U.S. Marine From Sag Disappears, Leaves Questions

By Tiffany Razzano

In the first weeks that a young marine from Sag Harbor and her husband were reported missing, only questions and more questions have surfaced. Twenty-year-old Lance Cpl. Margaret McMahon and her husband, fellow marine Pfc. George Kevyn Reid, have been missing from her Southern California base since March 31. Both McMahon and Reid were scheduled to deploy to Iraq this summer.

After McMahon, a native of Sag Harbor, was reported missing, police speculated that she had possibly been kidnapped by her husband, whom she met last fall and married in January. The last anyone heard from her was that she and Reid, 22, had gotten into an argument on March 30. The next morning she planned to legally change her last name at her base, Camp Pendleton, but she never made it there and has not been heard from. Reid was last seen at the Marine Corp Air Station Miramar that same morning. Both had been in the marines for only ten months and worked as communication equipment operators.

McMahon's family, friends and police feared the worst, but after she was identified on an April 1 surveillance tape withdrawing $400 from an ATM in Kansas, police have backed away from the possibility of her being kidnapped, saying that, most likely, she and her husband ran away together. Someone also attempted to withdraw money from her account at an ATM in Missouri on April 3.

Escondido police, who have reported that the couple's off-base apartment was devoid of all personal items except for their Marine uniforms and some furniture, are dropping the case because the ATM video is proof that McMahon is currently outside of their jurisdiction. The Naval Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and the United States Marine Corps will continue the investigation of her disappearance.

Still, McMahon's family says this is unlike her, as she rarely goes very long without calling. The family also reportedly said they feel they have been lied to by the Escondido Police Department and claim they have photos proving that all of McMahon's personal belongings, including her purse and ID, clothing and her phone charger, remain in her Escondido apartment - a contradiction of the police reports. They don't believe that McMahon left California willingly. The family is offering a $12,000 reward for anyone who has information that will lead to her whereabouts.

McMahon's and Reid's Myspace profiles, which have been logged onto as recently as April 7, have become de facto message boards for frustrated friends and family members. Countless comments on Reid's profile implore him to call or allow McMahon to call home as soon as possible. On her profile, she refers to herself as "Mrs. Reid." McMahon, who attended Pierson High School in Sag Harbor for three years, ultimately graduated from West Babylon High School.

Escondido police, McMahon's mother, Kathryn McMahon, her sister, Kimberleigh McMahon, and Jeff Nichols, principal at Pierson High School, did not return calls to Dan's Papers. When her father, John McMahon, was contacted for a comment, he said, "I'm on the phone with her brother, who's in the Marine Corps, and we're trying to find his sister. I'll have to get back to you."

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