Stephanie Sparks Thomson’s daughter, a British woman who went missing in Haute-Vienne at the end of January, is using social media to search for her 72-year-old mother. The missing woman’s daughter travels back and forth from the UK to continue the search and take care of her sick father.
Stephanie Sparks Thomson hasn’t been seen since January 29. The 72-year-old British woman, who often went for walks, disappeared in the Chalard area in Haute-Vienne, according to reports from France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The gendarmes of Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche have been conducting searches, including with the help of divers, rescue dogs, drones, sonar, and a helicopter. Residents and relatives have also joined the efforts to find her.
A public appeal was issued by the gendarmerie in late January to help locate the seventy-year-old woman.
“I think mom is somewhere,” says Tracy Thomson, the daughter of the missing woman who lives in the UK and does not speak French. She travels between her country and France every two weeks “to search for [her] mother while also helping [her] father who is hospitalized for lung cancer,” she explained to France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Since then, the British woman has been posting missing person notices on social media, with a photo of her mother. “My posts have received a very positive response. I have reached over a million people in France, Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, and probably elsewhere,” she said.
“And to add: ‘I am convinced that social media can help find missing persons, and I hope they will help me too’,” she added.
A friend of her parents also made a poster that many bars, hotels, or restaurants have hung on their walls.
“I think mom is somewhere and I would be so relieved to know she is safe. I constantly think about her. It is this uncertainty that is the most difficult to bear,” revealed Tracy Thomson, who may have to reduce her trips between the UK and France due to health issues.
