The woman crowned Mrs. Dallas and set to compete in the Mrs. Texas beauty pageant has gone missing.
Lashun Massey is much more than a beauty queen. She's a beloved wife, a mother of two, and a doctor with her PhD in civil engineering. She works as a program manager for research at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Engineering.
As part of her pageant preparation routine, Lashun would go for an early morning walk in her Irving, Texas, neighborhood. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie and checkered pajama pants walking near Lake Lago de Claire at 5:30 a.m. Her husband, Jeff Massey, called police at 7:40 a.m., when he realized she did not return.
Lashun Massey has always been the kind of woman who puts a smile on the faces of those who know her. The Mrs. Dallas titleholder was expected to compete in Mrs. Texas on April 29. Instead, police are searching for her nearly 48 hours after she disappeared.
For the last few years as she's prepared for pageants, Lashun has always gone for walks in her Irving, Texas, neighborhood. She left at about 5:30 a.m. on April 27 and was spotted at the nearby Lago De Claire shortly thereafter.
"So at about 7:15, I got a little nervous and I texted her. I gave her a call and she didn’t answer so at the time I found our security guard down here and said that they had seen her or somebody over in the canal," husband Jeff Massey told CBS DFW.
When Lashun didn't answer, Jeff called police. They informed him that they'd received several calls about a woman walking into and out of the water.
"They asked her if she was okay, and she said she was, so they carried about their business," Robert Keeker of the Irving Fire Department said.
"After that they said they saw her exit the water and then we later received a tip that someone else had seen her in the water again a couple of hours later."
Jeff doesn't believe Lashun would harm herself, but he does have concerns. "She knows how much I love her and how much I cherish her," he said.
"She’s my world and she’s going to come home."
Neighbors share in Jeff's concerns. "I mean, my fear is that something bad happened to her. I don’t think there was just some sort of accident that happened," the couple's neighbor Elizabeth Rychlinski shared.
"It's scary and there's been talk about something happening maybe in the water and we all walk around this often."
Lashun's family has traveled from Arkansas to aid in the search.
"I don't believe she's in the water," her father, Frank King, said.
"I just don't believe it."
Outside of her pageant life, Lashun is a mother of two boys. She has a PhD in civil engineering and works as a program manager for research at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Engineering. The plethora of people who know her from different walks of life have all been praying for her safe return.
Sadly, it seems this story may not have a happy ending. The police have maintained that they don't believe foul play is a factor. On Thursday morning, a search of Lago De Claire recovered a body, according to reports. There hasn't been any confirmation that it is Lashun yet, but it's a jarring discovery regardless.
