Missouri authorities have confirmed that the human remains discovered earlier this month are those of a 36-year-old mother-of-four who vanished last year.
Nicole Mallatt was last seen alive on Nov. 26, 2019, at her rural Butler home where she lived with her boyfriend and four children.
A couple of days earlier, she had asked her sister-in-law to come to spend some time at her home.
“That’s what raised a red flag for us. Like why do you need to get out? And I didn’t get it out of her,” Sarah Messick said.
Mallatt’s remains and clothes were discovered near a bean field in Bates County on Nov. 3.
Her sister-in-law said that when police called, she immediately knew it was about Nicole and that learning she was dead felt like losing her for a second time.
“It was hard; and as soon as we got the call we knew,” she said.
Nicole left behind four small children that depended on her: “She wouldn’t have left her babies. Those were her world. That’s what she lived for, her babies”, Messick added.
“We’re OK with waiting because we want them to take their time and look over her and make sure they don’t miss anything. We’re not going to stop, just like we didn’t stop looking for her.”
