Do u remember the missing Iowa woman who ran away?

[mominiowa]

MINDEN, IOWA - WOMAN DEAD..........



The man who took a Minden woman in last week when she ran away from her family said Wednesday that she has died.

Stephanie Ehlers, 34, was reported missing by her family last week. Her husband thought she was due to give birth any day when he filed the missing persons report.



Ehlers was found in Joe DeLoa's Omaha home. She told investigators she was unhappy with her home life and intended to disappear. She also said she had miscarried the pregnancy in September, but didn't tell her family.

Ehlers died at the University of Nebraska Medical Center sometime Monday. DeLoa said Ehlers told him she had taken a bottle of Tylenol PM.

Ehlers' family members said Wednesday that they knew something was wrong with her because it was so uncharacteristic of her to disappear. But she didn't want talk with them, even when they showed up last week at the Omaha home where she was found safe after three days missing.

"I'm very shaken up about it," said DeLoa. "I don't believe it. It's unbelievable."

DeLoa has been letting Ehlers be a guest at his home since she disappeared from Minden May 7.

"She said she wasn't feeling too good. She said her stomach hurt. I said, 'What's wrong? Are you hungry? Do you need to eat, or are you just not feeling well?' She said, 'No, I'm not feeling well. My stomach hurts.'"

DeLoa took Ehlers to UNMC Sunday. He said he became even more concerned when Ehlers told him she took the Tylenol.

"She wouldn't give me an explanation as to why. I said, 'Are you depressed?' She said, 'A little bit,'" DeLoa said.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker said his investigators did everything they could for Ehlers last week. They made sure she was OK on the day she was located, and even did a follow-up visit the next day.

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"It's probably as big a shock to us as it was anybody that this happened," Danker said. "She didn't appear to be in a state of mind that she would harm herself or anyone else. So, I don't know what else we could do."

Danker said Ehlers' husband called him with concerns about his wife, but Danker said there were no outward signs that Ehlers was in trouble.

Officials are categorizing the death as an overdose, not a suicide.

Previous Stories:

May 10, 2005: Minden Woman Tells Police She Left Because She Was Unhappy

May 10, 2005: Search On For Missing Pregnant Woman

[john8pies]

We`ve had some dreadful news items in the UK here lately, too, of which you may have heard (eg murder of an 18 year old and attempted murder of a 16 year old; young mother paralysed following attack, etc) My heart goes out to the victims in these cases