In 2015, She Got Into A Fight With Her Husband At A Friend’s Barbecue, And Then She Vanished Without A Trace
In 2015, Danielle Sleeper of Magnolia, Texas, was a thirty-two-year-old mother to three sons. She was beloved by her husband, Austin, her sister Tannah, and her parents, Dina and Chuck.
Danielle also had many friends, one of whom– Meagan Smith– she met just weeks before she vanished.
Danielle and Meagan reportedly hit it off immediately. Meagan was appreciative of Danielle’s caring nature and was glad that Danielle got along well with her two children.
So, after meeting, the pair of girlfriends began texting nonstop every day about their lives. Danielle also sometimes called Meagan to vent about Austin, her husband.
Then, on March 22, 2015, Danielle leaned on Meagan for support one last time. That morning, she was apparently having a fight with Austin, so she decided to tag along with Meagan as her friend ran errands around town.
And as the day bled into the afternoon, the pair of girlfriends decided to have a barbecue at Meagan’s house that evening.
So, Danielle took that opportunity to invite Austin, and the gathering ended up consisting of Danielle, Meagan, both of their husbands, and a few other friends.
The barbecue seemingly went well and lasted until the early morning hours. At that point, though, Meagan noticed some tension between Danielle and her husband.
Facebook; pictured above is Danielle
Apparently, Austin had become upset and asked Danielle to leave the barbecue. Then, the couple ended up fighting before Danielle eventually agreed to leave and went home with Austin.
And before they left, Danielle made sure to remind Meagan that she would be back the next day to dye her friend’s hair. Tragically, though, that was the last time Meagan ever saw her new friend Danielle again.
Apparently, Danielle had been missing for over a day before her sister, Tannah, received word from her brother-in-law Austin.
And after hearing the news, she immediately drove to her parent’s house to pick up her dad before traveling to Danielle and Austin’s home.
Upon arrival, Tannah was immediately shocked at the state of Danielle’s house. She claims that her sister was always obsessed with keeping her home tidy and clean.
So, when Tannah saw shelves emptied, clothes thrown across the floor, and hangers scattered about the bedroom, she knew something was up.
Tannah also recalled noticing that Austin seemed to be acting “off”; he was fidgeting a lot. Plus, she noticed that Austin had fresh scratches located on the top of his head and that her nephew was not running around the house as usual.
The most bizarre fact of it all for Tannah, though, was that Austin still had not yet reported Danielle missing to the police.
“He just kept saying that Danielle ran off, that she probably would be back in a few days. And I kept telling him that it was not clicking, that it was not right, something was wrong,” Tannah told KHOU11 in an interview.
Danielle’s parents, Dina and Chuck, were obviously distraught over the disappearance of their daughter. But they rallied and exhausted every possible effort to find Danielle.
They spent numerous days with search crews, scouring the nearby farmlands and fields on all-terrain vehicles in search of any sign of Danielle.
Dina and Chuck also rowed through ponds on kayaks and spent thousands of dollars on distributing missing person flyers to homes both in their community and in neighboring towns.
A local search-and-rescue organization known as Texas EquuSearch lent a hand in the search for Danielle, but their efforts came up dry. Montgomery County Search and Rescue also pitched in, but their searches yielded no results.
So, Dina and Chuck were forced to extremes. They listened to every single tip they received from the community and even resorted to visiting psychics and mediums.
“It drives you crazy. You get home, and you lay awake all freakin’ night until early in the morning, and you finally get a couple of hours of sleep, and then you’re back up at it again,” Chuck recalled.
Unfortunately, though, none of the authorities or Danielle’s family’s questions about what exactly happened to Danielle that night have ever been answered.
Shortly after Danielle was reported missing, investigators from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant to search Danielle and Austin’s home for any “implements and instruments used in the commission of a criminal offense of murder and/or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and/or tampering with physical evidence.” Officers also took possession of Austin’s truck, cell phone, and tablet.
The warrant never led to Danielle’s cell phone being located. However, her phone records revealed that there were numerous text messages sent until 3:12 a.m. on the evening of her disappearance.
The last time that Danielle’s cell phone was turned on was also two days after she vanished. It pinged a cell tower located just two and a half miles from her home.
Additionally, investigators combed through Danielle’s bank account and credit card statements– both of which had not been used for two days before she disappeared. Her email account also showed no activity in the five days leading up to March 22, 2015.
And in the end, authorities never discovered anything within Austin’s truck or on his cell phone or tablet that helped investigators ascertain what happened to Danielle.
Still, Pual Hahs– a sergeant with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office who took on Danielle’s case– underscored that no one is off the hook in this investigation.
“Everybody that was in contact with Danielle those last few hours is still a suspect,” Hahs said.
Ever since Danielle disappeared, her family reported that Austin had cut all contact with them. According to one of Austin’s close friends, Vicki King, though, he has been grappling with the loss, too.
Vicki detailed how Danielle and Austin had initially met in middle school but lost touch after Danielle and her family relocated. Then, in 2008, the pair reconnected following Danielle’s divorce, and Austin allowed her to move into his home in June of 2008.
Vicki claims that Austin did not immediately report Danielle missing under instruction from his attorney. And following Danielle’s disappearance, Vicki says that Austin hired a private investigator to find his wife.
As for the community’s perception of Danielle’s case, Vicki reported that it has been hard on Austin. He reportedly gets harassed in bars, and people share photos of him on social media.
“He’s surviving the best he can,” Vicki said.
Still, Danielle’s parents and sister cannot rest until the truth comes to light. Dina and Chuck admitted that they no longer believe their daughter is alive after so many years of silence.
But, now that they are both in their sixties and Chuck is experiencing declining health, the couple just wants to know what happened to their daughter.
Danielle’s sister, Tannah, also refuses to give up on finding out the truth. She recognizes that there are numerous strange details about Danielle’s case that make her feel puzzled and unsettled. But she wants to be Danielle’s big sister one last time and finally unearth the truth.
She and her parents created a Facebook group entitled Bring Danielle Home in hopes of raising awareness of her sister’s case outside of the Magnolia community. The group has since amassed over three thousand and six hundred members.
There is currently a twenty-one thousand dollar reward being offered by the Montgomery County Crime Stoppers to anyone with information that leads to a felony arrest in Danielle’s case.
Danielle was five foot seven, weighed between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty pounds, and had brown, shoulder-length hair. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is urged to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at (936) 760-5876 or the Crimestoppers Anonymous Tip Line at (800) 392-7867.
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Last Year, She Was Last Seen Walking Around Her Tiny Town, But Then She Disappeared
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