The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office identified remains found last month as a Roseburg woman who has been missing since last summer.
That woman is Megan Dyanne Wendel, who was 36 years old when she disappeared.
Megan’s daughter, Sareah Wendel, was only 17 years old when she says she reported her mother missing to the Roseburg Police Department.
“After about three months, I started to feel that something was wrong, and that’s when I decided to report her missing because she was always in contact with me,” said Sareah.
Sareah says, at the time of Megan’s disappearance, they were not living together. “It was normal for her to not talk to me for a month, two months at a time because she did not have a phone, and my mom was homeless, so there were often times that she wasn’t able to get a hold of me. “
Sareah filed that missing person’s report in July 2022.
“Every day I would go out of my house and look,” she said. “If I needed to go up to Roseburg, or because I had a feeling in my heart that I needed to look at a certain time I would do it. I mean, I was always, constantly looking.”
Sareah said her mother would frequent certain areas in Roseburg, Myrtle Creek and Riddle and she searched to no avail.
“It definitely, in a way, made me start to lose hope there for a little bit,” she said. “But I never stopped even though I lost hope.”
Sareah said she heard from police months after reporting Megan missing, and there were no updates until law enforcement informed her that her mother's remains had been found.
“This is the third time that I’ve talked to police.” She said. “I feel like, because of my mom’s lifestyle, because of the way she lived... no one really wanted to take it seriously.”
The missing person’s report was filed with the Roseburg Police Department, but because Megan’s remains were found, there is now an investigation with the Douglas County’s Major Crimes Unit, consisting of investigators from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the Roseburg Police Department, and Oregon State Police.
“We would treat this investigation just as if it was any other person,” said Lt. Brad O'Dell, with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Megan’s body was discovered by a man hunting for antler sheds in the Thunder Mountain area of Glide. DCSO is considering her death suspicious, but Lt. O'Dell wouldn’t provide further details.
Which is concerning for Sareah, “I definitely have a feeling that something bad could’ve happened... just with them saying that, I just want more answers. I don’t want this case to get cold.”
We have reached out to the Roseburg Police Department, who would not comment, saying this is an open investigation.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office referred many of our questions to the Roseburg Police Department.
The Douglas County District Attorney’s office has not returned out request for comment.
We will continue to follow this story and being you updates as they become available.