SHE JUST WANTED TO BE 22 AGAIN
ELLE US|December 2022/January 2023
When a young victim of domestic violence showed up in a small town in Missouri, the residents took her in. But she wasn't who she said she was.
SARAH TRELEAVEN
SHE JUST WANTED TO BE 22 AGAIN

In early 2016, a blonde stranger with round cheeks arrived at a domestic violence shelter near the small town of West Plains, Missouri, visibly shaken. She said her name was Lauren Ashleigh Hays and that she was 22 years old.

The story Lauren told was both familiar and sad: She was running from a boyfriend who beat her. She needed help starting over. A woman affiliated with the shelter had friends nearby named Wendy and Avery Parker, who offered to take Lauren in. The Parkers, an older married couple, found Lauren an old truck to drive and a place to live in their town of Willow Springs, a quaint community with 2,160 residents and a main street lined with red brick buildings. They helped her enroll at a satellite campus of Southwest Baptist University in another small town called Mountain View, 17 miles east. Lauren expressed interest in becoming a child psychologist.

For the next two and a half years, Lauren thrived. She led story time for the kids at a local library, appeared in a production of a Jesus-centered domestic violence play, and gleefully kissed her fair share of the town's young men. She went to water aerobics and made friends with an excitable mob of young women, who wore a uniform of short summer dresses with tennis shoes in the sticky Missouri heat. But the persona she was building would turn out to be an outrageous lie. And then she was gone, leaving residents to wonder who she really was, and if any of the love and care they had invested in her ever meant a thing.

This story is from the December 2022/January 2023 edition of ELLE US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the December 2022/January 2023 edition of ELLE US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM ELLE USView All
La Nuova BELLEZA
ELLE US

La Nuova BELLEZA

Confident, sexy, and at the height of the fashion world. Italian supermodel Vittoria Ceretti demonstrates how to dress for seduction in spring's sheer.feminine slipdresses and body-conscious looks from luxury labels in Italy and beyond.

time-read
7 mins  |
March 2024
Repainting Broadway
ELLE US

Repainting Broadway

Lempicka is changing the narrative by making room for a new kind of character.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 2024
KUNAWAY RLBOSS
ELLE US

KUNAWAY RLBOSS

She coined the term that inspired a generation of women entrepreneurs—and then sunk them. Ten years later, Sophia Amoruso is ready to cast off the label for good.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 2024
YOUTH SERUM IN A SHOT?
ELLE US

YOUTH SERUM IN A SHOT?

My Roman Empire? There's this retreat the healthiest person you know as your guest, and then over the next few days, your plus-one donates their number two to gift you a health-boosting fecal transplant.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 2024
EVERYONE WANTS TO SMELL RARE AND DIFFERENT
ELLE US

EVERYONE WANTS TO SMELL RARE AND DIFFERENT

Niche perfumes are helping you to be less like the crowd— and more like you.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 2024
Take It OFFLINE
ELLE US

Take It OFFLINE

Instagram-famous artist Cj Hendry now wants fans to see and touch the work.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
IMPERFECTION Is the New PERFECTION
ELLE US

IMPERFECTION Is the New PERFECTION

From artfully disheveled, on-the-run looks to everyday core, the rising runway aesthetic is one of considered undoneness. How will it translate in real life?

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
WHAT WOMEN DESIGNERS WANT
ELLE US

WHAT WOMEN DESIGNERS WANT

Women are the beating heart of fashion, but female designers remain underrepresented in the industry. Here, 13 of the best on how their identities shape them, and how they’re pushing for change.

time-read
6 mins  |
March 2024
Working for a Billionaire Worth It?
ELLE US

Working for a Billionaire Worth It?

What started as a dream job began to look increasingly like a nightmare.

time-read
5 mins  |
February 2024
The Compassion of Penélope Cruz
ELLE US

The Compassion of Penélope Cruz

The noted empath, devoted mother, and mesmerizing star of Ferrari is hard not to fall in love with

time-read
10 mins  |
February 2024