After her mother was discovered dead in their South Carolina home on Thanksgiving, a five-year-old child remains missing.
On Thursday, Sheriff Leroy Ravenell says deputies were called to do a welfare check at a home in Orangeburg at 12 pm and authorities found Crystal Jumper, 46, in an “advanced stage of decomposition” with a gunshot wound. Aspen Jeter, her daughter, was not found at the residence.
Jumper’s family reported not hearing from the mother in several weeks. Jumper’s worried brother, Pauley Jumper, said that his niece has physical impairments that make it challenging for her to walk and speak.
He added, “She is unable to walk and cannot speak, so please pray for us to get her home.”
According to Crystal’s relatives, Antar Jeter, the father of Aspen, is also missing. The father was listed as residing with Crystal and Aspen in the incident report, although authorities have not revealed if they consider him a suspect. The mother and Aspen’s father, according to officials, did not get along.
Police are investigating the incident as a homicide and are searching for the child’s father, who may be a suspect in the murder of his wife.