JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville family is pleading for help as the search continues for their missing 72-year-old mother, a Navy veteran they say may have been the victim of a scam before she disappeared.
Margaret Hanley was last heard from on Monday. By Wednesday, her family realized something was wrong.
“She did 23 years in the Navy,” her son, Jomo Thompson, said. “She’s been living at home by herself. She’s a pretty independent woman and just a great all-around mom.”
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Hanley lives on Jacksonville’s Westside and, according to her family, rarely strays far from home. When he and other relatives couldn’t reach her, concern quickly turned into alarm.
“We believe my mom was getting scammed,” Thompson said. “No one had heard from her since Monday.”
After filing a missing person’s report, Thompson says he began reviewing his mother’s bank activity. He had access to her account with her permission.
What he found made him even more worried.
“We went in and just saw some unusual transactions,” he said. “Not only was she sending money to someone, but just in the last week that she’s been missing, these transactions are being taken out.”
Thompson says some of the money appeared to be loaded onto a mobile payment app in $200 increments. He also says family members found a check at Hanley’s home written to a man for $12,000.
Friends of the family who work in law enforcement and real estate helped look into the name on the checks. Thompson says the man has a history of petty larceny and fraud.
“That’s just not like my mom,” he said. “She always said no one’s ever going to scam me.”
The family says they do not know whether Hanley left home to meet someone connected to the suspected scam, or whether something else happened entirely.
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“We don’t even care about the money,” Thompson said. “We just want to get our mom back home safe and sound.”
According to Thompson, Hanley’s 2001 silver Toyota RAV4 has been pinged in multiple locations since she disappeared, including Gainesville and Starke, Florida, and most recently in Hinesville, Georgia.
Her son says that kind of travel is completely out of character.
“The only place she really drives is to Walmart to get groceries, which is five minutes from her home,” he said. “She likes to be at home. She likes to watch her soaps, ‘Days of Our Lives,’ ‘The Price Is Right.’ She has a set routine.”
Thompson says his mother does experience short-term memory issues and is not strong with directions, raising fears she could be disoriented.
“She may be in distress,” he said.
Detectives have told the family the case does not meet Florida’s criteria for a Silver Alert. They also indicated that if Hanley is believed to be outside of Florida, the alert would not apply.
Outside Hanley’s home, neighbors describe more than just a friendly face on the block.
Oma Rampersad says she and Hanley became instant friends more than 20 years ago, bonding over their Caribbean roots.
Rampersad says she was one of the first to realize something was wrong. When Hanley didn’t answer her phone or the door, something she says had never happened before, she used a spare key to check inside.
“She wasn’t there,” Rampersad said.
Now, friends and family are holding onto hope.
“Wherever she is, I would really like for her to come home,” Rampersad said. “We all love and miss her.”
Hanley drives a silver 2001 Toyota RAV4 with a Florida license plate ESMF23. Anyone who sees her or the vehicle is asked to contact law enforcement immediately.
Her family says they are trying to stay positive and leaning on the public for help.
“I just want to try and stay positive,” Thompson said. “And hope that we get her back safely.”
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