Melinda Felder, 33: Daughter Pleads For Help In 15 Year Old Case
I was made aware of this case by a woman named Whitney Williams. She stumbled upon Our Black Girls and reached out to me to ask if I could write about her mother, Melinda Felder, who went missing in July 2006. It isn’t much known about what may have happened to Melinda 15 years ago, but here is the information that I could find and that Whitney was kind enough to share.
To begin, reports state that Melinda said she was leaving home to visit a friend but never returned. It is unclear who she planned to see and if she arrived at her destination.
Whitney admitted that she was 15-years-old when her mother “went missing so I don’t know the actual story of what happened.” Yet, she was still able to share tidbits about Melinda Felder. The outgoing 33-year-old mother of five was separated but probably still married. She liked to travel and would spend much of her time visiting other places, but Whitney did not know Melinda’s favorite locations. She would travel for weeks to months at a time, and eventually, her children were put in the care of their grandmother. Not long before she went missing, her kids were moved into foster care.
Melinda Felder also suffered seizures, although specifics about her medical history are unknown. Whitney did not have much knowledge about her mother’s condition, but she did tell me:
“I just remember her having seizures and I remember her being overheated, overwhelmed, too excited would trigger her seizures. After her seizures would pass through she would lose her memory temporarily for like a few hours. She wouldn’t remember where she was at or who nobody was. Then after she slept it off for a few hours she would be ok.”
It has been speculated that Melinda could have suffered a medical emergency and may have been hospitalized without being able to communicate her identity, or possibly did not recover all of her faculties following an episode. Melinda now has five grandchildren that she has never met. Her children desperately want to bring her home.
An investigation into Melinda’s missing person case also revealed that authorities found evidence showing that she lived in Brooklyn. It wasn’t a great surprise considering that Melinda was born and raised in New York. Yet, when investigators visited the location, she was not there and Whitney revealed that the address belonged to her grandfather. Friends that she may have visited during her travels or even traveled with are unknown. Whitney said that she never asked her mother where she was going when she would travel, but wherever her mother landed, she would make sure to keep in contact with her children.
At the time of her disappearance, Melinda Felder stood 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed between 175 to 200 pounds. She has black/dark brown hair (cut short with a reddish tin) and brown eyes. Her middle name is “Lorraine” and her nickname is “Kandie.” She was last seen wearing a jean skirt and a white shirt with a pink design on the front. Melinda would be 48-years-old at the time of this publication.
Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to contact the Conway Police Department at (843) 248-1790 or their local authorities. The agency case number is 2006003651.
Please share this story about Melinda Felder to help reignite the investigation into her case. She is our sister and her life matters.
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Sources
NamUs
Underground Mysteries
Missing & Not Forgotten FB
