Where Is Melissa Chapman? Missing Missouri Woman Set to Testify in Abuse Investigation

Friends are still searching for a missing Missouri woman whose car and phone were found abandoned. Melissa Chapman, 42, was last seen in Mount Ayr, Iowa, which is near the Missouri border, and friends from Iowa and Missouri gathered together to search for her on Wednesday night.

Chapman was set to testify in an abuse case against Jeremiah Searles, a man with whom she had a relationship, KCCI reported. He is currently in Harrison County Jail in Missouri on unrelated charges and is wanted for questioning in this case.

Ringgold authorities found Chapman's car and cell phone outside of a storage unit after she went missing.

Chapman stands 5-foot-3 and has brown hair and brown eyes.

"There have been so many amazing people reaching out to us," Sherry Hinton, Chapman's friend, told KCCI. "A lot of them in Iowa because she spent nearly 20 years in the Iowa communities, and everyone has reached out, they've all talked about how amazing she is. How wonderful she is. And I just want her to be able to come home and see that for herself, and know how loved she really is.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Worth County Sheriff's Office at 660-564-2222.

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