Woman Takes Off After Cashing In $300,000 Lottery Ticket Her 'Best Friend' Says They Planned to Split

Inside Edition is hot on the trail for the Arkansas waitress who's gone missing with a lottery fortune of $300,000 while her best friend, who works at the same restaurant, says half that cash is hers.

The missing waitress, Mandy Vanhouten, and her friend, Leslie Underwood, were working at the Sportsman's Drive-In in the town of Stuttgart when their manager gave them 10 scratch-off lottery tickets for Christmas.

Underwood says they made a deal to share any winnings, and were left shocked when one of Vanhouten’s tickets was a $300,000 winner.

“We talked about how life changing it would be and what we were going to do with the money,” Underwood told Inside Edition. 

Underwood says they made plans to cash the ticket together, but two days later, she spotted a photo on an Arkansas Lottery social media page of what appears to be Vanhouten proudly holding a $300,000 check. 

Now, Vanhouten has disappeared. She is not answering her phone or the door at her home. Her neighbors and family members say they don't know where she is.

Another waitress at the restaurant says no one has heard from her. 

Underwood has hired an attorney and plans to sue her former friend for half of the winnings.

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