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New TV special sheds light on Messer investigation

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. – Investigation Discovery’s show Disappeared began its eighth season Sunday night with a focus on a story all-too-familiar to those in the Missouri Capitol.

The first episode of the season, titled “American Gothic,” investigates the mysterious disappearance of Lynn Messer, the wife of lobbyist Kerry Messer, the president of Missouri Family Network. Lynn was reported missing in July 2014 from the family farm in Ste. Genevieve.

What happened to Lynn Messer?

In a social media post after the episode, Abram Messer, the son of Lynn and Kerry, said he was pleased with the effort by producers, noting they made the show “as balanced as possible” and objective.

“I hope and pray that watching the episode will cause people to think about conversations that they have had over the last two-plus years,” Abram said. “Also hearing the actual 911 call that Aarron made will make it perfectly clear about my father lying making the claim that he called law enforcement.”

“And yes. It was hard to watch.”

Kerry has not yet acknowledged the episode on social media on his well-followed group, Find Lynn Messer.

In the episode, the family is shown to be a typical small farm town family. The family all work on the farm with their parents and both Lynn and Kerry were active parts of their children’s lives, as well as their grandchildren’s lives. Before Lynn disappeared, she made plans to help her grandson with his school work, possibly indicating she wasn’t planning on leaving that night. Later that night, she made plans with her daughter-in-law Elizabeth to go swimming the next day.

The morning after she went missing, the younger son, Abram, and Kerry looked for her. Once Aarron, Abram’s older brother, arrived for his usual daily work, he called 911, even though Kerry had not been able to find her for five hours prior.

Before the police had arrived on that same morning, he washed his dog in the bed of his truck and instructed Abram to move the cows to another location near the home. A note was turned over to law enforcement, saying she was “sorry I made you hate me, sorry everyone.” Lynn had been taking anti-depressants for at least a decade, but when the police asked, Kerry refused to admit that his wife had been depressed.

The note left was brought into question next. The note, written in print, was uncharacteristic of Lynn, who generally wrote in cursive. The note was sent the FBI headquarters in Quantico, where specialists could not determine the writing conclusively to be Lynn’s.

Abram and Aarron said they told the police of an incident where Lynn had considered suicide in the barn but didn’t go through with it. Kerry denied this as well, which raised a question in the family of, what all Kerry knew about Lynn disappearing.

The police administered polygraph tests to the immediate family when the results on the grid search of the farm failed. Abram failed the test and proceeded to be interviewed for nine hours. Abram told the police that they had gotten into an argument but that the issue was resolved in less than a few days. Abram, who moved the cows, was questioned by police about why he did it. He said that his father told him to. The police went on to say that Lynn’s scent was found in that cow field.

Kerry refused to be interviewed for the special and did not permit production crews to enter the property.

Those who place suspicion on Kerry point to another critical piece of evidence: he had been seeing another woman. Kerry claims that his relationship with the woman, Spring, began only after Lynn had disappeared, but those in the family were not convinced. Before disappearing, Lynn told her daughter-in-law that “if anything would happen to me, I want Kerry to marry Spring.”

On the Record: Messer answers questions raised about missing wife

Kerry is set as a suspect in Lynn’s disappearance, but no evidence can be found. For two years, the family had no leads, but then on Nov. 1, 2016, Aarron and his two daughters stumbled across a human skull in the woods near the family farm. The FBI recovered an entire human skeleton and dental records proved that the bones belonged to Lynn Messer. The body was found within days of the show’s taping near where the cows were moved the morning after her disappearance.

Kerry was interviewed by several publications, including this one after the body was found.

Skeletal remains found on Missouri lobbyist Kerry Messer’s property

Although the case is still being investigated, law enforcement is irritated that no conclusive evidence has yet to emerge and those closest to Lynn want answers. Those on social media are convinced that Lynn didn’t simply walk off and are looking for answers.

Travis Zimpfer contributed to this report.