This past May marked 37 years since Margie Ranshaw was last seen near Barryton in Mecosta County. She left behind a two-month-old daughter.
Nearly everything Ashley Copelin knows about her mom, Margie Ranshaw, comes from photos, and stories passed down from family members
“She worked as a paralegal and all that kind of stuff. I know they were raised in the country. So they’re always out there doing some kind of silly stuff,” said Copelin.
Ashley was just two months old in May of 1987 when her mom left their home on 17 Mile Road to head for a gallon of milk in nearby Barryton. Her vehicle was later located near Howell, but Margie was nowhere to be found.
“Her car got found over there, and it got impounded. That’s all I know,” said Ashley.
Family members took on the task of raising Ashley, and with every year that passed the questions of what happened to her mom lingered.
“I had a great life. Great growing up, vacations. You know, we had it all, to be honest with you. And, very grateful for the life that I. But, as far as, like, not having my biological mom, I think it was a little harder for me, like, in elementary school, or going on vacation, you know, being the only African American. So there’s always questions to and you can’t get away with answering like, oh, is your mom black? Is your dad black? Are they together? You know, you can’t get away with those kind of questions without telling your whole story,” said Ashley.
The whole story of what happened to Margie Ranshaw still isn’t known.
Records from the Mecosta County Sheriff’s office show as recently as 2022, detectives looked into the possibly that Margie’s case could be related to an unidentified missing person from 1989 in Wayne County. Dental records didn’t match.
Then in January of this year, detectives considered the possibility Margie could be connected to a 1987 missing person’s case out of Toledo. Once again, dental records weren’t a match.
Even still, Ashley isn’t giving up.
“And, what got me started actually was just like, kind of like googling, like, her name and, like, just looking,” explained Ashley.
What started as a journey to learn more about her mom, led to Ashley discovering more about herself as well
“I did a DNA test on ancestry, and I actually, you know, after I did the interview, like a month later, I had actually got a hit on ancestry that I had like 100% sibling. And just kind of like doing this and, doing the interview with you just, you know, like, something peaceful, something, that now that I’ve done this, I can leave this to rest,” said Ashley.
But even with those discoveries there are still a lot of questions about what happened to Margie Ranshaw back in 1987 and where she ended up. They’re questions Ashley hopes to one day have answered.
“She would go hitchhiking and she would disappear for, 3 to 6 months at a time to me, I got that she knows how to survive on her own,” explained Ashley.
“I believe that she was probably leaving. She was probably going to leave. You know, I don’t know if she had intentions on coming back. I do believe that if she’s hitchhiking, that there could be foul play. I still want to know what happened to her. I do,” said Ashely.
If you have any information on what happened to Margie Ranshaw, contact the Mecosta County Sheriff’s Office at (231) 592-0150.
