Ebby Steppach (pictured right) and her friend Kailey Foley (pictured left) circa 2015.
As posted previously, Ebby went missing from her Little Rock, Arkansas home in October 2015. A day after her disappearance, her car was found abandoned at Chalamont Park.
Kailey and Ebby were close friends, so Kailey was inevitably interviewed by detectives after Ebby went missing. After the interview, Kailey and her mother Margie Foley decided to go to Chalamont Park themselves to see if they could find any clues. The two did not walk very far into the park before Margie said she was “hit with the smell of decomposition coming from a nearby drain.” Margie immediately called the detective who had just interviewed Kailey about Ebby’s disappearance, but he did not answer. Margie then called 911 and asked somebody to come investigate. She ended up calling 3 times before Little Rock Police finally showed up on the scene. However, once they were there, they dismissed Margie’s claims. When she expressed concern that the smell might be related to the case, an officer told her, “This park was gone through with dogs and they would have picked up on that. It must be an animal or something.”
As it turns out, Kailey’s mother was correct all along, as Ebby’s remains were found in the same drainage pipe almost three years later, in May 2018. It’s likely that Ebby was there the whole time. If the police had investigated when they were first asked, Ebby could have been found way sooner.
Both Margie and Kailey believe that somebody should be held responsible for for the handling of this information. Little Rock Police say this is an open investigation, but they won't be doing any further interviews with the media.
