The sister of missing mother Madeline Kingsbury has revealed their last text messages.
Ms Kingsbury, 26, and the father of her children dropped their two children off at daycare at around 8am on 31 March, the Winona Police Department has said.
The father of her children, who has not been named, told police that he and Ms Kingsbury drove back to her home together. He said that he then borrowed Ms Kingsbury’s car and returned to the residence at around 10am to find her gone.
She also failed to show up for work which was “very unlike her” and her cellphone, wallet, ID and jacket were all found inside the home, police said.
Now, Megan Kingsbury, the missing woman’s sister, has revealed the last text message from her sister at 8.15am on the day she vanished.
“We were chuckling about a funny photo exchange between us, and that was the last communication with me, or with any of my family or her other friends,” Megan Kingsbury told Fox News.
The alarm was raised when Ms Kingsbury failed to pick her children up from daycare, which police described as “extremely out of character for her”.
Later that evening, Ms Kingbury’s mother fruitlessly tried to get in touch with her to confirm plans they had for the next day.
“My mom messaged me asking if I had heard from my sister that day because my mom had sent some messages that had no response,” Megan said.
The family immediately feared foul play, according to Fox, as it is out of character for Ms Kingsbury to go hours without answering her phone.
Authorities in Winona and neighbouring Filmore County have described Ms Kingsbury’s disappearance as “involuntary” and “suspicious” but no one has been named as a person of interest as of Sunday morning.
“She’s not the type of person who would want to take a break and not tell anybody. If she had a problem and wanted to get away, she would come to my house,” Megan also told Fox.
Two searches were organised on Friday and Saturday with more than 2,600 volunteers helping comb through 120,000 acres.
Authorities have asked residents in the City of Winona, Wilson Township, and Hillsdale Township to search their acreage, wooded property, outbuildings, vehicles and trails for “anything suspicious”.
Dive teams and police ATVs have also been used in the search. The Winona Police Department said on Saturday that search efforts will be scaled back but the investigation remains ongoing.
“As we develop new leads and new search areas, teams of law enforcement will do targeted searches,” a statement by the department read.
“We are not giving up and we want to thank everyone for their continued support for Maddi and her family. “
Ms Kingsbury’s sister declined to speculate on theories circulating online and asked that the focus remain on finding her sister.
“There’s a lot of speculation, of course, with people coming up with theories and asking us a lot of questions that we can’t answer,” Megan told Fox. “We just want to keep the focus on finding her. We’re asking people [to] keep their eyes and ears open.”
The father told investigators that he left Ms Kingsbury’s home at around 10am, driving off in her 2014 dark blue Chrysler Town minivan.
He said that he returned later that day and found Ms Kingsbury wasn’t home.
Police appear to be focused on the movements of Ms Kingsbury’s minivan and have asked for the public’s help in tracing its journeys on the day of her disappearance.
Winona Police Chief Tom Williams confirmed that the vehicle is not missing and that both the van and Ms Kingsbury’s home have been searched.
Surveillance footage captured a vehicle matching the description of the van driving from the home along highways and through Winona County and Fillmore County before heading back to the house. On Wednesday, police refused to say who was driving the van.
After the vehicle returned home, it is not believed to have gone anywhere else.
“That is not information we can share at this time,” Mr Williams said.
The police chief said that there is “nothing to indicate that she left the residence on foot or in another vehicle”.
