Just where is she?

That’s what family members of Lisa McLelland want to know after the Covington County woman’s car was found abandoned in the Pensacola Airport parking lot last week.

McLelland – a more than four-year employee at Andalusia’s Dairy Queen – was reported missing by her sister on Nov. 15 after a cryptic Facebook message said McLelland was in Egypt.

“Egypt? Right,” said McLelland’s sister, Marilyn Mulvaney of Andalusia. “We don’t know where she is, but I don’t think that it’s going to end well. She would have told me if she was leaving.”

Chief Deputy David Anderson of the Covington County Sheriff’s Office said an investigation into McLelland’s disappearance has begun, and Mulvaney said she’s contacted the Mobile FBI office for help. McLelland’s white 2001 Buick Regal was in the lot for nearly a week before it was found.

Mulvaney and other family members believe that McLelland could have left the area after meeting someone online.

“That’s the only thing I can think of after a co-worker said that she’d been chatting with a guy online,” Mulvaney said. “She told me that the guy said he lived in California, but worked in Egypt. She never saw a photo of him. You know, there’s no way my sister could’ve gotten to Egypt. No way.”

Mulvaney said attempts to reach McLelland by phone were unsuccessful.

“In fact, you call and it’s like the phone is turned off,” she said. “It goes straight to the message that she doesn’t have voicemail set up. I don’t know what to do.”

Mulvaney said she, along with McLelland’s two sons and daughter, is asking for the public’s help to bring McLelland home.

“Her son talked to her on that Saturday (before she went missing),” Mulvaney said. “She said she was getting her nails done. We don’t know where she went to from there.”

Mulvaney said the family did receive a cryptic message late last week from someone claiming to be her sister.

“But I know it wasn’t her,” she said. “I know it was someone using her phone. The messages weren’t right. One said she loved us and that she was OK. It said she’d be home as soon as she could. It said there was a ‘communication error’ and that her phone would not work in Egypt. Another message said she’d be home in two or three days, and that was almost a week ago. “I know whoever has her phone is doing that,” Mulvaney said. “I don’t know (what’s going on) to be honest. What I’m thinking is I don’t think it’s going to be a good turnout.”

McLelland is described as a 50-year-old white female, 5-foot-3-inches tall and weighing approximately 180 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes and is employed as the DQ night shift manager.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the CCSO at 334.428.2640.