Karleen and Mark Rogers know their daughter lived a troubled life.

She suffered from mental illness. She had problems with alcohol and drugs. She was in and out of rehab. But in the summer of 2017, the 27-year-old Megan Rogers seemingly had hit a smooth stretch.

She had a job as a housekeeper at a Grand Chute hotel. She was living at her parents' home in Appleton. She and her girlfriend of two years were caring for Rogers' 5-year-old son.

"She had been good for awhile, as far as we had known," Karleen Rogers told The Post-Crescent.

Within a two-day span, though, Rogers relapsed into a binge of alcohol and drugs. It ended the night of July 26, when she was found lying on the pavement of West Prospect Avenue near Northern Road in Grand Chute. She suffered a fractured skull and was unconscious. She died from her injuries three days later.

Grand Chute police know Rogers left a nearby bar minutes before she was found, but they have been unable to explain what happened in-between. Did she jump out of a moving car, as she had done 40 minutes earlier? Was she hit by a car? Was it a homicide? No person or vehicle was around when a passer-by spotted her lying on the road.

Detectives have made multiple attempts to interview a Green Bay man who was at the bar with Rogers and is the last known witness to have been associated with Rogers. He initially refused to answer questions and more recently — on Sept. 17, 2019 — told a detective he doesn't remember anything of that night.

It's a lot for the Rogers family to process.

"He knows what happened," Karleen Rogers said of the man. "If she would have jumped out of the car, we would have went, 'Well, possibly she would have, being that drunk.' That's all I want to hear, what exactly happened. She didn't have any other injuries that were consistent with getting hit by a car. No broken bones. There's hardly any scrapes on her."

Karleen and Mark are nurses at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, so they're well-versed about trauma.

"I work in ICU, and I take care of these head injuries," Mark said. "This doesn't add up. It just — it would be more" if she were hit by a car.

No arrests have been made in the case, and no new leads have emerged of late, but David Maas, lieutenant of investigations for Grand Chute police, said he still considers it an active investigation.

"We hope that somebody will come forward with information," Maas told The Post-Crescent. "The person who knows what happened is not talking to us, but hopefully, if he has confided in someone, that person will come forward."

Anyone with details about the case is asked to call Grand Chute police at 920-832-1575.

Authorities discussed holding a John Doe hearing, which is an investigative tool to determine whether a crime was committed and if so, by whom. Law enforcement can compel reluctant witnesses to testify under oath in a John Doe hearing, but the Outagamie County District Attorney's Office hasn't requested one be held.

"We have to be able to prove that a crime was committed," Maas said. "That's the issue. We can't say undeniably at this point that a crime was committed. It's possible a crime was committed — we're not ruling that out — but it's also possible that a crime wasn't committed."

Mark and Karleen Rogers praised the efforts of Grand Chute police but have lost patience with the ordeal. They believe their daughter was with the Green Bay man when she sustained her fatal injuries.

Karleen recently sent a letter to the 37-year-old man — he now lives in Chicago — calling him a murderer and asking him to come clean.

"Today is my birthday, and I should be celebrating with my daughter," she wrote to the man, "but instead I am thinking about her and the person that caused her death. I am sure you remember EVERY detail of that night."

The Post-Crescent isn't identifying the man because he hasn't been arrested or charged in the case.

What we know

The Post-Crescent obtained a copy of the investigative report on Rogers' death from Grand Chute police after filing a public records request with the agency.

The 37-page report sheds light on what Rogers did in the days, hours and minutes before her fatal injuries. The information is supplemented with the recollections and thoughts of her parents that were recorded in an interview with The Post-Crescent.

JULY 25, 2017

Mark and Karleen Rogers notice something is off-kilter with their daughter. Mark confronts her about drugs, and she gets defensive and angry.

Investigators later learn from a witness that Rogers had been "popping Xanax and snorting lines of cocaine" earlier in the day.

JULY 26, 2017

11:11 a.m.: Appleton police respond to the Rogers' home after she and her girlfriend get into a domestic fight. Rogers is arrested.

11:49 a.m.: Rogers is booked into the Outagamie County Jail on a charge of domestic abuse/disorderly conduct. Bond is set at $150.

5:18 p.m.: Rogers is released from jail after her brother posts bond. Karleen later reports that family members were upset with Rogers but gathered the bond money because they didn't want her to lose her job as a housekeeper.

Rogers returns home briefly before her brother buys her cigarettes and drops her off at a friend's house, where she begins drinking.

5:45 p.m: Rogers texts a different friend — a 22-year-old Appleton man — to come and pick her up.

6:34 p.m.: The Appleton man and Rogers drive to a Grand Chute liquor store, where he buys a bottle of Bacardi and some Four Loko malt liquor. They drive to his residence and later return to the first friend's house, where Rogers left her phone.

9:20 to 9:23 p.m.: Traffic cameras record the Appleton man and Rogers traveling south on State 47 and west on Prospect Avenue in Appleton. The man previously agreed to pick up a different woman from her Fox Crossing workplace at 9:30 p.m.

The man later tells police that when they reach St. Mary Cemetery, Rogers, who is riding in the front passenger seat, sticks her head out the window, and her hat blows off. As the man slows the car to retrieve the hat, Rogers opens the door and jumps out. The man estimates the car was going 15 to 20 mph when she exited and says he saw her hit the pavement.

The man sees Rogers walking back toward the hat but loses sight of her while he is turning around the car and parking on a side street. He later tells investigators he didn't wait for Rogers on the shoulder of Prospect because he had warrants for his arrest and didn't want to attract the attention of police.

The man looks for Rogers on foot but is unable to find her.

A different witness with ties to the Appleton man later tells investigators that Rogers freaked out and exited the car when the Appleton man told her he had feelings for her.

9:30 to 9:33 p.m.: The Appleton man calls Rogers' cellphone five times before he realizes it is still in his car. After about 20 minutes of looking, he leaves for his previously arranged pickup of a woman from her Fox Crossing workplace.

9:35 p.m.: Rogers enters the Flagstone Bar and Grill at 2820 W. Prospect. The time is recorded by a surveillance camera. She sits a chair away from the Green Bay man, who is already in the bar.

9:37 p.m.: Rogers and the Green Bay man shake hands. She moves a chair closer to him.

10:00 p.m.: Rogers goes outside and returns within a minute.

10:04 p.m.: The Green Bay man exits the bar. Rogers exits six seconds later.

10:05 p.m.: A car believed to be a Jaguar leaves the parking lot and heads west on Prospect.

10:06 p.m.: A passer-by calls 911 after seeing Rogers lying on the white fog line on the north side of Prospect by Butte des Morts Country Club. The location is about a half-mile west of the Flagstone Bar. Rogers is unconscious and bleeding from her head. She also has road rash on the back side of her right shoulder.

An off-duty Grand Chute firefighter comes upon the scene and renders first aid. He reports that Rogers has agonal breathing, which is a medical term for the gasping that occurs when someone is struggling to breathe. She is taken by ambulance to ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah and is put on life support.

JULY 27, 2017

12:47 a.m.: Grand Chute Detective Katie Keuler interviews the Appleton man and learns about Rogers jumping from his car earlier in the evening.

3:20 a.m.: The man is jailed on outstanding warrants.

11:37 a.m.: Rogers is declared brain dead. Her organs are donated two days later.

A toxicology screen done at the hospital shows Rogers had a blood-alcohol content of .297 percent, which is 3½ times the legal limit for driving. She also had benzodiazepines (Xanax), cocaine and THC in her system.

Investigation turns toward Green Bay man

Lt. Maas said the autopsy was unable to definitively determine what caused the blunt force trauma to Rogers' head.

Grand Chute police initially focused on the Appleton man who was driving when Rogers lost her hat and jumped from the car. They interviewed him three times. Each time, he provided more information.

The man said he returned to the Prospect area, after picking up the woman in Fox Crossing, and heard emergency sirens. He approached police, despite having warrants for his arrest, and told them he had an inkling that something had happened to Rogers. He was the one who identified her for police.

His timeline of events was supported by witnesses and surveillance video.

Detective Keuler said the man withheld information in the first and second interviews because he didn't want to be charged with drunken driving. He nevertheless was charged and convicted of his third offense for driving with a prohibited blood-alcohol content.

Police didn't turn their attention to patrons of the Flagstone Bar until July 30, when an Uber driver reported that he saw Rogers outside the business about 10 p.m. July 26. The Uber driver contacted police after seeing a Post-Crescent story that identified Rogers as the deceased.

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The Uber driver said Rogers exited the bar and approached his driver's side window. She had her hand over her mouth and was crying. He thought she was going to vomit in his car, so he asked her to step away. Rogers then returned to the bar.

Police subsequently interviewed a Flagstone bartender who said Rogers came into the tavern saying she was thrown from a car. The bartender said the only injury she noticed was an abrasion on Rogers' left elbow. She said Rogers was offered $20 for a cab ride but declined.

A bar patron who talked to Rogers told police Rogers didn't have money or her phone. He said she was slurring her words and appeared to be intoxicated or high or both. The patron also said Rogers was talking with the Green Bay man.

Detectives attempted to interview the Green Bay man at his home on Aug. 10, 14 and 15, all without success. Each time, they left their contact information and requested a call.

They located him on Aug. 24 as he was backing a black Jaguar out of his driveway. He said his attorney would contact the detectives that week or the next.

On Sept. 12, after not hearing from the man's attorney, detectives left a letter at his home, again asking him to contact police. The letter, signed by Keuler, said in part, "You are merely a known witness to this case and I am looking for your cooperation."

Police made another unsuccessful attempt to interview the man on Dec. 18. Two weeks before that, he became a licensed attorney, according to the State Bar of Wisconsin.

The last attempt to interview the man occurred on Sept. 17, 2019 — six days after a Post-Crescent report on the case. That's when the man, reached by phone, told Keuler he had no comment and no recollection of interacting with Rogers.

Surveillance videos show the man and Rogers leaving the bar within six seconds of each other. The camera outside the bar doesn't have a wide-angle view to record much of the parking lot, but the video shows the lights of a vehicle turn on and a vehicle leave the parking lot.

"We know there was nobody else who was coming in from the parking lot at that time or going out to the parking lot," Maas said. "That was the only vehicle that left during that time."

Maas said "there's no way" Rogers could have walked five-tenths or six-tenths of a mile to where she was found within two minutes.

A warehouse west of the bar had a surveillance camera pointed toward Prospect. It doesn't show anyone walking along Prospect at that time.

"It's pretty good evidence that she didn't walk there on her own, that she was in a vehicle," Maas said. "We believe that that was the black Jaguar."

RELATED: Remembering Megan Rogers Facebook page

'Something good'

Rogers' consent to donate her organs has provided a level of comfort for her family.

"At least something good came out of something so horrible," Karleen said.

Both of Rogers' lungs went to a Michigan woman. Mark and Karleen traveled to Michigan to visit the woman. "She's doing very well for getting a double lung transplant," Karleen said.

A man from the Madison area received one of Rogers' kidneys. Mark and Karleen also met with him.

A child received Rogers' liver, and a woman received her pancreas and other kidney.

Her eyes, tissues and bones also were donated.

"Whatever they could use, they used," Karleen said. "Her heart was the only thing that they were not able to use."

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.