S2E29 - Still Searching: Melissa Twardowski and the Fight for Deanna

More than three decades after the disappearance of Deanna Merryfield, her family continues to search for answers. In this episode of Tragedy: A True Crime Podcast, Michael and Elisa sit down with Deanna’s youngest sister, Melissa Twardowski, to revisit the case and examine the publicly available evidence that has kept hope alive.

Together, they retrace the events surrounding Deanna’s disappearance, discuss how perceptions of the case have evolved over the years, and explore the powerful role that social media and online communities have played in renewing interest in the investigation. Melissa shares personal memories, the impact of living with unanswered questions, and why she remains committed to ensuring her sister’s story is never forgotten.

This conversation is a reminder that time does not diminish love, and that sometimes a community united by compassion can help keep a search for truth alive.

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Thank you for listening.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

In Tragedy, a true crime podcast, we discuss missing persons' cases, violent crime, and other sensitive topics that may be difficult for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. Our show is a place where every story matters and every voice deserves to be heard. To support this podcast, you can subscribe at www.tragedy a true crime podcast.com for early access to new episodes. And join our Facebook community, Tragedy, a True Crime Podcast, for updates, discussions, and ways to support the families we feature. Welcome to Tragedy, a True Crime Podcast. I'm Melissa.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

And I'm Michael.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

And today we're joined by Melissa Trodowski, a sister who has spent decades searching for answers. Melissa's sister, Deanna Merrifield, disappeared from Colleen, Texas in 1990, leaving behind a family that has been living with unanswered questions ever since. In this conversation, Melissa shares her memories of Deanna, a sister, a loved one, and someone whose absence has been felt for over three decades. We'll talk about what is known about the timeline of Deanna's disappearance, what still remains unclear after all these years, and the enduring impact this has had on her family. This is more than a cold case. It's an ongoing story of love, resilience, and the determination to keep Deanna's name alive and her case in the public eye. Melissa, thank you for being here for trusting us to help Deanna's story and welcome to the show. Hi, thank you for having me. So before we talk about Deanna, we'd like to learn a little bit about you. So tell us some things about you.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

So I am Deanna's youngest sister. Uh there were four of us girls growing up in the household. Yeah, and I'm the baby of the family. I've been married for 26 years and have two adult children now.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

And can you share a little bit more about your family and where you and Deanna and the rest of your sisters grew up?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

So we grew up in Killeen, Texas. Um, our mom was a single mom when we were younger. Yeah. Killeen's a town just right outside of Fort Hood or Fort Cavazos, you know, transient town, but the locals kind of all knew each other. And it it was nice growing up with um, you know, the kids you went to kindergarten with, you also went to high school with. So that part was nice.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

And were there any traditions or anything, any things that you all really loved to do?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So traditions when we were younger, I would say um, you know, Christmas was as big of a deal as it could be with a single mom, but um lots of Christmas decorations, things we loved to do. We just loved um, you know, being outside a lot. We would walk the creeks, uh, walk the uh ditches, I guess, you know, have crawfish. We'd go fishing for crawfish and have crawfish races. Um if it was, you know, cold or rainy or anything like that. We'd stay busy in the house playing restaurant or Barbies. Um Barbies were were hot with four girls in the house.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

So that's kind of a mix, Barbies and crawfish races. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

That sounds more reminiscent of how I grew up. Yeah. And so, you know, I I remember whenever we were small, you were not allowed to be in the house. You know, this is back when the parents kicked us out of the house and go find something to do, and I'll see you before it gets dark. Um, but yeah, the you know, run around creeks looking for things. It's you know, I think it's probably where my love of the outdoors comes from.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yes, same. I I remember a story that your mama tells about how you would leave, right? And you go do your fishing, or because you kind of you grew up with your grandparents kind of in the woods, and and his mama said, You gotta tell us where you're going. And so he wrote a note that said, go on fishing, stuck it on the phone water and it took off.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, I don't think that's what she meant, but uh I followed instructions.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Yes, you did. You said you were going fishing. I just went fishing today. I think that's where the whole fishing thing started, right? Um, so when you think of Deanna, what's the first memory that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Hmm. First memory, I would say um, you know, watching She-Ro with her. We would we went to a friend's house, and I just remember, I don't know if they had a movie of it or what, but yeah, I remember sitting with her and and our friends, and the room was, you know, it's a living room, but they had turned all the lights off so that we could watch She-Ra. Is that that cartoon that makes me?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Or is that a okay? I think I remember what that was.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Um it's a spin-off from the cartoon He-Man. Yes. Oh, I see. There's a blast from the past right there.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Right, exactly. I just can't maybe that's like I'm putting my arm up in the air. I think that's the power of whatever. Yes. I used to just on Saturday mornings watch that fake wrestling. I never really was into the cartoons. Was it WWE or I feel like that was Saturday morning?

SPEAKER_00 5:34

You should you shouldn't tell people that.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Oh, we're gonna take that out. I used to watch, I was really into that. Uh me too.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah, see? Is there something in oh go ahead? Oh, I was gonna say, uh, when you know, when I was like older, even, you know, teens and very early 20s, um, I was still kind of into it and I bought mankind's books. See? We're we have to leave it in.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Two two of two of three of us say that we have to leave it in.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

All right, I guess staying in. Now my now my friends are gonna harass me.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Oh, is there something about Deanna that just always made you smile?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Well, Deanna always made a lot of people smile. She was just very upbeat and silly and just a happy person. So yeah, just being around Deanna, it was very easy to smile.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

As we start to talk about Deanna, what feels most important for listeners to understand first?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So I think for me, the most important thing to know is that um Deanna was very brave. Uh she had already, she was already a survivor, even at the age of 13. Yeah, just I don't know. For me, she's just in my eyes, she's unbelievably brave and resilient.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

And what do you remember about the time leading up to her disappearance in 1990?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

So there was a lot going on. I don't know how far you want me to go back, but there was a lot of chaos. The year before she went missing, we had been separated because Deanna came forward to our grandmother and disclosed that she was being abused by our stepfather. At that time, our mother was in the hospital for cirrhosis of the liver. She was um, she was an alcoholic. So when the investigation started, our mom got out of the hospital and she was told that our stepfather couldn't be around us. And so our mom sent us to live with various relatives, and that kind of well, it separated us girls, but it also was just really, you know, shuffling from house to house. Right before Deanna went missing, she had settled into our grandmother's house. I had been returned back home, and our oldest sister had gone to Virginia for the summer, and Deanna's twin sister was living with our uncle. So it was very chaotic. There was, um, you know, we were kind of scattered, but you know, the three of us that were in Texas, all within two and a half miles of each other. So we were all very close. And so Deanna would do everything she could to make sure that we stayed close. During the spring of 1990, during my spring break at school, Deanna walked two and a half miles to my my house, picked me up, and walked me back to where she was staying just so we could spend a few hours together. So, yeah, there was chaos, but she still wanted to be with us and wanted to be close.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

And when did your family first realize that something was wrong?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

So it was our grandma that realized her and Deanna had stayed up late watching movies. Grandma went to bed. The next morning when she woke up, she let Deanna sleep in because they had stayed up late and it was summer. So finally, our grandma went into Deanna's room at about 11 that morning, and Deanna wasn't there. Uh, so she called around, asked my mother if Deanna if we knew where Deanna was. And our mother said no. And so our grandma stopped by the house and picked up a picture of Deanna to go report her missing at the police department.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

And what was law enforcement's initial reaction to your recollection?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

From what I can tell, there wasn't, you know, much. It was summertime, kids were running away, I guess. Uh, so they filed her as a runaway.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

You mentioned that she um walked quite a distance uh to be able to spend time with her sisters. Was that something that she does that she did frequently or was that just a one-time occurrence that you're discussing?

SPEAKER_01 10:18

No, that's that's something she would do. Even even before all of this, you know, we would we would just walk around the neighborhoods all day long, you know, hanging out with friends here and there. Yeah, that was something she would do.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

And what steps did the family take early on to try to find Deanna?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Unfortunately, there weren't a whole lot of steps taken. You know, our grandmother reported her missing. She asked around. That was pretty much it. What are some of the biggest unanswered questions that still remain? Well, I mean, my obviously my biggest question is where is Deanna? I would love to know what happened, but I don't have to know what happened as long as I know where she is and can bring her home and give her the peace she deserves. But outside of that, just I guess kind of what happened and how things went so very wrong, not just that night, but for the years following.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Talk to us about what is known and the evidence of the night that Deanna disappeared.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

So we know that uh she left the house, snuck out of the house to go see her twin sister. Twin sister was living with our uncle two and a half miles away at um a trailer park on Dimple Street. She arrived to the trailer at about between 3 and 3:30 that night, knocked on her sister's window, talked for just a few minutes before our uncle was like came out and said, Deanna, you need to get back home. So Deanna left, and her twin sister Becky says that she left in a brown or bronze four-door vehicle with two men. She wasn't seen after that. Um, recent investigation, more witnesses have come forward confirming that she did get into that vehicle that night.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

And at this point, we don't have an identity for those two people.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

We have theories and ideas, not anything that the detective wants me to share publicly. She was definitely in that vehicle that night.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

And so let's talk about what you can with the investigation. What has been uncovered since that night that you that you're able to share?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

So uh the recent investigation, there's been, you know, quite a bit uncovered. Like I said, you know, there's been more people that did confirm that she got into that vehicle that night, which helped us kind of come up with the ideas of, you know, who she may have been with, which in turn helped us come up with ideas of possible search areas. So we've been able to have four searches just in the past year, just to kind of nothing else eliminate areas. So that has really helped with the investigation.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

And um yeah. Is there anything that you can share about that vehicle? It seems sort of ironic, I guess, that it would be there as she was being told um to leave. Do you know if like a phone call was made? Was it someone in the area, someone that just happened to go by?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah. So we believe that Deanna, I don't know if she called that person to come and pick her up from her grandmother's house, but we believe that she started off walking on foot and was picked up by these people. And I will say that Deanna was very, very smart and absolutely would not get in a vehicle with people she didn't know. So it had to be uh people she knew. So that yeah, oh we do know, you know, she started off on foot and was picked up by this brown or bronze four-door vehicle with with two men in it that she she she had to know. And was this during the day or in the evening or late at night? So this was late at night after our grandmother went to bed sometime af after one o'clock in the morning, and then between one a.m. and three three to three thirty a.m. We're not sure what the timeline is, but uh we know that she arrived at our uncle's house between 3 and 30, 3:30 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

She left somewhere between one and three thirty in the morning on her way to the uncle's house to meet her sister. So then beyond that, uh that you are able to share that that's kind of what we have. That then she left in that vehicle. Um, and then grandma wakes up in the morning and she goes and files the missing person's report, and and that's that's how it all starts.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Right. Yeah. So our grandmother went to bed at 1 a.m. and she arrived at her twin sister's house between 3 and 3:30 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

So I found out about Deanna because you have uh started an Instagram page about Deanna. And so talk to us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, so you know, I originally started um social media like MySpace and Facebook back in, yeah, those days, back in like 2007. It was still pretty wild back then. I would get a lot of creepers in my DMs of not great stuff, say things about Deanna that yeah, I obviously knew were were not true. I kind of backed off on social media for a little quite a while and and raised the kids, focused on the kids. And then last year we were going to the advocacy conference, and you know, it felt like things were because I wasn't really on social media, but you know, podcasts and things like that were reaching out to me, and it kind of felt like things were really falling into place to kind of reinvigorate the social media. So in early of last year, I I started the pages of Instagram Finding Deanna and Facebook Finding Deanna, you know, just started trying to get her name and her face out there as much as possible, but also share some of the pictures that you know I didn't have access to before and I know most people hadn't seen. Um, just to kind of remind everybody that she was 13 and still very much so a child.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

During that process, I'm curious, were there anybody who ever reported any sightings or anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Oh, yes, absolutely. So when we had the case reopened in 2007, while I was on MySpace, I tried reaching out to all the old friends I could think of and everything. And we did have a friend that told police and me that uh they had seen her in early like 2002, that Deanna had showed up on their doorstep on the East Coast and had a tattoo that said Maryfield on her neck. And she told this person that she didn't want to be found, she just wanted everyone to leave her alone. So that was one of the first, you know, the the detective at that time kind of took that as a sign of life, and I think he just really wanted to remain hopeful and positive and wanted us to remain hopeful and positive. Um, so he really took that and ran with it in the investigation and basically was looking for the investigation focused on more signs of life for Deanna. Social security number was ran, nothing came back, but it really that's that's where we our heads were at. You know, we figured she was still alive. Uh, we just needed to find her. After a while, it you know, I tried telling the detective, you know, I spoke to this person's mother, I know them, I know about them. They're not very reliable. They've been known to tell a lot of lies. But he was like, look, this is the first information we've had in a long time. We're gonna go with what we've got. Finally, last year, when I started social media back up again, I was able to get in contact with this person again. And they basically gave a completely different story. And so I was like, oh, you know, obviously very, very upset because it was so misleading for the investigation, but also I knew I could take that information and give it to the current detective and be like, look, it's inconsistent. Can we just not go with this anymore?

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Now I just heard you say the case was reopened in 2007, which means at some point it was closed. Can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah. So actually it was closed two times. Um in 1993, the Kaleen Police Department received a phone call. Uh, we don't know where that phone call was placed from or anything like that. We just know it was a female caller, and they said that Deanna was back home. Um, she was safe, and they could, you know, take her off of the list of missing people. And so the police closed the case. Um, they didn't follow up or anything, um, but they went ahead and closed the case. I I would imagine they get a lot of phone calls saying, hey, so-and-so is back home. I guess they don't follow up on those. And then our grandmother found out well she didn't find out that the case had been closed until 1995, two years later. She went to the police department and were like, Why did you close this case? She's not home. So they reopened the case, and then three days later, they closed it again due to a lack of information. So once I became an adult, uh, realized she wasn't on the NCMAC or anything like that. So I reached out to the police department and found out her case had been closed in 1995 and then started working with them to get the case reopened.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

The part that's shocking when I listened to this is we closed the case and there was never a visual verification that she was home. I mean, I didn't realize that you you could just call the the you know police department and go, yeah, we got her, you know, she's good. And then they close the case. Um, to me, that's a that's a major miss.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah, I think and and as far as I know, because I've asked, you know, Colleen Clees since then, um, that's still, you know, kind of standard practice. Because they get so many runaways that, you know, leave home and come back and leave home and come back, they they don't have the manpower, I guess, to um go and follow up with every single one of them. Which is it's scary to think about because I highly doubt that Diana was the only one in that situation. I think if if they could even just follow up with the cases that, you know, have a history of CPS involvement or something like that, we might eliminate some of these situations.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Yeah, I agree, but I'm I'm I'm just thinking in this day and age, you know, it doesn't take that much effort to go, okay, put her on the phone, let's do a FaceTime or something. Let's make sure this is the same person.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Have there been any moments that gave you um hope or a renewed determination?

SPEAKER_01 22:40

So I think the biggest thing is awareness. Um, I strongly believe I I've seen it in so many missing person cases, media pressure works. So as long as we can keep her name out there, keep podcasters and you know, any other local news stations, national news stations, whatever it takes, uh media pressure works. So we need to keep sharing her flyer and keep speaking about her and keep sharing her information.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

You've been listening to Tragedy, a true crime podcast. Our purpose is to honor victims by sharing their stories through the voices of friends, family, and those whose lives were forever changed. If today's episode resonated with you, we encourage you to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast so these important stories continue to be heard. Together, we can preserve their memories and ensure their voices are never forgotten. If you have ideas for cases we should cover or questions about what you heard, you can connect with us through our Facebook group, Tragedy a True Crime Podcast, on X at Tragedy Podcast, by email at TragedyAtrue Crime Podcast at gmail.com, or by visiting our website, www.tragedy a true crime podcast.com. Thank you for listening, and we hope you'll join us next time.