SC mother of two remains missing a year after she mysteriously drove away from her children

A year has passed since a Greenville mother drove off into the night, never to be seen again by family and friends.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office released a statement Monday saying deputies have not given up the search for then-29-year-old Alexis Ware.

Multiple law enforcement organizations have scoured miles of countryside on the ground and by air. K9 and cadaver units, search and rescue teams have been deployed. They’ve interviewed numerous people.

Still nothing.

The one new bit of information is they have ruled out as a person of interest the last person known to have seen her, TJ Patterson, the father of her youngest child.

“Several avenues suggest he had no involvement in the mother of two’s disappearance,” a news release from the sheriff’s office said

Patterson told authorities he last saw her around 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30, when they met at the 7-Eleven on Highway 29 North in Anderson County. His son and Ware’s daughter got in his vehicle. He thought they were headed to his mother’s house in separate cars.

But at a red light, Ware went around him and drove off.

Bruce Wilson, a spokesman for the family, said they intended to mark the anniversary by going to the Attorney General’s Office to ask for help with the investigation.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office praised the family for being a champion for Ware.

Shortly after Ware disappeared, her mother Alberta Gray told The State the family believed she had been kidnapped.

She was a kind and loving woman who would not leave her children, Gray said.

On the day Ware disappeared, she told her mother someone was outside her apartment in Greenville in a black truck. She called law enforcement and when she saw the sheriff’s car leave she ran down the stairs and into her red Honda sedan.

Verizon records show after she dropped her children off, her phone pinged 30 miles away at 8:15 p.m. Highway cameras picked up her car that same night in Augusta, Georgia, and then again coming back into South Carolina, Gray said.

That next Wednesday, Feb. 2, her red Honda was found covered in mud on a rural road in McCormick County, 70 miles from where Patterson last saw her. It was in an area known as good deer hunting grounds, Gray said.

The property owner called authorities after seeing a report about Ware’s disappearance on TV.

Grays said her daughter’s cell phone and purse were inside the car.

Gray said investigators have told her they were able to get fingerprints from the car.

Various searches have been done by community groups and friends in and around Abbeville and where the car was found.

Jason Fowler, the lead detective for the Sheriff’s Office, said he remains positive.

“It’s my hope and belief that Alexis is alive,” he said. “It’s important for me to work every day to locate her and bring her safely home to her children.”