Search Continues For Missing Eden Prairie Woman Mandy Matula

Eden Prairie Police continue to search for 24-year-old Mandy Marie Matula, who has been missing since the evening of May 1.

On Saturday, a community search team investigating the area around County Road 4 and Scenic Heights Road found an unfired piece of ammunition. Police didn't say whether the caliber of the bullet matched the handgun that Roe used to shoot himself.

The closed off area was just across Highway 212 from Miller Park, where Roe and Matula were thought to have been. Police closed a portion of County Road 4 in order to “expand the focus of the area being investigated.” 

At 10 a.m. on Sunday, a group of people searching the area around Scenic Heights Road near County Road 4 discovered several small pieces of tissue with blood on them. As a result, police closed off the area, including the portion of Scenic Heights Road between Red Oak Drive and Village Woods Drive, to investigate further. The findings appear to be unrelated to Mandy Matula’s disappearance.

Police believe the person of interest in this case, David Roe, likely traveled within areas of Stearns County after he was last seen with Matula. Therefore, areas of Stearns County are being searched by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department. Roe was enrolled at St. Cloud State University, according to the St. Cloud Times.

Steven Matula, Matula's brother, posted on Facebook that cellphone records show that Roe's phone was used Thursday morning near I-94 in St. Cloud.

In addition, "items of interest" discovered in Carver County resulted in a search there Sunday, but have not resulted in any significant developments toward locating Mandy.

David Marshall Roe died at 3:04 a.m. Friday at Hennepin County Medical Center. The death has been classified as a suicide. Roe is listed as having shot himself at 1:32 p.m. Thursday.

Matula was reported missing after she failed to show up to work Thursday. She was last seen around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, with Roe at Matula's family home.

Matula's family told police that Roe and Matula left the house and said they might have been at Miller Park in Eden Prairie at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. 

Matula and Roe were girlfriend and boyfriend but had broken up recently. Officers asked to speak to Roe after he was identified as a “person of interest,” and he agreed to come in. He shot himself in the Eden Prairie City Center parking lot before police were able to speak with him.

At this time, police have not organized a large-scale public search but they are recommending that Eden Prairie residents interested in helping should search their own property and neighborhoods, including nearby wooded areas. However, a Facebook group has been started to aid in the search effort.

Anyone with information on Matula's whereabouts is asked to call 952-949-6200. The city has created a website with the latest information about the investigation at http://www.edenprairie.org/missingperson.

See also: 

• Man Shoots Himself Prior To Questioning About Missing Woman
• Paper Left Behind After Man Shot Himself May Contain Clues to Woman's Disappearance
• Ex-Boyfriend of Missing Woman Dies After Shooting Himself