Missing
Mary Ann Mergel
Mary, approximately 2004; Paul Mergel
Date and time person was reported missing : 03/01/2004
Missing location (approx) :
Murray County, Georgia
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
Age at the time of disappearance: 65 years old
Height / Weight : 5'2, 120 - 140 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Gray hair, blue eyes. Mergal has a cowlick on the right side of her scalp. Her maiden name is Broderick.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Mary was last seen in Murray County, Georgia sometime in March or April 2004. She had moved there from New Jersey to be near her son, Paul R. Mergel, and lived in a mobile home on five acres of land off Devonwood Lane near Chatsworth.
Mary's husband needed medical care that wasn't available locally, so she placed him in a nursing facility in New Jersey and visited him monthly. After her husband died in early 2004, she decided to sell her house and land and move back to New Jersey. She apparently never arrived, however. Her New Jersey relatives filed a missing persons report in May 2004.
When police officers visited her home to do a welfare check, they discovered her belongings were packed up and her vehicle was left behind. There was no sign of her and no one knew where she was.
When police searched Mary and Paul's home, they found numerous stolen guns. Paul was convicted of theft and sentenced to two years in prison. He was later charged with seven counts of first-degree forgery; he had forged Mary's name on her Social Security checks, cashed them and checked the money. He also used her credit cards, spending tends of thousands of dollars altogether.
Photos of Paul are posted with this case summary. He pleaded guilty to the forgery charges and was sentenced to probation, but violated it by leaving the state. Paul was subsequently arrested three times in New Jersey on drug charges. He was extradited back to Georgia and imprisoned for probation violation; he is still in custody. He is considered a person of interest in his mother's disappearance.
Mary is missing under suspicious circumstances, and her sister believes she was murdered. She was declared legally dead after her disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Murray County Sheriff's Office
706-695-4592
September 2021 updates and sources
The Dalton Daily Citizen
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Diary of My Divorce
October 12, 2004. September 8, 2016; middle name, Height / Weight : added, Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: and Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
