Maggard was last seen at her residence in the vicinity of the 500 block of River Road in Silver Grove, Kentucky at approximately 9:00 p.m. on July 4, 1984, three days before her twenty-third birthday. She was speaking on the telephone with her mother when she said her ex-husband had arrived at her apartment with their young son and she would call back after he left. She has never been heard from again. Maggard's babysitter called her mother the next day to say Maggard hadn't dropped her son off as scheduled. Her mother went to her apartment in the 500 block of River Road. All of Maggard's personal belongings were left behind there, including her purse, an uncashed check, and her pet cat. There was no indication of her whereabouts and her son wasn't home either. The child later turned up safe with his father, who was living in Cold Spring, Kentucky.

Maggard was in the process of a contentious divorce and custody battle when she disappeared. Her ex-husband, who moved to Indiana with their son later in 1984, has always been considered a suspect in her disappearance. Foul play is suspected in her case, which remains unsolved.