Devastated dad of teen, 16, reveals moment he realized she’d vanished in middle of night as eerie vid shows last moments
THE father of a missing teenager has revealed the heart stopping moment he realized she had vanished in the middle of the night.
Sophia Cover, 16, was last seen leaving her home in Naples, Florida, in the dead of night on July 31.
Eerie home surveillance footage from the property in Golden Gate Estates shows the moment the teen creeps out of the home at 12:45am wearing a hoodie with the hood over her head.
A bag appears to be slung over a shoulder as she feels around in the dark to find her way, using no light to see where she is going.
“Someone has my daughter,” her heartbroken father Richard told Gulf Coast News, adding that he believes she is in trouble and was coerced to leave the new family home.
“There is no way that she is going and putting me through this for five days…she is my buddy” he said through tears.
“I think that she left the house because someone either convinced her to, or promised her something and I think that she’s in trouble right now. I think someone has my daughter, is what I believe,” he added.
Richard recalled the moment he realized his daughter was missing when her dog started whining at around 6:15am and he walked around to find the pool bathroom door unlocked.
“Then I walked into her bedroom and she is nowhere to be found,” he said.
Richard, his girlfriend and their four children, including Sophia, had only moved to the area four months before she vanished, and she was due to return to high school in less than two weeks.
Desperate family members have taken to social media to beg Sophia to return home after it was discovered that her iPhone which she took with her had been turned off after the teen disappeared, her aunt revealed on Facebook.
“Every minute without her feels unbearable. We miss her so much and just want to know that she’s safe,” Richard wrote online.
“There isn’t a single day that goes by that I don’t think about you. I miss your smile, your laugh, and hearing your voice. Home just isn’t the same without you here.
“I’m not giving up on you…I love you with all my heart, Sophia. I’ll always be your dad, and I’ll always be waiting for you with open arms. Please come home.”
She is described as five foot seven, 115 pounds with long brown hair and brown eyes.
According to her father, she took a bag filled with clothes, a new pair of Nike sneakers, and a hair straightener.
A multi-agency investigation has been launched but officials say there are currently no leads.
