Rachel Shannon

Meanwhile, her mother worked as a nurse.

Megan had one sister named Karen, as far as I could tell, and the family lived in Queens before moving to Orange County in New York so that they could have a house with a bigger yard for Megan to play in.

Megan was described as being full of life, happiness, laughter, and love.

She was the life of the party and lit up any room that she entered.

Megan loved animals, always walking around and holding her kitten in her arms.

From the time that she was a little girl, she always understood how important family was to her, especially her dad.

She had always been very close to her father, so when he suddenly passed away in 2002, when she was only 19 years old, she was devastated.

He died at the young age of 47 from a sudden heart attack, and obviously this sent shockwaves through the family.

Those around Megan said that she had a very, very difficult time dealing with this.

She couldn't wrap her head around it.

It made her angry.

She was so confused and this was just a very rough time for her in her life, but she used her pain to help others in any way that she could.

Megan had graduated from Burke Catholic School in 2000 and then went on to study at Orange County Community College and while attending school,

She also worked as a waitress at the American Cafe restaurant in Galleria Mall in Middleton.

By all accounts, even though she was dealing with the tragic death of her father, Megan was so excited to start her life.

She had just signed a lease to a new apartment, she was in a new relationship, and she was partying it up with her friends.

Things were going really great for her.

At 10.30am on March 13th, 2003, Megan showed up for her shift at the cafe.

She worked her shift as normal and left by 3pm once her shift was over.

After her shift, she went back to her new apartment where she had just moved into that same year and she was so excited about it.