She told two people, separately, the same disturbing story about her own mother. Then she recanted it. Three years later, she disappeared — right around the time a court finally wanted to hear what she had to say.
Two Disappearances, One Common Thread
Liehnia "Lena" May Chapin grew up in a large, unstable Missouri family shaped by her mother Sandra "Sandy" Klemp's series of marriages — Klemp would go on to marry five times, including twice to brothers. Lena was warm and devoted to her family, particularly her young son, Colter, by every account from people who knew her. By her early twenties, she was living in Dent County, Missouri, trying to build a stable life for herself and her child.
Her story is inseparable from another disappearance that came first: that of her stepfather, Gary McCullough, Sandy's third husband.
A Stepfather Vanishes
On May 11, 1999, Gary McCullough disappeared from his ranch in Barry County, Missouri. Sandy told police he'd gone to buy a fighting rooster and never returned, and didn't report him missing until two days later — and only then because deputies happened to show up at the ranch on an unrelated matter. His abandoned truck was found five days later on a rural road.
By most accounts, Gary's marriage to Sandy was falling apart at the time. Friends told investigators he was actively moving his belongings out, planning to leave her after learning she was having an affair with Kristopher Klemp. Within days of Gary's disappearance, Kris had moved in with Sandy. In June 1999, Kris was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, accused of trying to hire someone to kill Gary — the charge was dropped a month later for lack of evidence. Sandy and Kris married in May 2000, one month after her divorce from Gary was finalized.
A Daughter's Confession
In 2003, Lena — then a teenager — approached Gary's brother, Albert McCullough, and told him a disturbing account: that her mother had shot Gary three times in the head, and that Lena herself had helped clean up afterward, scrubbing blood from the floor, pulling up carpet, wrapping Gary's body in plastic, and burning it in a brush fire until only bone fragments remained. She said she'd helped because she was afraid her mother would go to prison and leave her and her sisters without a guardian. She told a similar account to one of her sisters as well.
Albert recorded the conversation without Lena's knowledge and turned the tape over to police. When investigators contacted Lena, Sandy arranged for a lawyer, who advised her of her right to remain silent. Lena and her mother both retained legal counsel, and Lena ultimately recanted her confession.
A Lawsuit, and a Witness Who Disappears
Gary was declared legally dead in 2005. In 2012, his daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sandy and Kris, alleging the two had conspired to kill him. As part of that process, Lena was subpoenaed to testify — and that's when investigators discovered she had been missing since February 2006, more than three years earlier, with no one having ever formally reported it.
Lena's fiancé, Jason Bryant, told investigators in 2012 that he'd kissed her goodbye on the morning of Valentine's Day, 2006, and left for work. When he returned that evening, Lena was gone, and Sandy was in the apartment cleaning out her daughter's belongings, claiming Lena had left him for another man and moved to Florida. Lena's young son, Colter, was left behind — something her sisters have said she never would have done willingly, given how devoted she was to him.
It wasn't until 2008 that Lena was formally reported missing, by her father, Robert Chapin. The Dent County Sheriff's Office didn't begin actively investigating her case until 2012 — six years after she vanished.
A Pattern That's Hard to Ignore
Investigators and Lena's own family have noted the timing is difficult to read as coincidence: Lena disappeared not long after providing the only direct account tying her mother to Gary's death, and right around the period her testimony could have become central to a legal proceeding against Sandy. Her sudden absence meant the recorded confession was never played for the jury at the eventual civil trial, since a summons issued for her was never able to be delivered.
The apartment building's landlord later reported that a window in Lena's unit was found cracked, with a large dark stain on a covering that couldn't be cleaned out — he didn't suspect foul play at the time and discarded it. The unit was later destroyed in an unrelated fire.
A Civil Verdict, No Criminal Charges
In the summer of 2013, a civil jury in Stone County unanimously found Sandy and Kris liable for Gary's wrongful death, awarding his daughters $7 million in damages. The verdict was, in legal terms, an acknowledgment of responsibility — but it carried no criminal consequences. Sandy and Kris divorced in 2014. Neither has ever been criminally charged in connection with either Gary's death or Lena's disappearance, and Sandy has continued to maintain her innocence in both cases.
A National Audience, Two Decades Later
In 2020, the case reached a far wider audience through Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" reboot, in an episode titled "Missing Witness." One of Lena's sisters told the documentary's producers she had witnessed her mother and Kris carrying what looked like Gary's wrapped body out of the house — a striking, direct eyewitness account that goes beyond what circulated publicly before. The show's co-creator, Terry Dunn Meurer, noted afterward that despite the civil verdict, nothing legally prevents Sandy from still being criminally tried for Gary's murder, since there's no statute of limitations on homicide.
As of recent reporting, Sandy — now going by Sandy Wink, having remarried again — has continued to decline interviews about either case and has retained custody of Lena's son, Colter, raising him largely as her own in the years since Lena's disappearance.
Where Things Stand
Both Gary McCullough and Lena Chapin remain listed as missing persons by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which has stated it suspects foul play in McCullough's disappearance. No remains connected to either case have ever been found, despite searches of properties Sandy has lived at over the years. There has been no activity on Lena's Social Security number since 2006, and she left all of her belongings behind.
If you have information about Gary McCullough's disappearance, contact the Barry County Sheriff's Office at (417) 847-3121. If you have information about Lena Chapin's disappearance, contact the Dent County Sheriff's Office at (573) 729-3241.
Sources
What Happened To Sandy Klemp And Her Missing Daughter Lena Chapin From 'Unsolved Mysteries'? — Oxygen
https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/unsolved-mysteries-where-are-lena-chapin-sandy-klemp-now
After 10 years missing, is Lena Chapin still alive? — The Salem News
https://www.thesalemnewsonline.com/news/local_news/article_0a03aaf2-d453-11e5-8f33-331b77b7d700.html
'Unsolved Mysteries' Co-Creator Says Sandy Klemp Could Still Be Tried for Murder — TheWrap
https://www.thewrap.com/unsolved-mysteries-netflix-sandy-klemp-lena-chapin-gary-mccullough-murder/
Lena Chapin Missing: Was Lena Chapin Found? Is She Dead? — The Cinemaholic
https://thecinemaholic.com/lena-chapin-disappearance/