Police: Prince George mother, daughter traveling to West Va. now missing

PRINCE GEORGE, Va. (WWBT) - Police in Prince George are searching for a mother and daughter last seen over the weekend.

According to police, Martha Bates, 42, was traveling with her 15-year-old daughter Mary Bates to Camp Carlo in Huttonsville, West Virginia. The pair were last known to be in Monterey, Va., on July 9 around 4 p.m.

“I agree, you know it’s a long time, and it’s definitely not in their character to just drop off of the grid like this,” Tom Dreon, Martha’s uncle, said.

Dreon said over the last two days, his family has been focused on finding Martha and Mary.

“Everybody is still trying to keep upbeat, you know, no melancholy so far, though obviously it is a difficult situation,” Dreon said.

The summer camp was about a four-hour drive from Prince George.

Martha was supposed to call her husband when they made it to camp, but after no call, her husband called the camp and found out the two never made it.

“She wanted Mary Elizabeth to go off to a summer camp,” Dreon said. “So they were looking forward to it.”

Dreon said Mary did not have a phone, but her mom did.

“Right now, the phone goes straight to voicemail. There’s no ring at all, so that means the phone is out of the network area or it’s turned off right,” Dreon said.

Now crews, including Martha’s husband, are looking for the two in that area and the silver 2015 Nissan Rogue the two were last seen in.

“It seems like they’re doing a lot of road searching right now of the major highways,” Dreon said. “I guess in a day or two if we don’t find them yet, then it would go a little bit more off-road.”

Dreon said he hopes his niece just hit bad weather and got lost.

He prays the two are brought home to Martha’s son and her husband.

“We’ll do our best to try and get up there and look around again tomorrow and the next day, too and maybe with everybody’s help out there looking, we can get this resolved in a happy way soon,” Dreon said.

Martha Bates is described as 5′3″ weighing 345 pounds, with brown eyes, glasses and brown hair.

Mary Bates is described as 5′0″ weighing 110 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

According to police, the two were last seen driving a silver 2015 Nissan Rogue with Virginia tags: UVL-9169.

Anyone with information about Martha and Mary’s whereabouts is asked to call Crime Solvers at (804) 733-2777.

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