BUTLER, Mo. — Law enforcement and volunteer searchers were out again in rural Bates County on Friday, looking for any clues to tell them what happened to missing mother of three Nicole Mallatt.
Late Friday afternoon, the Missouri State Highway Patrol issued a statewide endangered person advisory for Mallatt on behalf of the Bates County Sheriff's Office. She's described as 5 feet 4 inches tall and 120 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. The advisory said she was last seen wearing a black shirt and jeans.
According to the advisory, Mallatt has "suicidal ideations."
Authorities on Friday were focusing their search on the farmland around her house, off County Road 3508 in Bates County. Mallatt's missing person posters are all over the nearby town of Butler.
"It’s a close-knit community, and it’s shaking us all,” said Rachelle Mallatt, a friend of Nicole’s who has no relation to her. “There’s a lot of heavy hearts in the community right now, and I think a lot of us are just really, really wanting some answers.”
Searchers back out today, focusing on the farmland close to Nicole Mallatt’s house. They found her belongings yesterday not far from the house. In town, her missing poster is all over Butler business windows. @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/MegEPxfX9M
— Sarah Plake (@SarahPlakeTV) December 6, 2019
Rachelle Mallatt said she has known Nicole for 20 years. She was one of the searchers trudging through the woods and combing the banks of the Marais Des Cygnes River on Friday.
"It struck a nerve with me,” Rachelle Mallatt said. “She has children the same age as my children, so I just felt it in my heart to be able to reach out and help in anyway that I could.”
Nicole Mallatt, 36, left her house around 7:40 p.m. on Nov. 26. According to her family, she was with her ex-husband. The Bates County Sheriff's Office has not said if she ever came back home.
"With this case here, there’s just some things that aren’t adding up and hasn’t happened in the past with her, and so we want to make sure we have some answers for her family and her children," Sheriff Chad Anderson said.
On Thursday, law enforcement recovered her backpack, cellphone and shoes not far from the house.
"This is very scary. It’s awful cold to be running around out here with no shoes on,” Rachelle Mallatt said. “We had been told she had a backpack, so maybe we were in hopes that she was trying to have a little getaway or something, but without the backpack it just makes you wonder.”
Anyone with information about Mallatt's whereabouts should call 911 or the Bate's County Sheriff's Office at 660-679-3232.
