FBI search home in 2016 disappearance of Morgan Bauer

FBI agents and local police raided a home in Georgia in search of human remains in the 2016 disappearance of 19-year-old Morgan Bauer, who was last seen in a mysterious video that she posted to Instagram.

A search warrant “obtained based on credible information” was executed Thursday at a property on South Broad Street in the Atlanta suburb of Porterdale, according to Porterdale police Sgt. Michael Walden, reported the station Fox 5. He did not comment further on the tip that led to the search.

During an afternoon press briefing, officials confirmed that they were searching for Bauer’s remains, and that they have retrieved “items of evidentially interest,” but they would not say what those were.

Police said they do not know how long it would take to complete the search, given the vast size of the property.

“I would just ask for patience and of course they have waited so long and I’m asking them to wait a bit longer,” Walden said, addressing Bauer’s loved ones.

“The professional men and women out there searching in the conditions they are, in they are trying,” he added. “So, if they could just be patient with us a little bit, we will update them as soon as we know something and can tell them.”

The current owner of the Porterdale property was said to be cooperating with the investigation, which has come to involve multiple agencies, including officers from the Peoria Police Department in Illinois.
Officials did not say why detectives from Illinois were present during Thursday’s search.

Bauer’s mother, Sherri Keenan, told Fox 5 through a friend that she was in “shock” after learning of the latest developments in her daughter’s case.

“She’s not sure what’s going to come from this investigation, she’s not sure if that’s her daughter, she’s not sure of what they found because it’s so hush-hush,” said Kasey McClure, who has been helping Keenan search for Bauer.

Bauer vanished in late February 2016, just two weeks after moving from Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Georgia, to start a new life.

She planned to stay with someone she had met through Craigslist, but the arrangement did not work out.

To makes ends meet, Bauer took a job as a stripper at a club called The Top in Hall County and was bouncing between motels in the metro Atlanta area.

Police initially believed that she went missing after finishing a shift at the strip club on Feb. 25, 2016. But in February 2022, they learned that Bauer’s last sighting was on February 26, when she posted a video of herself on Instagram walking in Porterdale Yellow River Park.

The park is located less than a mile from the property that was raided by the FBI Thursday.

A man can be seen following Bauer in the recording, which was the last thing she ever shared on social media.

“This changes the entire timeline of events,” her mother said earlier this year. “It also changes the last person known to have seen Morgan.”

A $10,000 reward for information in Bauer’s disappearance was offered in 2019.