531 // Deanna Merryfield

Missing

Crawlspace Media

True Crime, News, Society & Culture

3.8 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this new episode, Tim Pilleri and Lance Reenstierna speak with Melissa Twardowski about the mysterious disappearance of her sister Deanna Merryfield from Killeen, Texas in July of 1990. Deanna was reported missing on July 22nd, 1990. Her case was filed as a runaway. Deanna did not leave a note, told no one she was running away, and did not take any clothing or personal items with her. There was little to no investigation, no media attention, and no search conducted by law enforcement or her Mother and Stepfather. Please use caution, as this episode discusses abuse of children. Anyone with information can email [email protected] and call the Killeen Police Department at 512-818-5601. Family site: https://www.findingdeanna.com/. Family FB: https://www.facebook.com/finding.deanna/. IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingdeanna/. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/findingdeanna. https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/763294/1. Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code MISSING for a great deal: ⁠⁠⁠https://happymammoth.com⁠⁠⁠. Check out Mood and use my code MISSING for a great deal: ⁠⁠⁠https://mood.com⁠⁠⁠. Follow Missing: IG:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/MissingCSM/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. TT:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@missingcsm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Spotify:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/0yRXkJrZC85otfT7oXMcri⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/missingcsm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing/id1006974447⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Crawlspace: IG:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. TT:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/crawlspacepod.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/7iSnqnCf27NODdz0pJ1GvJ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/crawlspace⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crawlspace-true-crime-mysteries/id1187326340⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out our entire network at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://crawlspace-media.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Welcome back to Missing. I am Tim here today with Lance. Lance, how are you today?
0:37.1	I'm doing pretty well today, Tim. I hope the listeners out with Lance. Lance, how are you today? I'm doing pretty
0:37.8	well today, Tim. I hope the listeners out there are doing well. While all of our conversations
0:42.0	have an emotional response to them, this one we really felt more of that. Anytime we have
0:50.2	someone who's on who's a family member, That is something that touches on like a lot of
0:56.4	commonalities with anybody, with us, with the listeners. That just adds an additional impact.
1:01.8	And this conversation is right there. But before we get to that, Tim, how are you?
1:06.3	Doing great over here. Thanks a lot for asking. And yes, we spoke with Melissa Twardowski, who is the younger
1:13.7	sister of Deanna-Marifield. And Deanna went missing in 1990, the summer of 1990 as a 13-year-old,
1:23.4	5-4, 115 pounds, and she went missing from Killeen, Texas.
1:28.5	And she was unfortunately classified as a runaway.
1:32.9	It's probably not the case here.
1:35.4	So we get into it with her younger sister, Melissa,
1:39.5	in what is a great conversation about Deanna's disappearance, abuse, and advocating for a loved one.
1:48.6	I'll even add on to that how complicit families become and how normalized it is in certain generations
1:55.9	to not talk about traumatic things that have happened to your family.
2:00.4	And that's the case here. So you can
2:03.2	probably tell in my voice, I want to say more here, but we do our final thoughts at the end of the
2:07.0	episode. And hopefully what is going on in my head after listening to it back and after experiencing
2:12.8	the conversation is pretty much in line with what the listeners are thinking as well. So we'll hopefully be
2:18.9	addressing some of those thoughts at the very end of this episode. So be sure to stay tuned for that.
	...

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