Hey there. I'm Kathleen Goldtar, and I have a confession to make. I am a true crime fanatic. I devour books and films, and most of all, true crime podcasts. But sometimes I just want to know more. I want to go deeper. And that's where my podcast, Crime Story, comes in. Every week, I go behind the scenes with the creators of the best in true crime. I chat with the host of Scamanda, Teacher's Pet, Bone Valley. The list goes on. For the Insider scoop, find Crime Story in your podcast app.

A picture for a moment touching down in a country you've never been to before. The landscape is alien. The language is incomprehensible, and the culture feels worlds away from anything you've ever experienced. What's more, you've arrived there with next to no notice, no time to prepare, and are tasked with a monumental responsibility: locating your missing sister. That's the situation Megan LeBron found herself in in April 2008, when the Connecticut native learned that her younger sibling, Sky, was missing, having purchased a one-way plane to Japan. Sky hadn't told a soul about her plans. In fact, the only reason her sister had known to go there in the first place was because their brother had discovered an email with Skye's flight details on the family computer. What followed was a whirlwind trip halfway around the world, one filled with a bewildering blitz of police interviews, press conferences, and unfortunately, dead ends. More than 15 years later, Megan is still searching for the truth about what happened to Sky. I'm Ashley Loeb-Blasingame, and you're listening to The Missing. A What's the Story? Original podcast series. This episode and all the episodes in the United States and Canada are brought to you with the help of the DOE Network, a not-for-profit volunteer organization dedicated to returning the missing to their families and giving the names back to the unidentified.

And with them, we've set up a simple way for you to share any tips, ideas, leads, or information which can be passed to the relevant authorities. They believe that all of the cases in this series could still be solved. This is The Missing, Sky Budnik. For as long as Megan can remember, Sky has been a devote of Japanese culture.

Her love for anime and manga, and everything related to the Japanese culture. She dove right into that with just headfirst. And she would rent animes from the local video store. I believe she also would take out mangoes from the library.

Skye's interest certainly set her apart from other kids when she was coming of age in the '90s.

I mean, we all lived in a small town, and that really wasn't mainstream at that point. And it didn't bother her. She just was all about it. And it didn't help her in making friends.

The Budnik family hung their hats in the town of Southernton, Connecticut.

It'll take you two hours to get to Boston and two hours to get to New York City. So you can get to the cities pretty easily. But also, if you don't want to go anywhere, you don't have to go anywhere. It was a mid-size suburban town. It was not very diverse. It was, I'd say, insulated, where you're not getting exposed to a lot of different things. All of the restaurants that were there 40 years ago are still there today. There were about, I'd say, seven elementary schools, two middle schools, and then one high school. So you're all... Like, towards the And as you're a little bit in your high school years, everybody in town is in the same high school. It doesn't change much. There's, I think for people who live there, who love it there, they probably find that comforting. But for people who just want a little bit more, it's a little bit stifling.

The Budnicks are a family of five. Their Sky and Megan, their older brother Matt, and their parents, Susan and Robert.

My dad worked at General Electric at GE. There was a plant over in Planeville, Connecticut, and he had gotten that job at 19 and worked there until it closed out. He actually met my mom there. My mom worked there part-time, and she worked there until she had Matt, which is my older brother. And then at that point, she was having a tough time with postpartum depression and stuff like that. So she left, and she's been working at the Harvard Insurance Company since then.

Megan and Sky were very close in those early years.

I remember always my parents would have us wear the same outfit, so we'd be twinning, and it was really cute.

But given that Megan was four years older than her sister, as time passed, they naturally went their separate ways.

I probably wasn't the kindest older sister, as that dynamic goes. She would tag along, and sometimes it went well, sometimes it didn't, because sometimes I'd be the bossy older sister. I remember having a lot of sleepovers at my grandmother's house. My sister, at that point, when she was young, I remember actually being really jealous of her because I think, obviously, there's going to be a big difference between... Four years can be a big difference between a family situation. I remember going to school, and my sister would be staying home, and she'd be going out for breakfast every morning with my mom. And I was like, That never happened. I never got to experience that. So she had a little bit of an easier time, I'd say. And my parents, just her being the youngest, She just got everything she wanted.

Megan always knew that her sister was different, that she didn't quite fit in with other kids her age.

Sky always seemed like she already knew that she didn't belong where she was. She wasn't bored in the place that she felt was her home inside, and she was always really desperate to make friends. But in making friends for her, she was unwavering in what she wanted and what she expected as a friendship. So I often saw friendships not really lasting for her.

Skye's teenage years were far from easy.

Skye had a rough time. Being that her interests were so different than everybody else's, she did experience a lot of bullying, and the bullying was done by people that she had considered friends. So I remember when she was in high school, she was sitting with a group of girls at lunch, and they were her friends for, I don't know, that year or something. And it got to a point where they just didn't want her around, but she was still forcing herself to sit with them because she didn't have any other place to go.

As a result, Skye spent a lot of time alone.

And she started withdrawing a lot Anytime she came home from school, she would just run up to her room and just close the door and stay there.

Skye's fondness for Japan eventually led her to pursue a degree in Japanese and international business at Central Connecticut State University, where she also joined a club for fans of all things Japanese. For the first time in her life, she found herself amongst like-minded folk, students who shared her passion for manga and anime, people who made her feel like she belonged.

She was definitely a different person in college. She was going out, she was doing things. And my mom was really supportive of it because Skye was always really introverted. She stayed home. She was just like, never went out. Her style changed a little bit. She would have me do her hair. I remember cutting it and dyeing it. She wanted to try new things.

But while on the surface, Skye seemed to have finally found her tribe, all was not well.

We soon realized she was going to school, mostly to just go to this club. And hang out with her friends. And she soon realized a non nonprofit volunteer organization who are dedicated to returning the missing to their families and giving the names back to the unidentified. They believe this case is one which could be solved, and it could take just one person to come forward with information. They've set up a dedicated email address where you can share tips, leads, or information. Missingpodcasttips@doughnetwork. Org. You can also visit their website, www. Donetwork. Org, to find information on hundreds of unsolved missing persons cases. For more images and detail on this episode, you can visit www. Themissingpodcast. Org. All of this information and the ways to get in touch are in the show notes. This episode was produced and edited by Jack O'Kennedy. Executive producers for What's the Story are Darryl Brown and Sophie Ellis.At the heart of this violent, bloody case is a love story, a very unusual love story. The Ruxton case is different.Any investigation before the Ruxton case was ancient history that changed the way that we investigate serious crimes. Beyond Recommission is a new limited series coming to the Small Town Dicks podcast feed on July 19th. Don't miss it. Don't forget, if you want to hear The Missing completely ad-free and get them first, then join The Missing Plus. Your subscription helps to keep the show on air. It isn't funded by any major platform, and it grows purely by word of mouth and support from listeners. You'll get exclusive access to series you can't hear anywhere else, as well as early access to all episodes of The Missing, completely ad-free. Signing up is really easy. Just search Missing Plus in Apple Podcasts or follow the link in the show notes.

a non nonprofit volunteer organization who are dedicated to returning the missing to their families and giving the names back to the unidentified. They believe this case is one which could be solved, and it could take just one person to come forward with information. They've set up a dedicated email address where you can share tips, leads, or information. Missingpodcasttips@doughnetwork. Org. You can also visit their website, www. Donetwork. Org, to find information on hundreds of unsolved missing persons cases. For more images and detail on this episode, you can visit www. Themissingpodcast. Org. All of this information and the ways to get in touch are in the show notes. This episode was produced and edited by Jack O'Kennedy. Executive producers for What's the Story are Darryl Brown and Sophie Ellis.

At the heart of this violent, bloody case is a love story, a very unusual love story. The Ruxton case is different.

Any investigation before the Ruxton case was ancient history that changed the way that we investigate serious crimes. Beyond Recommission is a new limited series coming to the Small Town Dicks podcast feed on July 19th. Don't miss it. Don't forget, if you want to hear The Missing completely ad-free and get them first, then join The Missing Plus. Your subscription helps to keep the show on air. It isn't funded by any major platform, and it grows purely by word of mouth and support from listeners. You'll get exclusive access to series you can't hear anywhere else, as well as early access to all episodes of The Missing, completely ad-free. Signing up is really easy. Just search Missing Plus in Apple Podcasts or follow the link in the show notes.