Lowery was last seen in Olive Branch, Mississippi on February 2, 1999. She lived on a 25-acre property in the 8900 block of Center Hill Road with her eight-year-old daughter, her nine-year-old son and her boyfriend, Sheldon Wright VanHoute. He is not the father of either of the children. Lowery disappeared on her daughter's birthday. A short time after her disappearance, VanHoute moved with her children to a hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He didn't enroll the children in school and ordered them not to leave home during the day while he was at work.

Lowery's daughter escaped from VanHoute in October 1999. She told authorities that he had been sexually abusing her for months. He was convicted of sexual assault against the girl in 2000 and sentenced to six life terms in prison. Investigators learned VanHoute's real name was Steven "Troy" DeLoge. He is a suspect in the disappearance of his half-sister, Elizabeth Eisel. Their mother gave Eisel up for adoption when she was born and Eisel found DeLoge after she grew up and began looking for her birth relatives. They became romantically involved and passed themselves off as a married couple, and Eisel changed her name to Danielle DeLoge. She gave birth to Steven's son in 1983, but their relationship had deteriorated by the time she disappeared from Bellevue, Washington in September 1985.

Authorities didn't begin investigating Lowery's disappearance until Steven was arrested for sexually abusing her daughter. He had cleaned their Mississippi home before he left, but when police searched it they found traces of blood on the floors and walls. They could find no indication of Lowery's whereabouts. Steven remains the prime suspect in both Eisel and Lowery's cases, although he has never been charged in connection with either disappearance. Foul play is suspected in the women's cases, which remain unsolved.