Hey, prime members, you can listen to the vanished ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today.

Yes, Morgan was at that point, a naive person who just, you know, looked at the world through beautiful glasses, you know, and something happened.

I just don't know what, but something happened. Either someone has her, we all just feel that like if she could, she would. You know what I'm saying?

I keep trying to make sure that she's out there and, you know, can you imagine, can you imagine this being your child?

19 year old Morgan Bauer left her home in Aberdeen, South Dakota in February of 2016. She had plans to move and start over in Atlanta, Georgia.

She had made arrangements to stay with people that she met on Craigslist. Morgan was a small town girl looking to start over in a big city, but there may have been a huge difference between her dream and the reality of moving to Atlanta all alone.

Morgan was only in Atlanta for a couple of weeks when friends and family stopped hearing from her. Morgan was a kind of person who was constantly posting on Facebook. And one day, everything just went quiet.

Morgan's case was immediately picked up by many of the major national media outlets, but as you will come to find out, the work of some internet trolls waging a campaign of misinformation quickly derailed public interest in her case.

Amrissa, and this is episode 98 of The Vanished, the story of Morgan Bauer's disappearance.

Well done. You've sorted through the embarrassment of riches that is the modern podcast landscape and found me Rob Briden on my podcast.

In this series of Briden and I talk to among others, Harry Hill, Ben Elton, Charlotte Church, Steve Cougan and Dame Harriet Walter. And that's just a few.

We tend to chat for about 45 minutes to an hour, never longer. It's terrific conversation, reminiscent, sweat appropriate, and exchange of anecdotes.

So do join me Rob Briden, wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of Briden and are available early and ad free on Amazon Music or by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts or the Wondery app.

I was contacted by Morgan's mom Sherry back in July about covering her case on the show. I've of course said yes and then went to do what I always do, which is a little bit of basic reading about her disappearance.

I didn't internet search for Morgan Bauer missing. The second search result was a Reddit post titled Morgan Bauer, was she found or is it a fraud?

You can see this for yourself if you look it up. I thought, whoa, this isn't something that I usually see.

Now, Reddit has a reputation for being a vicious place at times and not somewhere that I go to to do factual research, but I felt like I needed to check this out.

What I found was a lot of drama and speculation. So I went and requested Morgan's missing persons file from the Atlanta Police Department. I figured that would help me separate fact from fiction. Luckily, they granted my request.

I was able to confirm that Morgan has not been found and law enforcement is actively investigating her case.

What has happened though and you will hear more about this later in the episode is that these online rumors have to rail the public and the media's interest in Morgan's case.

I'll be honest, I was slightly hesitant after seeing the rumors myself, so I understand why others have backed away from covering her story.

But after just a small amount of research, I was able to resolve my hesitations.

...