ATLANTA — The mother of Morgan Bauer, a 19-year-old who went missing from Atlanta in 2016, says new evidence has come to light that changes the timeline of the case.
Police have reported Morgan went missing seven years ago, on Feb. 25.
But her mother Sherri Keenan said investigators recently discovered Bauer last posted to social media on February 26, 2016, not the 25th as originally thought.
“This changes the entire timeline of events," she said. "It also changes the last person known to have seen Morgan. I contacted Morgan's detectives, they hadn't heard any different dates other than the 25th either.”
In February 2016, Bauer moved from her small South Dakota hometown to Atlanta and took a job as a dancer in a Gainesville club.
Two weeks later, she disappeared.
“On the 25th into that night, she was dancing at Top of Gainesville," Keenan recalled. "She left and we know she left with some people. They stated they dropped her off at a Citgo gas station in Covington, Georgia."
Bauer’s Instagram is private, but Keenan said a friend of her daughter's recently sent her a screenshot of Bauer’s last post.
It shows it was posted on February 26.
That could mean police have been looking in the wrong places, based on an incorrect timeline.
"It completely changes the narrative to the story," Keenan said. "They're having to go back and re-look at everything and that all of the information that we now have and re-look at the case.”
The video posted to Bauer's Instagram appears to show her in a park with a man walking behind her.
Atlanta Police declined 11Alive's requests for interviews and have not revealed if they know who that person is, or where the video was taken.
But Keenan is hopeful it may turn up new leads.
“I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone else, but I forgive whoever did this," she said. "Just bring her back. Just tell me where she is so I can help her."
Keenan said she's holding on to hope that her daughter is still alive, but fears she may have been trafficked.
“People probably can't understand what it feels like to have days turn into weeks, into months, and then years," she said, "and to every day want to do your best but feel like you're failing, not knowing how to help your child."
But she's vowed to never give up looking for her daughter.
"I just miss her so much,” she said. "She will always be my baby and I will go to the end of the earth if I have to.”
On Saturday, Feb. 25 there will be a public candlelight vigil in Bauer's honor. It will be held at Yellow River Park in Porterdale, Georgia at 7 p.m.
Anyone with information about Bauer's case is asked to contact Atlanta Police's Missing Person Unit by calling (404) 546-4235. Callers can remain anonymous. You can also reach the family's 24-hour tip line 1-855-MORGANB.
Morgan's details are as follows:
- Morgan Aryn Bauer
- DOB: April 13, 1996
- Height: 5’6”
- Weight: 125lbs
- Blue Eyes
- Brown Hair
- Morgan’s ears are gauged
- Her lip is pierced twice on the right side. Her belly button is also pierced.
- Morgan has several tattoos: a sun/moon on her chest near her right shoulder inside a Celtic NWSE design, an anchor with "whatever you love can be taken away, so live like it's your dying day" on her left wrist, a blue/orange jellyfish on her arm from her inner wrist to elbow, a black tree of life with tiny flowers on the back of her neck and "it's in herself she will find the strength she needs" on her left hip. Designs are depicted in the photo below.
A reward for information leading to an arrest is being offered by her family.
You can join the Missing Morgan Facebook group here to follow updates in the case.
