Name: Megan Lee Ann Pratt
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: April 1, 1991
Location Last Seen: Brooksville, Hernando County, Florida
Date of Birth: July 1988
Age: 3 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 3'0"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Blonde/Strawberry
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Chubby cheeks.
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Megan Pratt was last seen in Brooksville, Hernando County, Florida about April of 1991.
She quietly vanished from her home in woods west of Brooksville, where she lived with her parents. Strangely, no one seemed to notice that Megan Lee Ann Pratt was gone until her grandmother started asking questions - 10 years later.
The grandmother had been told by Megan's mother and stepfather that the little girl had died in a car wreck, but she could find no death certificate, no gravestone, and no hope of anyone being held accountable.
Megan's disappearance, however, generated no official notice until she took her suspicions to the Sheriff's Office in 2002.
Following up, Hernando investigators questioned Megan's mother, Vicki Anne Schober Grossberndt and stepfather, Jesse James Schober, both 36. The two gave conflicting accounts of what happened. Someone who knew the couple told investigators that Megan was dead and buried in the woods.
Megan's mother has maintained that Jesse was the one who inflicted the injuries that caused (Megan's) death. She said on a night in 1991, Megan was sitting in her high chair eating and playing with her food like a typical toddler, according to accounts compiled by investigators. Megan's behavior infuriated her stepfather, Jesse James Schober, who allegedly struck her on the head, prompting an argument with his wife, investigators said. Schober then gave Megan a bath. When the child began splashing around in the water, he allegedly rammed her head against the side of the bathtub. The blow knocked her unconscious, sheriff's reports said. The next day Megan was discovered dead in a bedroom. Schober later put Megan's body into a sleeping bag, placed it in a hole and set the body afire, according to the Hernando Sheriff's Office reports.
Detectives believe the child was killed around April 1991. Later that same year, the Schobers were evicted from their Hernando County mobile home. They left Florida and eventually divorced.
As part of her deal with prosecutors, Grossberndt pleaded no contest to aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Agency Name: Hernando County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Det. George Loydgren
Agency Phone Number: 352-754-6830
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: 37231
NamUs
Toledo Blade
St. Petersburg Times
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 05/05/2023 - By: kc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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