The mother of a 15-year-old girl who has been missing since Sunday says her daughter was easy prey for a predator because she is afflicted by manic depression.
Heaven Ray Cox from Mauriceville, Texas vanished on Saturday afternoon – after talking to a much older man on Snapchat, according to her mother, Tammy.
‘She left a goodbye note to me and her Dad, and said that she wouldn’t have a phone, so I’m sure he has taken it from her, as it isn’t here, and I have torn her room apart,’ Tammy wrote in a Facebook post.
‘She is off her meds and is in a manic phase of bipolar disorder.’
Heaven Ray Cox, 15, was last seen in her home on November 25 and was reported missing on November 26. Her mom said on Facebook that she is suffering from bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder causes sufferers to swing between depression and mania.
In the latter case, they may feel euphoric, indestructible and hyperactive; they may also make irrational decisions or highly unrealistic plans.
Tammy said that she didn’t find out her daughter was missing until Saturday afternoon because it was usual for her to sleep in late on weekends.
But when she and the girl’s father took a look in her room, they found that she was missing.
Tammy wrote on Facebook that Heaven had been speaking to an unidentified predator; it’s not clear how she knows about him.
‘The man she has been talking to is a predator, who has apparently been manipulating her for some time, and in her current state of mind, she believes that he is her friend,’ the mom wrote on Facebook.
Mom Tammy (seen left with Heaven) said her daughter took her passport and may have headed to California. Heaven (right with a teenage friend) was going through a manic phase recently, her mom said. That can lead to feelings of euphoria and poor decision-making
They now fear she may have been abducted or ran away by a man she met on social media, the Beaumont Enterprise reported.
Police were notified of her disappearance on Sunday and are working to assess the potential connection with the predator.
‘I am asking everyone to share this to their wall, and particularly those who live in California and every state between there and Texas.
‘This man told her that he would be in San Antonio for Thanksgiving and that he would pick her up.’
San Antonio is about 4.5 hours by car from Mauriceville.
Police say that a note indicates Heaven might have been heading to California.
Tammy also wrote earlier tonight that Heaven’s passport was missing.
Those with information are asked to call the Orange County, Texas sheriff’s office at 409-883-2612.
Her family worries she might be with a ‘much older’ predator from California who said that he would pick her up after Thanksgiving