Search continuing in Beaufort for missing mom, son 2 months after disappearance

BEAUFORT, S.C. (WCSC) - More than two months after a mother and her 2-year-old son disappeared, multiple agencies including the FBI are searching for them.

Sophia Van Dam, 20, and her son, Matteo, 2; have not been heard from since June 24, according to her family.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the Sumter Police Department, the State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI are conducting their investigation in Beaufort Friday, FBI spokesman Kevin Wheeler said. Law enforcement members will be active in multiple locations throughout the day as they search for leads, he said.

The Sumter Police Department found Van Dam’s car outside her home on June 26 but said no one was inside.

The two lived in Sumter with her boyfriend before moving back in with her mother, Theresa Van Dam, in Beaufort. The last time Theresa saw both her daughter and grandson was early on the morning of June 22, she told authorities.

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Theresa Van Dam said after not seeing the two when she returned from work, she reached out to her daughter and said they communicated via text message until June 24.

“We’d been texting and all that,” Theresa Van Dam said in July. “She had been texting sort of crazy stuff, and it wasn’t making sense.”

Prior to her disappearance and moving back to Beaufort, Theresa said she received a phone call from Sophia saying she was afraid.

“She said, ‘Mom, if I call you like in the middle of the night, and I say I need to come home, can we come home?’” Theresa says.

Anyone with information about their disappearance is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry at 888-CRIME-SC.

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