Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigators found a troubling clue on the Mathews Bridge railing while investigating a woman’s disappearance.
Officers found 29-year-old Ashley Brown’s car, still running, on the Mathews Bridge on Thanksgiving morning.
No one has heard from her since.
The car was unlocked, with the hazard lights blinking and Brown’s wallet inside.
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The JSO report on Brown’s disappearance said officers “noticed a disturbance on the metal railing that was consistent with someone sitting on the edge.”
The report also said Brown’s mother, Darlene Green, told officers her daughter was depressed and possibly on drugs.
“Is that going to stop anybody from looking for her? Finding her? Or working on her case any harder? I don’t want that to affect it. I want them to look for her just like they would anybody else,” Green said.
Police crews searched the water below Mathews Bridge but have found no trace of Brown.
Brown is a mother of two, a nursing student, and works at a nursing home.
“Please, please come home. I beg you to come home. I want you home,” said Green. “I have so many scenarios running through my mind. And the hardest thing ever for me to do yesterday was to tell my grandson that his mother was missing.”
Brown’s sister sent Action News Jax screenshots of their text message conversation after Brown didn’t come home Wednesday night.
She asked Brown Thursday morning if she was coming back. She got a response from Brown’s phone saying “yes” and to leave the door unlocked.
Officers found Brown’s car within an hour of that text message being sent.
Brown’s mother and sister tell Action News Jax that Brown was planning to meet up with a man she had met on a dating website the morning she disappeared.
Green said she had recently argued with her daughter about meeting up with men online.
Green said a Brunswick man whom Brown met on the website Plenty of Fish called her after seeing Facebook posts that Brown had disappeared.
“He called me. He said he thought Ashley had stood him up,” Green said. “I did give the detectives his information.”
Green said she hasn’t ruled out that one of the men her daughter was meeting up with could be involved in her disappearance.
“Please come home, if you can hear me, if you are still alive. If someone has her, please let her go,” Green said.
A JSO spokesperson said that although the police report said no foul play is suspected, officers are investigating all possibilities.
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