This Pregnant Teen Mom And Her 1-Year-Old Daughter Vanished In 1998 And 23 Years Later The Mystery Of Their Disappearance Has Been Solved
Russellville, Arkansas. It was September 11th, 1998, and 19-year-old Samantha Jean Hopper was planning on attending a concert in Little Rock later that evening along with a friend of hers.
Samantha went to work that day, came home, and then spoke to her mom. Samantha shared her plans with her mom, saying that she would be taking her 22-month-old little girl Courtney Holt to her dad’s house before continuing along to the concert.
Samantha would be staying over after the concert, then coming back the following day.
Unfortunately, Samantha never dropped Courtney off with her dad, and she never made it to Little Rock for the concert.
Facebook; pictured above is Samantha with Courtney
“She went missing before she was supposed to leave town,” Samantha’s surviving daughter Dezarae mentioned on a Facebook page created to help find her mom Samantha and sister Courtney.
“She was supposed to drop my sister off with her father, but he was having dinner with his wife for their anniversary. They made arrangements for her to bring my sister back in an hour and she never brought my sister back.”
Samantha was 8 months pregnant with her third child when she was last spotted driving her 1989 blue-colored Ford Tempo on that day in September.
Then she vanished, along with Courtney, leaving her family to wonder for more than 2 decades about what happened to her and her daughter.
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Facebook; pictured above are several photos of Samantha and Courtney
An organization called Adventures With Purpose teamed up with a group called Chaos Divers recently to get involved with the search for Samantha and Courtney 23 years after they vanished back in 1998.
Adventures With Purpose and Chaos Divers both work on helping to solve cold cases, and they were successful in finally getting answers in regards to what happened to Samantha and Courtney.
On October 26th at 12:30 in the afternoon, Adventures With Purpose and Chaos Divers called 911 to report that they had found Samantha’s blue car submerged in the water near a bridge located on Pleasant View Road.
“Chaos Divers was able to sonar under one of the Pleasant View Road bridges and as soon as the car was viewed on sonar, it was immediately identified as an overturned, small car, approximately 8 feet deep,” Chaos Divers wrote in a Facebook post.
“The family was on scene. While it was gut-wrenching to have to see the tears stream down their faces as they were told the news, it was also incredibly heartwarming to see the smiles on their faces and the weight release from their shoulders knowing they were potentially bringing their loved ones home. The proper authorities were notified and arrived promptly.”
Facebook; pictured above is a photo Chaos Divers shared of Samantha’s car being recovered from the water
The Pope County Sheriff’s Office came out to the bridge to help get Samantha’s car out of the water.
“Once on scene, Investigators requested assistance from Elmo’s Crane Service and Battlecross Towing to remove the vehicle from the water,” the Pope County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“The vehicle was reported to have been approximately twenty-five yards from the bank in about eight feet of water. Once removed from the water, the vehicle was found to have human remains that will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock for DNA testing.”
Dezarae is now hoping to raise the money needed to give her mom and sister proper funerals, and if you would like to donate to that you can do so here.
Facebook; pictured above is a post shared by the Pope County Sheriff’s Office after Samantha’s car was located
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