Missing mom disappears north of Cape

A Mississippi mother of four disappeared from Interstate 55 north of Cape Girardeau, leaving little more than an abandoned car with a flat tire and the keys in the ignition, authorities say. Police have not ruled out foul play and are questioning a man who was traveling with her in another car.

Jeanna Martin, 29, was reported missing July 10, a day after she was driving back to her hometown of Kokomo, Miss., after a trip to Hannibal, Mo., with a male friend who had bought a car there. Martin was driving her friend's car back for him.

That friend, Jesse Hammond, reportedly told authorities he noticed at some point that Martin was no longer behind him. He then turned his car around and headed back to look for her. He found the car she was driving, a 1987 Dodge sedan, on the side of the road with a flat tire and the keys in the ignition. The car was found at the 109 mile marker, about half a mile south of a rest area.

"The guy she was traveling with is being questioned heavily about the disappearance," said Doug Barnes, an investigator with the Marion County Sheriff's Department in Mississippi.

He said they have not been able to establish for sure that Martin was actually driving the car, and the last time she was seen by someone other than Hammond was in Hannibal, where she had stayed at a hotel.

Barnes said Hammond is not considered a suspect at this time, but he is being held in the Marion County Jail without bail on unrelated charges. Hammond was on parole at the time, and he violated that when he left Mississippi. He was also wanted on bad check charges.

No official determination

Foul play has not been ruled out, but no official determination has been made yet, Barnes said.

"The evidence has not painted a clear picture about what went on up there," Barnes said. "The man's story sounds legitimate, and some aspects of the story have been verified. But not all of them. So we're still looking."

Barnes said he didn't know if the woman simply walked away and doesn't want to be found.

"Most times people walk to the nearest gas station and call someone to come get them, or call their family," he said. "It's certainly strange that she hasn't done that."

Locally, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol has searched the area where the car was found, said Capt. Bud Proffer of the sheriff's department. Proffer said officers also processed the vehicle Martin was allegedly driving.

Martin's brother, Randy Stogner, who also lives in Kokomo, said his sister would never take off without letting someone know.

"I hate to say this fella was involved, but I don't know him from Adam," he said of Hammond.

Martin was "in between jobs," Stogner said, though her most recent job was working at a ranch where she gave trail rides and worked with horses. She is a divorced mother of four children, ages 6 to 12. The children's father has custody.

Stogner said he suspects something bad has happened to his sister.

"We're trying to be optimistic, but it's hard," he said. "It's been nine days and nothing. Of course the kids are upset. Their mother's nowhere to be found."

Martin is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall with strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes. She has three tattoos: the name Tony on her left hand, a cross on her left shoulder and a rose on her lower right leg. She is also missing an upper front tooth.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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