The Vanished Podcast

On May 13, 2020, 21-year-old Lillian Payne was spending time with her brother and his girlfriend when they encountered a man at a Flying J truck stop in York County, South Carolina. Lilly had met him once or twice before and knew him as Ray Atkinson. The group decided to continue hanging out, with Lilly riding with Ray while her brother and his girlfriend followed in their own vehicle. Lilly’s brother began having trouble with his vehicle and decided to leave. He asked Lilly to come with them, but she chose to stay with Ray. Around 4:00 a.m., her brother and his girlfriend drove away. It was the last time anyone in Lilly’s family saw her alive.
When Lilly’s family reported her missing and provided the name of the man she had last been seen with, they were shocked when investigators told them that Ray Atkinson did not appear to exist. Unwilling to accept that as a dead end, Lilly’s family turned to social media, sharing his photograph and asking anyone who recognized him to come forward. Before long, a woman did, providing them with a different name and opening an entirely new line of questions about the man Lilly had last been seen with.
More than two months later, Lilly’s remains were discovered in neighboring Chester County, South Carolina, and her death was ruled a homicide. Finding Lilly ended the search for where she was, but it began a new search for answers. What happened after her brother drove away that night? Who killed Lilly, and why? And what did the man she knew as Ray Atkinson know about her final hours?
If you have any information about the disappearance and murder of Lillian Payne, please contact the Chester County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 581-5131. To follow Lilly’s family’s ongoing fight for justice, visit the Justice for Lillian Payne Facebook Group.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
Follow The Vanished on social media at:
Facebook
Instagram
Patreon
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode first aired on November 2, 2017. In February 2016, 19-year-old Morgan Bauer left Aberdeen, South Dakota, with plans to begin a new life in Atlanta. She’d arranged to stay with people she met on Craigslist, but within weeks of arriving, Morgan stopped contacting her friends and family and vanished without a trace. Her case was soon overshadowed by damaging internet rumors that called her disappearance into question and diverted attention from the people last known to have been with her. Nearly six years after our original episode aired, investigators recovered Morgan’s remains in Porterdale, Georgia, and arrested the same couple discussed in our 2017 coverage. One has since pleaded guilty to her murder, while the other remains accused. Stay with us after the replay for an update on the major developments that finally revealed what happened to Morgan.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
Follow The Vanished on social media at:
Facebook
Instagram
Patreon
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode originally aired on January 26, 2026. Since this episode first aired, there have been significant developments in Amy’s case. Stay tuned after the original episode for more information.
On June 13, 2016, 44-year-old Amy McHale said goodbye to her mother and left her home in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nothing about that moment suggested it would be the last time her family would see her, but it was.
In the early morning hours of June 14, Amy called her daughter, Amanda, and left a voicemail. When Amanda listened to the message later that morning, it didn't raise any immediate alarm, but when she tried calling her mother back, the call went straight to voicemail. In the message, Amy said she was staying at her ex-husband's house, something she did from time to time.
At first, no one was overly concerned. Amy was an adult with her own routines, and her family believed she would return, as she always had before. But as hours turned into days with no word from Amy, concern quickly grew.
Amy's ex-husband told family members that she had been at his home when he went to bed on the night of June 13. When he woke the following morning, he said she was gone. From that point forward, there were no confirmed sightings of Amy and no clear answers about what happened to her.
A decade has passed since Amy vanished, and her loved ones continue searching for answers, hoping that someone who knows the truth will finally come forward.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Amy McHale, please contact the Philadelphia Police Department at (215) 686-3013.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
Follow The Vanished on social media at:
Facebook
Instagram
Patreon
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Part 4 of Junaliza Chappell’s story, we focused on Ashley and the weight she has carried since her mother disappeared. As Ashley grew older, memories from her early childhood began to connect with records, conversations, and details shared by the people who had been searching for Juna for years. Those discoveries were painful. They helped Ashley better understand her mother’s fear, but they also forced her to confront parts of her own story that remain unresolved.
We also examined the frustration surrounding Juna’s case: missing records, confusion over which agency had what, and the question of whether Juna’s disappearance ever received the attention it deserved. Retired U.S. Marshal Katrina, who had worked alongside Atlanta Police years earlier, still had files connected to the case. When Ashley reached out to her earlier this year, it reignited Katrina’s effort to get that information into the right hands.
In this fifth and final episode, we take a look at where things stand now. Nearly two decades have passed since Juna vanished. For many of those years, the people connected to this case had at least some peace of mind knowing that Timothy Chappell was behind bars. But his release date is now approaching, and for Ashley, Kareen, Faye, and Katrina, that has brought back fear they have never fully been able to put down.
In Part 5, we will discuss Tim’s alleged hit list, the concerns surrounding his release, the search for any remaining legal options, and why the people who have spent years fighting for Juna believe her case cannot be allowed to sit quietly in the past.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Junaliza Chappell, please contact the Atlanta Police Department Missing Persons Unit at 404-546-4235. Tips can also be sent anonymously to: bringjunalizahome@gmail.com.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
Follow The Vanished on social media at:
Facebook
Instagram
Patreon
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve been untangling the disappearance of Junaliza Chappell, a young mother who was trying to leave her husband, Timothy Chappell, and start over in California with her 3-year-old daughter, Ashley.
Juna had a plan. Ashley was already in California with people Juna trusted. Juna had completed job training in Florida and was supposed to return to Atlanta, get her car, and drive west. But Juna never made it back to her daughter.
After Juna vanished, Timothy disappeared with Ashley. U.S. Marshals eventually found him driving Juna’s car with Ashley in the backseat. Many of Juna’s personal belongings were still inside the vehicle. Timothy was arrested that day, but not for anything connected to Juna’s disappearance.
In Part 3, we looked more closely at Timothy’s history, the records Ashley later found, and the pattern that began to emerge, including his 2010 arrest for exploiting a 15-year-old girl, a case that eventually sent him to federal prison for 20 years.
Part 4 is different. This episode centers on Ashley and the way her story is intertwined with her mother’s disappearance. Ashley was only 3 years old when Juna vanished. For most of her life, she carried memories from that time, some painful, some confusing, and some so fragmented that she questioned whether she could trust them at all. But as Ashley began searching for answers, some of those memories began to connect to records, conversations, and details she had never fully understood before.
Ashley is not only trying to understand what happened to her mother. She is also trying to understand what happened to her and what Juna may have been trying to protect her from.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Junaliza Chappell, please contact the Atlanta Police Department Missing Persons Unit at 404-546-4235. Tips can also be sent anonymously to: bringjunalizahome@gmail.com.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
Follow The Vanished on social media at:
Facebook
Instagram
Patreon
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.