Karin Elizabeth Knechtel Mero

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Siskiyou County Sheriffs Department (CA)

Missing From:

McCloud, CA

Summary:

Karin Elizabeth Knechtel Mero, 27, was last seen in February 1997 on the front porch of the East Minnesota Avenue home in McCloud, California, where she lived with her boyfriend. A 1994 liver transplant recipient, she never refilled the anti-rejection medication she needed to survive. She was not reported missing until October 1997. The sheriff's office now investigates her disappearance as a homicide; her remains have not been found.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Karin Elizabeth Knechtel Mero was 27 years old in early 1997 and living in McCloud, Siskiyou County. She had received a liver transplant in 1994 and depended on regular anti-rejection medication and other prescriptions to survive; she was classified as disabled and her only income was a monthly disability payment of about $700. She was separated from her husband and was dating Ed Henline Jr., living with him at his parents' home on the 300 block of East Minnesota Avenue in McCloud. Karin was last seen on the front porch of that residence. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office and the California Department of Justice record her date last seen as Friday, February 28, 1997; the Charley Project and some news reports give February 15, 1997. She did not refill her prescriptions after February 1997, which her family and investigators regard as strong evidence that she did not simply leave: without the medication her transplanted liver would fail. She was not reported missing to law enforcement until October 1997, roughly eight months after she was last seen. Her parents and authorities had at first assumed she had left voluntarily, in part because she had an outstanding arrest warrant, but as the months passed with no word, concern for her welfare grew. About eight months after her disappearance, Ed Henline Sr. and his wife Debbie were arrested for cashing Karin's disability checks after she vanished; in 1998 they were ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and placed on three years' probation for welfare fraud. Four months after Karin was last seen, in June 1997, 15-year-old Hannah Zaccaglini disappeared while walking past the same East Minnesota Avenue house. The sheriff's office focused on the Henline household from the beginning of both investigations: search warrants were served, statements taken, cadaver dogs deployed and the FBI assisted, but nothing was found. In November 2012 Ed Henline Sr. was arrested for Hannah's murder and his son on suspicion of conspiracy and accessory, with the sheriff's office saying a parallel investigation into Karin's disappearance was under way; the charges in Hannah's case were dismissed in May 2013 for insufficient evidence, and no one has ever been charged in Karin's case. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office investigates Karin's disappearance as a homicide and considers it connected to Hannah Zaccaglini's. Despite searches of the area her body has never been found. In November 2017 the sheriff's office renewed its appeal for information in both cases, and in February 2019 detectives said the investigations remained active and announced a reward of $2,500, possibly rising to $5,000, for information leading to a conviction. In March 2026 regional news again profiled her case as unsolved. Karin is considered missing under suspicious circumstances.

Additional Details:

Anyone with information is asked to call the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office at (530) 842-8300 or the 24-hour dispatch center at (530) 841-2900; anonymous tips are accepted. A reward of $2,500 (possibly increasing to $5,000) was announced in 2019 for information leading to a conviction in Karin's or Hannah Zaccaglini's case.

Case Last Updated:

Oct 23, 2026