Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Where is Morgan Mengel?

Morgan Mengel, the wife of Kevin Mengel, lived a quiet life with her family of five at the Golf Club Apartments in Chester Country, Pennsylvania. Her marriage with Kevin suffered its own share of ups and downs but everything changed permanently when Kevin Mengel failed to return to his family after he allegedly walked out on them on June 17, 2010.

With further investigations by the West Goshen police, Kevin's body was found in the backyard of a Delaware County high school. The perpetrators were determined to be Kevin's wife, Morgan Mengel, and her 21-year-old lover Stephen Shappell. The third episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered season 8 details the Kevin Mengel murder case as the synopsis reads,

"Kevin and Morgan Mengel are happy at first, but when the marriage goes bad, he goes missing; police wonder if he simply left, but a family's relentless pursuit leads to a stunning confrontation and, eventually, the truth."

The Dateline episode titled Toxic is scheduled to re-air on November 14, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET on Oxygen.

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Where is Morgan Mengel now? Details explored

Morgan Mengel and Kevin Mengel were married to each other and had three children when Kevin Mengel went missing under mysterious circumstances. Kevin Mengel had allegedly walked out of his family on June 17, 2010, demanding some space.

However, his absence from the Father's Day picnic organized by Kevin's side of the family raised suspicions. Kevin sent out replies to all his loved ones who checked in on him and even made a Facebook post from a computer addressing his absence. The tone of his texts and the style of his communication raised eyebrows and Kevin's mother, Kathleen Barton, reported him missing on June 20, 2010.

The Mengel family (Image via MSNBC)

As the police began their investigation, Kevin's side of the family noticed Morgan getting close with a 21-year-old employee of their family business, Stephen Michael Shappell, who had almost moved in with their family. On the morning of June 25, 2010, Morgan and Stephen had turned up at the MKB Landscaping office with a pile of clothes in their pickup truck.

Coincidentally, Detective David Maurer was present at the property to check if Kevin had turned up at the location. However, Morgan brushed past the detective and appeared flustered when Stephen fled with the truck.

This prompted Morgan to confess the crime of her husband being killed but shifted the blame to Stephen. Stephen had been brought into the police station just a day before for questioning when he had admitted to having an affair with Morgan Mengel.

Kevin Mengel (Image via MSNBC)

Following Morgan's statement, Stephen was arrested from Denver, Colorado, and brought in for questioning. Both Morgan and Stephen provided similar details of the murder plan and one detail that came to the surface was Morgan had planned the entire murder and had Stephen execute it. This became more clear as the text messages exchanged between the two were retrieved by the local police.

As per Morgan Mengel's plan, the objective was to poison Kevin Mengel to death by mixing concentrated nicotine with his favorite iced tea Snapple. The next morning, Stephen observed Kevin take sips from his drink but did not notice much change in his physical state.

This is when he took the decision to hit him in the head with a shovel in the workshop. The blows that Stephen delivered not only broke the shovel into two but also ended Kevin's life following which the duo buried his body behind a Delaware County high school.

Kevin Mengel and Morgan Mengel (Image via MSNBC)

Morgan Mengel has been sentenced to life in prison without parole and charged with first-degree murder, possession of instruments of crime, hindering apprehension, and criminal conspiracy. Stephen Shappell, on the other hand, is looking at 40 to 80 years in prison as per his plea deal.