Marilyn Alexander was 39 when she vanished from southeast Nebraska on September 20, 2001. She was last seen at the gas station she managed in Hastings telling a brother-in-law she needed to go home and run errands. A later sighting at a Lincoln bar — someone said they saw her watching a football game — is disputed by family, who say she’d been at that bar a week earlier.

About a month after she disappeared, Marilyn’s Ford Escort was found abandoned and hidden by trees in a field near Red Cloud. Investigators reported beer cans and a money bag containing uncashed checks but no cash inside the vehicle. No personal items from her home were missing, and she left behind four children with no apparent plans for their care. At the time she struggled with alcoholism, depression, and a workplace theft allegation that led to a warrant for her arrest.

Family members knew she sometimes left for short periods but do not believe she would have willingly abandoned her children. Her husband cooperated with investigators and took a polygraph; over the years both he and Marilyn’s father have died. Authorities still list her as an endangered missing person. Does anyone have memories of Marilyn, her Ford Escort, or travel between Hastings and Red Cloud in September 2001?