Newport-Tomorrow, Oct. 26, marks the sixth-month anniversaryof the disappearance of Newport teenager Megan Maxwell, who is feared killed.

Megan Maxwell, 19, disappeared on an early Sunday morning,April 26. Her 2001 Mitsubishi was found burned later that morning.

Megan Maxwell, who lived with her grandmother, Judy O'Neil,at 859 Brookside Drive in Newport, was last heard from at 4:27 a.m. on thatfateful Sunday morning.

Hollie Lane, a very close friend of Megan Maxwell, wasto  spend the night with her at thegrandmother's house. While driving back to the house, she passed by the MineralStreet residence of Steve Maxwell, Megan Maxwell's father, saw police werethere, and called to inform Megan Maxwell, who had gone to bed. It was sometimebetween 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.

Megan Maxwell went to her father's house

Megan Maxwell readied herself, got in her Mitsubishi Eclipseand left to drive to her father's house, located in front of Union Cemetery,around the time Lane was arriving to Megan Maxwell's and her grandmother'shome. They talked briefly in the driveway before Megan Maxwell drove away toher father's house.

Lane said Megan Maxwell called her at 4:27 a.m. and told her"everything was fine and that she was going to smoke a cigarette and would beright home," according to a Cocke County Sheriff's Department report at thetime.

Megan Maxwell never returned home

Megan Maxwell never made it home.

Her mother later stated that she spoke with her ex-husband,Steve Maxwell, and that he told her he had been drinking and remembered theirdaughter being at his residence, but did not remember her leaving.

When asked last week if Jeffrey Lee Stock, 41, who was atMegan's father's house when she was last heard from that Sunday morning, hadbeen questioned about Megan's disappearance, District Attorney General JimmyDunn paused for about a minute, then said, "Next question." He added, "I'd justrather not answer that question."

Newport Police Chief Maurice Shults was less evasive. Hesaid last week, "Obviously ... we'd like to know his (Stock's) whereabouts from4:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. (on April 26), prior to her (Megan Maxwell's)disappearance."

Megan Maxwell's vehicle found burning

Patrolman Derek Wright was apparently on his way home whenhe saw Megan Maxwell's Mitsubishi fully engulfed in flames, near the oldRiverside Truck Stop east of Newport.

Shults said every forensic lab and pathologist in Tennesseehas been given data about Megan Maxwell in case an unidentified body shows upsomewhere in the state. She is in several other databases, as well, includingthe National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, he added.

An arrest on an unrelated charge

Cocke County Sheriff's Department Detective Derrick Woodsarrested Stock, at 3:40 a.m., on Monday, April 27, almost 24 hours after MeganMaxwell was last heard from, for violating the Sex Offender Registry.

Stock was charged with failing to register with the CockeCounty Sheriff's Department as required to do so annually on or about hisbirthday, which is April 7. That is a violation of the Sex Offender Registry.He has since been held without bond.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Stock violated the federal"Adam Walsh Act" by being a convicted sex offender who traveled from Florida toTennessee and failed to register with authorities here.

Stock, when he was 29 and living in Indiana, was chargedwith battering and raping two Indianapolis girls, ages 16  and 17, in a rural county. At somepoint during the carjacking, Stock allegedly produced a box knife with a razorblade in it, then threatened, beat and attacked the girls. He pleaded guilty tosexual battery.

In 2009, Stock has been in federal custody since he wasindicted June 9 on charges of traveling in interstate commerce and failing toregister as a sex offender.

Family remembers Megan Maxwell

Lisa Maxwell described Megan as "always happy and alwayssmiling, with a joke to tell you.

"She was really involved with cheerleading at EdgemontElementary School and played tennis three years at Cocke County High School,"Lisa Maxwell recalled. "She was always a happy girl. She didn't like conflictof any kind and would let people walk all over her."

Megan quit CCHS when she was a junior, but had returned toNewport and taken day classes to study for her GED exam. She was scheduled totake a GED test on the Thursday following her disappearance, and planned tograduate soon thereafter with her former classmates in the Class of 2009.

"She was real excited about taking the GED test that week,"O'Neil recalled.

Not knowing is the hardest part

Both Megan Maxwell's mother and grandmother said the longerthe time increases since Megan's disappearance without knowing her whereabouts,the harder it has been to cope with the loss.

"I know I'm not going to get good news at this point," LisaMaxwell conceded. She added, "It gets rougher each day. It's a weight on you.I'm not getting much sleep."

Lisa Maxwell also said, "I have a 16-year-old daughter(Megan's sister) I have to be strong for. She's having a rough time. It's justnow sinking in (for her) that" Megan is gone.

Lisa Maxwell said her mother, Judy O'Neil, "is my rock.We've always been really close."

When asked how the community can help her, Lisa Maxwell said,"Prayer is number one." She also asked concerned people to "call (us) and thinkabout us."

Newport Police Chief Shults said, "We feel for Lisa(Maxwell) every day, not having any closure."

O'Neil, Megan Maxwell's grandmother, said Megan moved to Morristownafter she quit high school, returned to Newport for two or three months, where she stayed with O'Neil, then wentto Indiana about two or three months with her boyfriend before returning toNewport.

Megan Maxwell had again been living with her grandmother,this time for about six months, up to the day she disappeared.

Megan Maxwell was a 'fun-loving girl'

"Megan was a fun-loving girl. She never met a stranger. Sheliked people, was outgoing, and made friends easily," O'Neil recalled. Sheadded, "She was not quick to get mad at people. She didn't hold a grudge. Shejust enjoyed life."

O'Neil said she last saw Megan Maxwell at 11 p.m. on thenight before she disappeared. Megan's friend Lane was also there in O'Neil'shome, and planned to spend the night there. Then, said O'Neil, Lane got a phonecall from her boyfriend who was getting off work and needed a ride.

Lane and Megan Maxwell drove in separate cars, picked upLane's boyfriend at his job, and went to Lane's dad's home, where MeganMaxwell, Lane, Lane's boyfriend, and possibly Lane's father, watched movies.

Close friend saw police 

After that, Lane drove her boyfriend home, and was on herway back to O'Neil's home when she noticed the police outside Megan Maxwell'sfather's house and called to alert Megan who had already arrived home in herown car and then gone to bed.

O'Neil recalled on Friday that she, Megan Maxwell,  Lane, and Megan'sgreat-grandmother  were planning ongoing to Lisa Maxwell's house in Morristown for a cookout on that Sunday shedisappeared.

Like her daughter, Lisa, O'Neil said coping with theuncertainty about Megan Maxwell's fate "is terrible." She also said of multiplesearches for the 19-year-old's body, "It doesn't seem like we're gettinganywhere."

She said, "It's just really hard."

Mother experiences 'rough days'

Lisa Maxwell also said, "I have my rough days."

After working tirelessly to find her daughter for threemonths after she disappeared, Lisa Maxwell returned to her job on Aug. 1 as aHead Start teacher's aide at Cosby Head Start, where she has worked for 11years.

"The first month was horrible," Lisa Maxwell said ofreturning to her job. "I felt so guilty being at work – I thought I should beout there searching for her (Megan)." However, she also added, "The kids are agood distraction."

Searchers have looked for Megan Maxwell's body in the FrenchBroad and Pigeon rivers, a rock quarry, a landfill, Bluff Road and BridgeportBridge along the French Broad River, and many other areas.

"We have been everywhere, from one end of this county to theother end," O'Neil said Saturday. Some searches for Megan Maxwell's body havebeen conducted by law enforcement officials and Community United Effort, basedin North Carolina. Most searches, however, have been organized on a volunteerbasis and coordinated by Hollie Lane's father, Randy Lane. There have been acandlelight vigil, several fundraisers, and a very well-attended "love chain"event near the West End Food City in town.

Lamar rented out at a steep discount a billboard they own onWest Highway 25/70 with Megan Maxwell's photograph and phone numbers to call intips. 

O'Neil said she and Lisa Maxwell were very grateful that, inaddition to that billboard, Lamar put up, at no charge, two more billboards,including one on Interstate 40 between Sevierville and Knoxville.

Helium-filled balloons released in memory

One afternoon, friends released helium-filled balloons fromthe center part of the county fairgrounds.

Megan Maxwell's mother and grandmother continue to seek waysto keep Megan Maxwell, and the search for her, in the public eye.

"Det. (Derrick) Woods (of the Newport Police Department) hashelped a whole bunch," Lisa Maxwell said.

Leads continue to come in on a weekly, sometimes daily,basis, according to Jimmy Dunn, District Attorney General.

He said Wednesday, "There are so many avenues to check on.I'm confident we will be successful in finding her body."

However, he also said many times investigators have hadtheir hopes raised when given information about Lisa Maxwell's whereabouts, butthen the leads did not pan out.

Running down leads to try and find Megan

"We're still running down every lead, re-interviewingpeople," Dunn said.

Megan Maxwell's family is planning to have anothercandlelight vigil for her soon, and hope to conduct another search soon.

The family continues to have open a fund called "The MeganMaxwell Fund" at Newport Federal Savings.

"The money goes to anything to do with finding Megan –searches, and food and hotel rooms for the searchers, etc.," Lisa Maxwell said.

Megan Maxwell was last seen wearing a green hoodie, bluejeans with large holes in them, and Hollister flip flops, according to hermother, Lisa Maxwell.

Megan Maxwell's grandmother said, "We miss her so much everyday. Every day continues like the first day. We're not going to stop until wefind Megan and get justice for her."

Mother had hoped to talk to Stock

Lisa Maxwell said that on Wednesday, Oct. 21, after debatingwith herself whether she should go, she had set up an appointment for that dayto talk to Stock, who was incarcerated in Murfreesboro. She said that two weeksearlier, a message had been relayed from Stock to her that he wanted to talk toher.

She said, without specifying, that she decided to meet Stock"to get some things off my chest," rather than to hear what he had to say.

However, when she arrived at the jail on Wednesday to signin, she learned U.S. marshals had whisked him away to another, undisclosedjail.

"Maybe that was a good thing," Lisa Maxwell said Thursday.She added, "It apparently wasn't meant to be."

Stock also wrote to this reporter several weeks ago torequest he be interviewed. The Newport Plain Talk declined the offer.

Stock to be sentenced Feb. 1, 2010

Stock is scheduled to be sentenced for not registering as asex offender on Feb. 1, 2010.

Anyone with information about Megan Maxwell's disappearanceand whereabouts can call the Newport Police Department at (423) 623-5556, orthe office of District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn at (423) 623-1285.