017? And if you did forget one, it’s unlikely you’d forget both.
This is initially what made me think Mike left on purpose.
But then the events that happened later that day, make me wonder.
Ginger says that in the middle of the night, while she lay in bed, she heard a car outside, and then a car door. She thought maybe it was Mike, so she lay there quietly listening, but then never heard the front door of the home so she figured it was a neighbor. She never got up to look.
The next morning, Mike’s vehicle was sitting in the driveway.
Authorities searched a few different wooded areas after he disappeared, with no luck. A cadaver dog did hit near a pond, but still, nothing was found to lead to Mike’s whereabouts.
There isn’t much information as to what was happening in his life personally, such as marital issues, finances, etc. that might be able to point in a direction to investigate.
There was a comment on Facebook where someone stated, “Maybe his past mistakes have caught up with him”.
A little further digging shows that Mike did have an arrest in 2015 for identity theft, in which it was discovered he used someone else’s credit card from October 2014 to March 2015.
In the fall of 2017, just a few months after Mike vanished, law enforcement did drain a nearby pond to continue searching. Again, nothing was found.
Mike Wyatt was 41 years old when he went missing in 2017. He is described as a caucasian man, about 6 feet tall and weighing around 230 pounds. He has brown hair, and blue eyes and usually wears a beard and eyeglasses.
Mike has a tattoo on his leg of the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Mike Wyatt, please contact the Pleasant Prairie Police Department at 262–694–7353.
MADELINE EDMAN
On July 29, 2005, 15-year-old Madeline went to the Laundromat in La Crosse, Wisconsin with her mother. She helped her get the laundry started, and then told her mother she was going to walk home.
When her mother returned home a short while later, however, Madeline wasn’t home.
Soon, she was reported missing.
Authorities jumped on the case, noting that Madeline was just 15 and could be in trouble. They started searching the area for her and talking to everyone who knew her.
While they did state that they learned that Madeline was having some personal troubles, they didn’t elaborate more than that. This led investigators to classify her disappearance as an endangered runaway.
There were reported sightings of her in the months that followed. Some said they saw her in the area at Wal-Mart, and even another sighting of her came in from a doctor’s office. However, authorities are quick to note that none of those sightings can be officially confirmed.
Madeline’s family believed she had run away but was still in the area.
Investigators were baffled that they could find no sign of Madeline, and her family continued to beg for help and pray for answers.
Sadly, in 2010, Madeline’s mother passed away without ever receiving those answers. Her obituary lists Madeline as a surviving daughter.
Relatives say that Madeline was a silly child, doing things for laughs at family get-togethers. One relative said that Madeline was picked on at school because her family was poor. As Madeline became a teenager, she still had some of that silly child in her, but she had begun rebelling, and sometimes being sassy with authority.
To this day, some family members believe that Madeline is living a life out there estranged from her family, possibly afraid to reach out at this point as so many years have gone by.
One of Madeline’s cousins said, that they definitely could imagine Madeline running away, but that she would never have stayed gone from the family for so long, especially after the death of her mother.
So what happened to Madeline?
If she did run away and is alive and well, she has successfully lived under the radar for 17 years.
Madeline was last seen at the laundromat in La Crosse, Wisconsin on July 29, 2005. She is described as a bi-racial female, Hispanic and caucasian, who has brown hair, one brown eye, and one blue eye, and in 2005 was 5’4” tall and weighed around 100 pounds.
Madeline also has the following tattoos: the letters “TC” on her right ankle, a heart on her left hip, and a cross on her right arm.
If you have any information that could lead to Madeline’s whereabouts, please contact the La Crosse Police Department at 608–785–5962.
CHANDRA JENNINGS.
Chandra’s story possibly has the least amount of information available of the three we are talking about.
Chandra Felita Jennings was born on January 22, 1967, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
She would go on to have a son, but details are scarce about her personal life and family. In 2003, Chandra was known to hang out in particular areas of Milwaukee- specifically the 3700 and 3800 blocks of North Port Washington Road and the 42nd and Capitol area of the city.
At first, I thought these were probably at friends’ houses, or at least a residential area, but Google Maps shows a four-lane road and an area with businesses and factories. Now, there is a North Port Washington Avenue and that does appear to be more of a residential area.
And, I did look specifically at 3700 N. Port Washington Road and 3700 N. Port Washington Ave. to make sure they were different areas, and they are. The two addresses are only .6 miles away from each other.
42nd and Capital also appear to be a mix of residential and businesses.
Most of her missing person files reference these areas as the areas she frequented.
Every once in a while, Milwaukee Police do issue a public statement looking for leads in her case. In 2015, a relative came forward pleading for the public’s help, stating she now has two grandsons that she never got to meet.
Chandra is described as an African American female, 5'4" tall, 130 pounds, with black hair, and brown eyes, and sometimes wears glasses. Authorities have said she may be using the alias, Shannon Jennings.
Chandra was last seen on April 23, 2003, at someone’s house in Milwaukee.
She was 36 years old then, and would today be 55.
Anyone with information regarding Jennings’ whereabouts is asked to contact Milwaukee police at 414–935–7401.
Each person is from a different area of that state of Wisconsin, although with any missing person case, it’s important to remember they could be almost anywhere.
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