This week, authorities announced that a woman’s body was discovered in her car 23 years after she and her children went missing in Arkansas.
According to the Pope County Sheriff’s Office, Adventures With Purpose, a non-profit organization that works nationwide to solve cold cases that have not been solved, discovered Samantha Jean Hopper’s car on Tuesday in eight feet of water.
Hopper was reported missing on September 11, 1998.
The Sheriff’s Office released a statement stating that Samantha was on her way to Little Rock to pick up her daughter, Courtney Holt, prior to attending the show. We did not locate Samantha, her baby, or the blue Ford Tempo.
The car was eight feet under water, according to the charity group. According to police, the car’s remains will be taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock for DNA testing.
The Pope County Sheriff’s Office expressed its condolences to Samantha Hopper’s and Courtney Holt’s families and thanked them for even a small part in the 23-year-old case’s resolution.
Dezarea Hopper, Hopper’s daughter, claimed in a memorial that her mother disappeared while nine months pregnant. Dezarea’s sister was around 2 years of age at that point. Dezarea described it as a “relief” to discover their bodies.
In a statement, Adventures With Purpose stated that Samantha and her daughter have since returned home.