Kansas pastor pleads for help to find missing wife, mother of 3
Pastor Adam Carter of Leawood Baptist Church is pleading social media users to “help us find my sweet wife,” even as police in Kansas and nearby states are searching for 36-year-old Marilane Carter, a mother of three.
“Please help us find my sweet wife. If you see anything please contact law enforcement. #findmarilane,” Carter wrote on Twitter. A Facebook page has also been created to help find Marilane.
Marilane left her home in Overland Park last Saturday, driving to Birmingham, Alabama, to seek mental health treatment, and was last seen in Memphis, southwest Tennessee, according to KSHB.
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A woman said she helped Marilane get gas. Afterwards, she was seen going into the bathroom, wearing a white shirt, black yoga pants and a backpack.
Her phone went dead somewhere in the area of the I-55 bridge coming into Memphis, KMBC reported.
“I had offered to take her to a hospital there in the Kansas City area, but she wanted to go somewhere to just get some help at a place that she felt that she could trust and was familiar with,” Pastor Carter was quoted as saying.
Marilane also has family in Alabama, where she was headed.
Speaking to KWCH, Marilane’s brother-in-law said she is a gracious person. “She loves people. She loves her family. She loves God,” Brady McLaughlin said.
“I just told our three kids to pray for mom, mommy. We’re going to find her. It might take a few days,” Pastor Carter told KMBC. “She’s a loving mother, loving wife. We have a great relationship. I miss her terribly. I want her home. I want her home with our kids.”
Associate Pastor Jason Franklin told Baptist Press that only a few in the church knew about Marilane’s mental health struggles.
“Whenever things like this happen, there’s always this, ‘Could I have done something, did I miss some sign?’” Franklin said. “And obviously her mental struggles were not something that was widely known among the entire congregation. It was kept very close to the chest.
“We definitely pray that Marilane is found safely, and for a happy reunion of the family. But regardless, for God’s strength and love to surround the family and lift them up and support them through this time.”
