Monday marks two weeks since Peggy McGuire was last seen dropping her young son off at school outside Eufaula, Oklahoma.
A grainy image captured the next morning around 5:00 a.m. shows Peggy’s Toyota truck being parked at T&J’s Ice House, a rural bar along Highway 9. A dark, unidentified figure can be seen walking away from the vehicle through an early morning storm.
That’s when the trail appears to go cold, leaving family, friends and thousands of complete strangers painfully anxious.
“She wouldn’t just up and leave her little boy. Something is wrong,” Betty Davis, Peggy’s mother, told Dateline. “I just want my Peggy back. What if I never see her again?”
Peggy is a licensed practical nurse, who just passed her boards this June, according to her mother. She loves animals and, in addition to her pet dogs, she helps care for more than 150 head of cattle and a small group of goats. She spends her time working hard, volunteering as a youth basketball coach, and taking care of her son.
There is now a $17,500 reward offered by several local businesses, including her employer, for information aiding in her safe return.
The last person to reportedly speak with Peggy was her stepfather, whom she phoned that morning on her way to the home she shares with her son and the boy’s father. She was going to call him back shortly with the measurements for a new deck, her mother said.
She never called, nor did she showed up for her niece’s ball game that evening. Another day passed with no contact. Her mother filed a missing person’s report on Wednesday of that week, leaving about 48 hours between the time Peggy vanished and when police became involved.
“I couldn’t get her on Monday or Tuesday and neither could anyone else,” said Betty. “She was completely off the grid. Now it is two weeks later with nothing, just nothing.”
McIntosh County Sheriff Kevin Ledbetter says Peggy’s truck has been processed by the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation and several items have been sent along for further testing.
Initial indications, however, do not point to what may have happened to Peggy. A warrant was issued for her cellphone records on the 19th, but results could take weeks to be fully processed. Warrants have also been filed for her financial records and social media information.
"We have to investigate as if it is the most serious case you could think of. Whatever may have happened, we have to treat it that way, whether some harm has come to her or she's healthy and safe somewhere on her own free will,” Sheriff Ledbetter told Dateline.
Some in the community have questioned why more searches haven’t been conducted. The answer, according to Sheriff Ledbetter, is there simply isn’t a starting point at this time for a ground search of the 350-plus square mile area.
"We've been working it from day one,” said Sheriff Ledbetter. “The problem is, we don't have a point of to really go off of. Once we do, we will launch whatever resources are necessary to investigate it further. We are following up with any and all leads we get.”
The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation also continues to assist in the case.
Outside of the official investigation underway, volunteers have filed in to scour the thickets and rural landscape for the slightest clue. Family members have flown in from North Carolina and California. Online message boards and social channels remain abuzz with those who are curious and concerned about Peggy.
The Facebook group “BRING PEGGY HOME!!!!” has garnered more than 4,600 members.
“I am not leaving until we have answers,” Betty told Dateline. “I don’t live more than a drive away but that’s not close enough. It’s raining and cold out, and all I can do is pray my Peggy is somewhere dry and warm.”
Peggy McGuire is described as 5’10” tall, weighing 140 lbs. with curly blonde hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to call the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Department at (918) 689-2526.