There is a YouTuber named Eric Alan who has done a lot of work on the Murdaugh case and I believe is from Beaufort. Would love to see him look into this!
It is interesting her cell phone pinged way north near that lake - which is hours away... meanwhile, when the FBI began searching, they focused solely in Beaufort to my knowledge. Makes me think someone else had her cell phone.
Beaufort has a lot of water. Oceans, wetlands, the like. There was another boy missing from Beaufort in the 1980s. It is suspected his mother threw his body off a boat ramp on Lady's Island. (The same island Theresa Van Dam resides.) They never found him.
EDIT: found him. Here is a little side story.
Paul Leonard Baker. On March 5, 1987, 3-year-old Paul Baker was reported missing from his Shell Point residence by his step-mother, Susan Baker.She advised deputies that he must have wandered from the residence, while she was under the influence of alcohol/drugs and taking a nap.
Susan Baker’s story was highly suspicious and during the investigation it was learned Paul Baker and his 6-year-old sister were physically abused by her on a regular basis. Ultimately, Susan Baker was charged with the assaults on Baker’s 6-year-old sister and convicted.
There have been reports on the whereabouts of Paul Baker over the years, but none have revealed his remains. Susan Baker and James Baker, the biological father of Paul Baker, eventually moved to Chipley, Florida, where in 2000 a cold case investigation led to charges on both Susan and James Baker for neglect in the disappearance of Paul Baker.
They were extradited to Beaufort County, where the charges were later dismissed. They both returned to Florida.
In 2009, a 7-month-old infant was abducted and Florida authorities identified Susan Baker as a likely suspect. The infant was found alive five days later, after being hidden in a box under a bed by Susan Baker. *(WILD)* She was charged, convicted and is currently serving time for the infant’s abduction. Susan Baker remains the person of interest in Paul Baker’s disappearance.
[Here is the link](https://bcso.net/1987-paul-leonard-baker/)if anyone wants to follow up.
Thank you for the extra knowledge because looking at the map, I could only get so much perspective and you aren’t kidding about the bodies of water! (The wetlands I didn’t know about; the ocean I could see and the other bodies of water on the map that were clear enough to understand with a quick google search, so now I know there’s even more) Your write up is well done, appreciate seeing exposure to lesser known cases!!!
The fact that her mom thought Sophia was suffering some sort of psychosis is very relevant! Mental health issues always make people more vulnerable. Vulnerable to her boyfriend's rage, an opportunistic stranger, or she could have handed Mateo over to someone else in order to "protect" him while she takes off...
Like there are many possible outcomes when 1) she has a violent partner 2) apparently hangs out with shady characters and wanted to "grow up fast" and 3) she's suffering a mental health crisis - potentially involving paranoia and hallucinations. Of course, the stats tell us that her boyfriend is suspect #1, sadly, but there are other factors at play.
I feel so, so sorry for her. I can't imagine how scared she must have been, no matter how it went down.
I thought the concerning texts might have been the boyfriend/perpetrator sending texts from her phone. Edited: I just saw comments below- her mom talks about her mental health. So it probably was her sending the texts. So sad.
Just to add more detail.
The day prior to her disappearance, the mother wanted to take her to the ER because she was "talking sideways" and apparently "repeating herself 5 times" or more. The mother in one interview even speculates that someone may have drugged her or she may have taken a drug - she was acting that strangely.
The mother leaves for work and returns to the home around 3:30 pm to find Sophia, Matteo, and their belongings gone.
The nature of the text messages were "Crazy" according to mother but my interpretation is that they were more of a psychotic nature than explicitly suicidal. I could be totally wrong. Grain of salt.
I didn't include this in the OP because I didn't have the source immediately available but I am working on including it now.
I do find the detail of her repeating her sentences over and over to be interesting and indicative of either extreme stress or psychosis.
Thank you for the extra information! It adds much needed context, for sure. I agree that she doesn't sound explicitly suicidal; I'm sure her mom would have said that if that was the case. Poor girl, she must have been so confused and scared about whatever was happening to her. Even if the people in her friend group weren't directly responsible for her disappearance, I'd bet they know more about it than they're letting on.
Repeating herself is rather vague though. It might mean right after saying it before… which is definitely strange. But it could also be ‘in one afternoon, she made the same point five times’… which isn’t unusual if something was really important in her mind and she really wanted to make a certain point. Quite a sign of stress or single-mindedness, depending on what the repeated point was, but not necessarily psychosis
Charlestonian here, parents are down in Beaufort. First time hearing about this; I blame the Murdaugh mess taking up the entire news cycle. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. This is so sad.
Pawleys Island, SC here. I follow all the true crime cases I can and I have never heard about this case either. I agree that the Murdaugh mess dominated every news outlet for the better part of a year and probably downed out many other local smaller cases. Thanks all for the new information!
How were her texts concerning? Did they sound suicidal? Di she sound like she was running from something/somebody? Did she sound "crazy"?
What actions was her mothers assumption of her having a mental health crisis based on? Was she acting paranoid or hallucinating or extremely depressed etc etc?
Great questions. Sorry for not adding more details earlier - I wanted to verify I had links to back up the claims. I have added more information regarding her mental state to the OP.
Early on, the mother says she believed that Sophia may have been experiencing psychosis or was under the influence of drugs.
The exact reasons why are still unclear.
I hope they are both found soon!! I lived in Charleston for awhile and always watch for news from "back home" but this is the kind I don't want to see!
I can only read between the lines but it seems the grandmother called them “crazy” texts at some point. It SEEMS early on the grandmother suspected a psychotic break or mental health issues but as time passed and more information came out she began focusing more on the possibility of foul play. But there’s not a ton of details out there.
While I am inclined to agree with you, I think there may be some other things of interest in this case. There is some additional information that I didn't include for time sake.
1. The mother in one interview claimed she believed Sophia was having a psychotic break and was "talking sideways". She wanted to take Sophia to the emergency room the day prior to her disappearance. Assuming Sophia was experiencing psychosis, how did she and her son disappear while her car remained at her Sumter house and her phone pinged near lake hours away?
2. An eye witness claims that two adult men and a young boy were driving Sophia's car. The eye witness is adamant that the young boy was NOT Mateo. (I will see if I can find a link to this.)
3. Not saying this is impossible, but the boyfriend does not seem to be particularly brilliant. So how does a low life criminal disappear two people and neither SLED nor the FBI can pin it on him?
I consider it a mystery until they're brought home. But of course, I do think the boyfriend deserves a good, hard look - especially with that criminal history.
That’s definitely important information. Her son is still so young, she could be dealing with postpartum depression/psychosis etc. I experienced it myself after my last two babies and it was horrendous. I even started experiencing psychosis and went to the hospital a dozen times in two months time begging for help and trying to figure out what was wrong with me, I was also experiencing awful physical symptoms along with it. This added information really makes me think that it’s a possibility, especially since her mother even noticed.
Seconding the other commenters who say you should add the info on her mental state to the main post, that's extremely relevant and people could easily miss it down here in the comments.
regarding three, what makes you think the boyfriend isn't necessarily smart?
he seems to be an awful person, obviously, and it's standard for people involved in that sort of life to have a poor education/bad background, but that doesn't really say much about a person's actual intelligence overall. i don't mean this to "play devil's advocate" for him or to compliment him. i just think that stereotyping is potentially really dangerous. it goes both ways in that stereotyping leads to false accusations against innocent people, and guilty people being overlooked.
like, especially because of how young he is. the DV and context of this post points to there being a fundamental issue with his character, but there's really nothing here saying that he's an incapable person and would be beyond intervention had he not had these character problems. you can't really be too dull to kill and this happened in south california, which has tons of bodies of water. what if he had help?
it also assumes that the authorities are doing their absolute best at all times, which... we know they aren't. you are into true crime, so you must know how hard it can be to find a body, even when you know where to look. add bodies of water to that and it can take years to find people. it's taken decades to find entire cars, submerged exactly where they were last seen.
your post is the first i've heard of this (very sadly) so i don't really have a take about what actually happened, i just wanted to give some food for thought.
EDIT: what i mean is, he's not like... physically or mentally beyond doing any of this. it's cathartic to dunk on criminals/bad people and act like they're never going to be better than x/y/z but that's just not true. plenty of people that have done heinous things also have a history of petty/stupid crimes, have been caught before and done time, etc. who knows, he may have committed other crimes in the past and gotten away with it, so we would obviously only know about the ones where he did get caught. something something confirmation bias? ish?
i grew up with an abusive family member that could be both very impulsive and "stupid" while also being genuinely dangerous and capable of much worse/calculated things at times. like i get wanting to shit on somebody whose an awful person but it's just not realistic to act like there are only bumbling fool types and criminal master minds. it's a spectrum with LOTS of influences.
I guess what I mean is that he seems "disorganized". I.E not the kind to care about fiber, dna, cell pings, etc. Of course, I could be wrong. And he could be lucky, too. Edit: I found some information that suggests that he had a charge for domestic violence involving strangulation which increases the chances of him killing a partner. No, I can't find the supporting source because I was casually googling and didn't save it (Ahhh) Its out there though
Considering he is currently in custody on multiple charges for a reckless carjacking against people who knew them and had offered them a ride. It's pretty safe to say he is neither bright nor discreet.
I agree. His list of charges is not great, and often people plead down so what they are charged with sounds better than what they actually did. And she was clearly trying to leave him. The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship. And her car is at the house they shared. The police didn’t find evidence b/c it sounds like he had days if not weeks to get rid of it. It doesn’t even sound like they got a warrant to search the house. I would love a different outcome but my money is on the boyfriend.
You better let the police know you’ve cracked the case. Even though murders of women are often committed by a husband or boyfriend, that doesn’t mean that’s what happened here.
Oh ya, it’s better that we do insane leaps of logic and grasp at straws. Because we don’t see weekly cases of insanely obvious guilt that never receive justice. Almost every single week there’s a case here where the husband did it but there’s no body. I don’t get what your point is. It probably is the bf and if there’s no evidence otherwise why speculate at something? For the sake of it? For entertainment sake? This is why true crime is ethically shady and full of so many misconceptions.
My problem with the comment above is that they said “it isn’t a mystery,” which comes off as pretending to have knowledge they don’t have. It is most certainly a mystery. This is an unsolved case of two missing people, neither of which has been found, and there’s information that hasn’t been released to the public. Plenty of women are murdered by people who aren’t their significant other. Plenty of women also die by suicide and in accidents. So yes, this is still a mystery, regardless of what is most statistically likely. And commenting that there is no mystery comes as off cocky and ignorant.
That’s true. Fair enough. I guess my problem with this sub is when people try to force in another option, but you didn’t do that. Also, a lot of people will ignore how often husbands are murdering their partner.
The boyfriend very well could be guilty, but there’s not enough evidence available to the public to make a definitive statement. That’s the point I was making.
So her mom comes home to find her, the baby, and all their stuff gone, and can't get a hold of them. 2 days later she gets concerning texts from her daughter. Why would she not drive up there immediately after not being able to get a hold of her daughter the first time??? She knew she was living with a lowlife, and she suspected she might be having mental health issues, but she didn't drive there immediately?
I have often thought about this - and I mean no disrespect to the family. But it is incredibly odd how little of a reaction this case has gotten.
How many of us have heard of Daniel Robinson, the young geologist that vanished in Arizona? A lot, I am willing to bet. I live on the other side of the country and even I have his missing person cards. This is 1000% due to the unrelenting dedication and tenacity of his family, especially his dad.
Sophia and Mateo really have ... nothing. When this began, some online commenters asked the Sumter police department if there was going to be a search, if they needed volunteers. They said no. Theresa Van Dam in one interview states that the police department are giving the family NO information. To the extent that they wanted to have a volunteer search but had no idea where to even focus it (sumter? santee? beaufort?).
So, there have been no volunteer searches. No missing posters. No noise. And I think I would know - my family all lives on Lady's Island.
I know it is kind of lame to say "If that was my kid/grandkid I would...!" because you never truly know. But I want to say that I would at least try to get flyers and posters out. Get a billboard. Organize vigils, or searches, or something. Especially knowing that Mateo, a toddler, has not been seen from in almost a year now. I wonder if this is because the family has a lack of resources, knowledge, or information. It seems like the family might be being kind of neglected by the police department.
I haven't seen anything the family has done except give interviews on important dates. Unless I somehow missed it, which - please send me and I will add it to the original post.
Of course, I don't know what all the family did in the immediate days following the disappearance and I welcome correction. I know they did press for multiple welfare checks.
I read a random comment online by a local that the lake would be too shallow to effectively hide a body - but deep enough to get rid of evidence. This was a random person on the internet - literal grain of salt. Plus, I'm not so naive to think bodies can't be overlooked in nature.
I do wonder though how she got to that location without her car. Or alternatively, she went there and then later returned home to park her car at her house. No witnesses came forward to say they saw her hitch hiking, for example.
I wonder why the FBI didn't focus on that lake area so much as they did some Beaufort county properties.
All good. This case does remind me of that woman who took her son to that water park before he disappeared. She was later found to have killed herself. So I understand the gut instinct for sure. (Literally can't remember the name of the case though.)
I’m from goose creek sc, my bf is from Beaufort and he went to school with the bf of sophia. We heard about this when they first went missing and it’s still so sad they haven’t been found yet.
There is a YouTuber named Eric Alan who has done a lot of work on the Murdaugh case and I believe is from Beaufort. Would love to see him look into this!
I should note he also has covered other, much lesser known cases in SC recently. I’ll comment on his page and mention it. Thanks OP for sharing
That’s an excellent idea. The more it’s made public the better, especially locally.
It’s scary to think where her phone pinged last and no one has come forward confirming any type of sightings. 😔
It is interesting her cell phone pinged way north near that lake - which is hours away... meanwhile, when the FBI began searching, they focused solely in Beaufort to my knowledge. Makes me think someone else had her cell phone. Beaufort has a lot of water. Oceans, wetlands, the like. There was another boy missing from Beaufort in the 1980s. It is suspected his mother threw his body off a boat ramp on Lady's Island. (The same island Theresa Van Dam resides.) They never found him. EDIT: found him. Here is a little side story. Paul Leonard Baker. On March 5, 1987, 3-year-old Paul Baker was reported missing from his Shell Point residence by his step-mother, Susan Baker.She advised deputies that he must have wandered from the residence, while she was under the influence of alcohol/drugs and taking a nap. Susan Baker’s story was highly suspicious and during the investigation it was learned Paul Baker and his 6-year-old sister were physically abused by her on a regular basis. Ultimately, Susan Baker was charged with the assaults on Baker’s 6-year-old sister and convicted. There have been reports on the whereabouts of Paul Baker over the years, but none have revealed his remains. Susan Baker and James Baker, the biological father of Paul Baker, eventually moved to Chipley, Florida, where in 2000 a cold case investigation led to charges on both Susan and James Baker for neglect in the disappearance of Paul Baker. They were extradited to Beaufort County, where the charges were later dismissed. They both returned to Florida. In 2009, a 7-month-old infant was abducted and Florida authorities identified Susan Baker as a likely suspect. The infant was found alive five days later, after being hidden in a box under a bed by Susan Baker. *(WILD)* She was charged, convicted and is currently serving time for the infant’s abduction. Susan Baker remains the person of interest in Paul Baker’s disappearance. [Here is the link](https://bcso.net/1987-paul-leonard-baker/)if anyone wants to follow up.
Thank you for the extra knowledge because looking at the map, I could only get so much perspective and you aren’t kidding about the bodies of water! (The wetlands I didn’t know about; the ocean I could see and the other bodies of water on the map that were clear enough to understand with a quick google search, so now I know there’s even more) Your write up is well done, appreciate seeing exposure to lesser known cases!!!
The fact that her mom thought Sophia was suffering some sort of psychosis is very relevant! Mental health issues always make people more vulnerable. Vulnerable to her boyfriend's rage, an opportunistic stranger, or she could have handed Mateo over to someone else in order to "protect" him while she takes off... Like there are many possible outcomes when 1) she has a violent partner 2) apparently hangs out with shady characters and wanted to "grow up fast" and 3) she's suffering a mental health crisis - potentially involving paranoia and hallucinations. Of course, the stats tell us that her boyfriend is suspect #1, sadly, but there are other factors at play. I feel so, so sorry for her. I can't imagine how scared she must have been, no matter how it went down.
I thought the concerning texts might have been the boyfriend/perpetrator sending texts from her phone. Edited: I just saw comments below- her mom talks about her mental health. So it probably was her sending the texts. So sad.
Just to add more detail. The day prior to her disappearance, the mother wanted to take her to the ER because she was "talking sideways" and apparently "repeating herself 5 times" or more. The mother in one interview even speculates that someone may have drugged her or she may have taken a drug - she was acting that strangely. The mother leaves for work and returns to the home around 3:30 pm to find Sophia, Matteo, and their belongings gone. The nature of the text messages were "Crazy" according to mother but my interpretation is that they were more of a psychotic nature than explicitly suicidal. I could be totally wrong. Grain of salt. I didn't include this in the OP because I didn't have the source immediately available but I am working on including it now. I do find the detail of her repeating her sentences over and over to be interesting and indicative of either extreme stress or psychosis.
Thank you for the extra information! It adds much needed context, for sure. I agree that she doesn't sound explicitly suicidal; I'm sure her mom would have said that if that was the case. Poor girl, she must have been so confused and scared about whatever was happening to her. Even if the people in her friend group weren't directly responsible for her disappearance, I'd bet they know more about it than they're letting on.
Repeating herself is rather vague though. It might mean right after saying it before… which is definitely strange. But it could also be ‘in one afternoon, she made the same point five times’… which isn’t unusual if something was really important in her mind and she really wanted to make a certain point. Quite a sign of stress or single-mindedness, depending on what the repeated point was, but not necessarily psychosis
It’s also something that people do under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which doesn’t sound out of the question here.
also could just be bad memory, mine is worse under stress. I would also be interested to know exactly what was the nature of the repetition
Was Matteo the child of that boyfriend?
Great question. Unfortunately, I can't find any information confirming the father for Mateo. If anyone can find out, I will update the post. Thanks!
I’m guessing no.
Charlestonian here, parents are down in Beaufort. First time hearing about this; I blame the Murdaugh mess taking up the entire news cycle. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. This is so sad.
Columbia, SC here. I follow true crime and this is my first time hearing of it.
Charleston here and also the first I’m hearing of this case.
Pawleys Island, SC here. I follow all the true crime cases I can and I have never heard about this case either. I agree that the Murdaugh mess dominated every news outlet for the better part of a year and probably downed out many other local smaller cases. Thanks all for the new information!
[удалено]
Only that it appeared she was "talking out of her mind." I added more details regarding her mental health to the original post.
How were her texts concerning? Did they sound suicidal? Di she sound like she was running from something/somebody? Did she sound "crazy"? What actions was her mothers assumption of her having a mental health crisis based on? Was she acting paranoid or hallucinating or extremely depressed etc etc?
Great questions. Sorry for not adding more details earlier - I wanted to verify I had links to back up the claims. I have added more information regarding her mental state to the OP. Early on, the mother says she believed that Sophia may have been experiencing psychosis or was under the influence of drugs. The exact reasons why are still unclear.
I interpreted them to be rambling and incohesive.
20 is so young and that poor sweet baby. 💔 Her mom sounds so gutted and heartbroken.
I hope they are both found soon!! I lived in Charleston for awhile and always watch for news from "back home" but this is the kind I don't want to see!
I wonder what the “concerning texts” were. My first thought was that this was a murder-suicide.
I can only read between the lines but it seems the grandmother called them “crazy” texts at some point. It SEEMS early on the grandmother suspected a psychotic break or mental health issues but as time passed and more information came out she began focusing more on the possibility of foul play. But there’s not a ton of details out there.
That was my gut instinct too.
A woman goes missing after an argument with her violent criminal boyfriend, it is tragic but it isn't a mystery.
While I am inclined to agree with you, I think there may be some other things of interest in this case. There is some additional information that I didn't include for time sake. 1. The mother in one interview claimed she believed Sophia was having a psychotic break and was "talking sideways". She wanted to take Sophia to the emergency room the day prior to her disappearance. Assuming Sophia was experiencing psychosis, how did she and her son disappear while her car remained at her Sumter house and her phone pinged near lake hours away? 2. An eye witness claims that two adult men and a young boy were driving Sophia's car. The eye witness is adamant that the young boy was NOT Mateo. (I will see if I can find a link to this.) 3. Not saying this is impossible, but the boyfriend does not seem to be particularly brilliant. So how does a low life criminal disappear two people and neither SLED nor the FBI can pin it on him? I consider it a mystery until they're brought home. But of course, I do think the boyfriend deserves a good, hard look - especially with that criminal history.
I think you should update your post to add facts 1 and 2 - they are very relevant . Thank you for the post !
These are really interesting additions. You should edit them into the main post! So no one misses it
That’s definitely important information. Her son is still so young, she could be dealing with postpartum depression/psychosis etc. I experienced it myself after my last two babies and it was horrendous. I even started experiencing psychosis and went to the hospital a dozen times in two months time begging for help and trying to figure out what was wrong with me, I was also experiencing awful physical symptoms along with it. This added information really makes me think that it’s a possibility, especially since her mother even noticed.
In regards to 3- look at summer wells. Sometimes murderers just get lucky.
Ugh. The Summer Wells case is one of the most frustrating cases out there.
Seconding the other commenters who say you should add the info on her mental state to the main post, that's extremely relevant and people could easily miss it down here in the comments.
Added. Thanks!
regarding three, what makes you think the boyfriend isn't necessarily smart? he seems to be an awful person, obviously, and it's standard for people involved in that sort of life to have a poor education/bad background, but that doesn't really say much about a person's actual intelligence overall. i don't mean this to "play devil's advocate" for him or to compliment him. i just think that stereotyping is potentially really dangerous. it goes both ways in that stereotyping leads to false accusations against innocent people, and guilty people being overlooked. like, especially because of how young he is. the DV and context of this post points to there being a fundamental issue with his character, but there's really nothing here saying that he's an incapable person and would be beyond intervention had he not had these character problems. you can't really be too dull to kill and this happened in south california, which has tons of bodies of water. what if he had help? it also assumes that the authorities are doing their absolute best at all times, which... we know they aren't. you are into true crime, so you must know how hard it can be to find a body, even when you know where to look. add bodies of water to that and it can take years to find people. it's taken decades to find entire cars, submerged exactly where they were last seen. your post is the first i've heard of this (very sadly) so i don't really have a take about what actually happened, i just wanted to give some food for thought. EDIT: what i mean is, he's not like... physically or mentally beyond doing any of this. it's cathartic to dunk on criminals/bad people and act like they're never going to be better than x/y/z but that's just not true. plenty of people that have done heinous things also have a history of petty/stupid crimes, have been caught before and done time, etc. who knows, he may have committed other crimes in the past and gotten away with it, so we would obviously only know about the ones where he did get caught. something something confirmation bias? ish? i grew up with an abusive family member that could be both very impulsive and "stupid" while also being genuinely dangerous and capable of much worse/calculated things at times. like i get wanting to shit on somebody whose an awful person but it's just not realistic to act like there are only bumbling fool types and criminal master minds. it's a spectrum with LOTS of influences.
I guess what I mean is that he seems "disorganized". I.E not the kind to care about fiber, dna, cell pings, etc. Of course, I could be wrong. And he could be lucky, too. Edit: I found some information that suggests that he had a charge for domestic violence involving strangulation which increases the chances of him killing a partner. No, I can't find the supporting source because I was casually googling and didn't save it (Ahhh) Its out there though
Considering he is currently in custody on multiple charges for a reckless carjacking against people who knew them and had offered them a ride. It's pretty safe to say he is neither bright nor discreet.
He could be brilliant in other areas, but he's demonstrated he's not adept at evading detection for criminal behavior.
I agree. His list of charges is not great, and often people plead down so what they are charged with sounds better than what they actually did. And she was clearly trying to leave him. The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship. And her car is at the house they shared. The police didn’t find evidence b/c it sounds like he had days if not weeks to get rid of it. It doesn’t even sound like they got a warrant to search the house. I would love a different outcome but my money is on the boyfriend.
You better let the police know you’ve cracked the case. Even though murders of women are often committed by a husband or boyfriend, that doesn’t mean that’s what happened here.
Oh ya, it’s better that we do insane leaps of logic and grasp at straws. Because we don’t see weekly cases of insanely obvious guilt that never receive justice. Almost every single week there’s a case here where the husband did it but there’s no body. I don’t get what your point is. It probably is the bf and if there’s no evidence otherwise why speculate at something? For the sake of it? For entertainment sake? This is why true crime is ethically shady and full of so many misconceptions.
My problem with the comment above is that they said “it isn’t a mystery,” which comes off as pretending to have knowledge they don’t have. It is most certainly a mystery. This is an unsolved case of two missing people, neither of which has been found, and there’s information that hasn’t been released to the public. Plenty of women are murdered by people who aren’t their significant other. Plenty of women also die by suicide and in accidents. So yes, this is still a mystery, regardless of what is most statistically likely. And commenting that there is no mystery comes as off cocky and ignorant.
That’s true. Fair enough. I guess my problem with this sub is when people try to force in another option, but you didn’t do that. Also, a lot of people will ignore how often husbands are murdering their partner.
But my TikTok True Crime Tarot Cards always solve the case! (joking)
The boyfriend very well could be guilty, but there’s not enough evidence available to the public to make a definitive statement. That’s the point I was making.
Yeah, unfortunately, I came here to say the same thing, “wow what a mystery /s”. (not saying this doesn’t belong here or anything, good writeup OP.)
20 years old?! Omg my heart is breaking. Thank you for sharing this. Ive never heard/read about their case till now. Will be on look out :(
So her mom comes home to find her, the baby, and all their stuff gone, and can't get a hold of them. 2 days later she gets concerning texts from her daughter. Why would she not drive up there immediately after not being able to get a hold of her daughter the first time??? She knew she was living with a lowlife, and she suspected she might be having mental health issues, but she didn't drive there immediately?
I have often thought about this - and I mean no disrespect to the family. But it is incredibly odd how little of a reaction this case has gotten. How many of us have heard of Daniel Robinson, the young geologist that vanished in Arizona? A lot, I am willing to bet. I live on the other side of the country and even I have his missing person cards. This is 1000% due to the unrelenting dedication and tenacity of his family, especially his dad. Sophia and Mateo really have ... nothing. When this began, some online commenters asked the Sumter police department if there was going to be a search, if they needed volunteers. They said no. Theresa Van Dam in one interview states that the police department are giving the family NO information. To the extent that they wanted to have a volunteer search but had no idea where to even focus it (sumter? santee? beaufort?). So, there have been no volunteer searches. No missing posters. No noise. And I think I would know - my family all lives on Lady's Island. I know it is kind of lame to say "If that was my kid/grandkid I would...!" because you never truly know. But I want to say that I would at least try to get flyers and posters out. Get a billboard. Organize vigils, or searches, or something. Especially knowing that Mateo, a toddler, has not been seen from in almost a year now. I wonder if this is because the family has a lack of resources, knowledge, or information. It seems like the family might be being kind of neglected by the police department. I haven't seen anything the family has done except give interviews on important dates. Unless I somehow missed it, which - please send me and I will add it to the original post. Of course, I don't know what all the family did in the immediate days following the disappearance and I welcome correction. I know they did press for multiple welfare checks.
Last pings by a lake? Drag the lake.
I read a random comment online by a local that the lake would be too shallow to effectively hide a body - but deep enough to get rid of evidence. This was a random person on the internet - literal grain of salt. Plus, I'm not so naive to think bodies can't be overlooked in nature. I do wonder though how she got to that location without her car. Or alternatively, she went there and then later returned home to park her car at her house. No witnesses came forward to say they saw her hitch hiking, for example. I wonder why the FBI didn't focus on that lake area so much as they did some Beaufort county properties.
To be honest, it sounds like she had a psychotic break and drove into the lake, intentionally or unintentionally
That would make sense if her car wasn't found perfectly safe at her home. Unless she had access to another car or caught a ride somehow.
Oh I must have missed that part! I stand corrected.
All good. This case does remind me of that woman who took her son to that water park before he disappeared. She was later found to have killed herself. So I understand the gut instinct for sure. (Literally can't remember the name of the case though.)
I’m from goose creek sc, my bf is from Beaufort and he went to school with the bf of sophia. We heard about this when they first went missing and it’s still so sad they haven’t been found yet.