A Year After She Vanished, A Farmer Found Her Remains In His Field: What Happened To Nicole Mallatt?
Just two days before Thanksgiving in 2019, Nicole Mallatt, a 36-year-old mother of four from Bates County, Missouri, mysteriously disappeared.
It took nearly a year for her remains to be discovered less than 600 yards away from her residence, and her cause of death is still unknown.
Nicole had been living with her boyfriend, Brad Shreve, and their kids on SW County Road 3508. In the weeks leading up to her disappearance, she’d reportedly sent texts to loved ones, suggesting she was going through a rough time in her relationship.
“I don’t know what to do anymore. If I don’t leave here soon, he’s only going to end up killing me,” she messaged her aunt in October 2019.
She also spoke to Heather Smith, her friend of more than 20 years, and supposedly said that “if things continued to go the way they were going,” she planned to leave following Thanksgiving. Nicole never identified Brad by name in her texts, but it’s suspected she was referring to him.
The couple had been in an on-and-off relationship for 18 years, and according to Nicole’s friends and family members, there had been instances of domestic violence.
First, Brad had been charged with assault in 2018 after entering an altercation with Nicole and another man. Then, Nicole allegedly contacted the police regarding a “domestic disturbance” in October 2019.
However, when the authorities arrived on the scene, Nicole and Brad both claimed that their dispute was only verbal. So, he wasn’t charged in relation to a domestic disturbance.
Nicole last spoke about her relationship with Brad only one day before she went missing, on November 25, 2019. She reached out to her sister-in-law and stated that since she and Brad had gotten into a fight, she might need to stay at her sister-in-law’s home for a few days.
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The 36-year-old ultimately vanished the following evening. On the night of November 26, 2019, Nicole was reportedly picked up by her ex-husband, Richie Mallat, near her home. She and Richie spent about 45 minutes together, and she was subsequently dropped off.
Not long afterward, a neighbor named Josh Mellenbruch drove by and spotted a woman, wearing a hoodie and a backpack, who matched Nicole’s description standing on SW County Road.
He detailed how he “slowed down and asked Nicole if she needed a ride since she was standing out in the dark,” but she turned down his offer because she was waiting for someone to pick her up.
It’s never been confirmed if the woman Josh spotted was truly Nicole. Nonetheless, this marked the last time she was potentially seen alive.
Nicole was reported missing on November 29, 2019, by Brad’s family, and at first, the missing person advisory noted that she might’ve had suicidal ideations. Her own family vehemently denied that.
“She would not leave her kids, I don’t care what anybody says,” her mother, Debbie Lewis, asserted.
Brad has since confirmed that he and Nicole were arguing before she vanished, but he claims to have played no part in her disappearance or death. Years later, in 2023, he also told the press that he’d been at his father’s Buttler, Missouri, home on the day she went missing.
Nicole lived in a rural region, and once a search was launched, some of her belongings, including her backpack, cell phone, and shoes, were located in a creek just down the hill from her house a few days later. However, it took almost one whole year for Nicole’s remains to be found a little bit further down the creek, under 600 yards away from her property line.
It was November 3, 2020, when a farmer plowing his field stumbled upon sweatpants with a human femur bone inside. This led him to uncover more human remains near the creek.
Once the police were informed, they conducted tests, and three days later, the results confirmed investigators’ hunches: the remains belonged to Nicole.
For Nicole’s mother, Debbie, it’s still perplexing how no one found Nicole for so long despite conducting extensive searches in the area.
“That killed me when I found out. I knew it was so close. I knew we were close to Nicole,” she said.
Unfortunately, due to so much time passing by, Bates County Coroner Greg Mullinax noted he or other experts couldn’t definitively determine how she died. The autopsy report also didn’t show signs of trauma.
In 2023, Sheriff Anderson of the Bates County Sheriff’s Office confirmed he was aware of the arguments taking place at Nicole’s home, as well as her text messages. However, the police cannot arrest anyone in connection with Nicole’s disappearance and death on that information alone, which disgruntles her loved ones.
“I’m not saying we agree or disagree with the family, but we have to work off what the evidence shows and what we can show in a court beyond a reasonable doubt,” he explained.
Sheriff Anderson also stated that Brad and Richie were both persons of interest in Nicole’s case, which is routine given that Brad was her partner and Richie was one of the final people to see Nicole alive. Additionally, there are “a couple” other people who are considered persons of interest, but the police haven’t named them publicly.
“We have not excluded anybody, whether it be family, friends, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, or ex-husbands. We’re still treating it like there could be foul play,” he said.
“I think it’s best for us to keep it as an open case and continue to investigate it so we can get answers for the family.”
This has left Nicole’s loved ones, who created a private Facebook group in May 2020 entitled “Hope For Nicole Shalee Mallatt,” waiting for closure.
“We’re not going to stop, just like we didn’t stop looking for her. We’re not going to stop fighting to figure out what happened and get justice,” shared her sister-in-law, Sarah Messick, in November 2020.
“I just want justice for Nicole. I want someone to come forward and tell us what happened,” echoed her mother, Debbie, in March 2023.
No one has been charged in connection with Nicole’s death. Anyone with information regarding her case is urged to contact the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.
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