Isaias Soto
•8/10/2026
Detectives are working to uncover what happened on July 31 when 16-year-old Sophia Cover left her home in Golden Gate Estates, as her father continues his search for answers. "I'm never going to stop looking for that little girl. And I'm going to find her one way or another," said her father, Richard Cover. It has been 11 days since Sophia left her home on 62nd Street Northeast. "The emotions are starting to turn to anger at this point. I am, we'll say, beyond frustrated that it's possible for my daughter to be missing for this amount of time," Cover said. Collier County deputies are collaborating with agencies both in and out of state to search for clues from the night Sophia disappeared. Surveillance footage captured her leaving after midnight with a backpack and hoodie, the last known images of her. "The sheriffs have canvassed the neighborhood, spoken to neighbors, talked to people. Haven't gotten anything. Haven't gotten anywhere," Cover said. Friends, family, and neighbors across the U.S. have taken to social media to spread the word about Sophia's disappearance. Her great-grandmother, Marie Brice, shared an emotional plea. "Please come home. I want to see you again," she said. Laura Samples, with the Florida Themis Project, a nonprofit that supports families of missing persons, shared her perspective on the situation. "Sometimes people leave on their own accord. Sometimes people get lost or sometimes adults—maybe Sophia left on her own, but she may not have left with very good people, or she may have run into people that are not good people," Samples said. Richard Cover continues to search for clues online, hoping for a call from detectives with a lead. In the meantime, he is supporting his other children as they wait for their sister to return. "Hey, dad, when's, when Sophie coming home? And I said, Sophie right now is, somewhere she's not allowed to be, and we don't actually know where she is. We're working on finding her right now, mama. And she said she's going to come home," Cover said. The Collier County Sheriff's Office has shared with us that they don't believe she was kidnapped or taken by force at this time. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.
