EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (WCCO) – The only person who might know what happened to a missing Twin Cities woman can’t tell investigators where she is located.
Mandy Matula, 24, didn’t show up for work in Eden Prairie Thursday morning, so her family called police. Investigators wanted to talk to her ex-boyfriend, David Roe, but officers said he shot himself outside the police station when he came in for questioning.
On Friday night, police had no answers in Matula’s disappearance.
“There’s always missing pieces of the puzzle. It’s our goal to put that puzzle together,” said Lt. Bill Wyffels, of the Eden Prairie Police Department.
Matula and Roe were last seen together in Miller Park. Investigators searched the park and nearby Round Lake Thursday.
On Friday, more than 200 volunteers searched the wooded area inside the park. They split into groups, and some even searched areas inside Bryant Lake Park.
Investigators wanted volunteers to look for things that should not be found in a wooded area. A sweatshirt was eventually found in Bryant Lake Park. Police did collect it, but they say it is too early to know if it is connected to Matula’s disappearance.
Friends say they are looking for more volunteers to help find the missing woman.
“We look forward to any one of those leads that will help us to follow up,” Wyffels said.
Meanwhile, Roe remains at the Hennepin County Medical Center.
“We did not get any more opportunity to talk to him or get info from him,” Wyffels said.
Officers said they found a note sitting on the dashboard of the car in which Roe shot himself.
“There was limited writing on the note. I don’t know who it was to. It was followed up by investigators and is part of ongoing investigation,” Wyffels said.
The letter did not hold enough information to lead to Matula. Now police continue to ask for the public’s help.
One piece of information police are looking for, specifically, is if anyone saw the 2013 black Ford escape before it was driven to the police department.
Officers want business owners to check surveillance video. That might give investigators insight into Matula’s or Roe’s whereabouts late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning.
Police say they have also received numerous inquiries from the public wishing to help with the search effort. However, there are no large-scale public searches organized at this time. Police recommend that city residents search their own property and neighborhoods, including nearby wooded areas.
Anyone with information that could lead to the whereabouts of Matula is asked to call Eden Prairie Police at 952-949-6200.
