UPDATE Pregnant woman, 49, vanishes hours before necessary C-section

Carrie Bradshaw-Crowther, a 49-year-old expectant mother, disappeared from her North Carolina home nearly one week ago — just hours before she was scheduled to give birth at the hospital with a medically necessary C-section.

Lauren Lusk, Carrie’s adult daughter, told NBC News she spent the days before Carrie’s disappearance with her. Lauren left the house around five on Tuesday morning to get gas for their drive to the hospital.

“When I got back, she was gone,” Lauren said. “The lights in the house were off, the door was unlocked.”

Lauren said Carrie’s makeup and purse were uncharacteristically left behind, but her mom’s car, keys and cell phone were gone with her. Police have since determined that Bradshaw-Crowther used her phone 20 minutes after she left the house. She was later spotted at a gas station in a nearby town and investigators confirmed she spent Tuesday night at a hotel there. There’s been no trace of her since.

“She has had no contact with family,” said Capt. Shelia Lingle told WSOC

Lauren said her mother’s pregnancy was high-risk because of a medical condition that required she deliver by C-section.

“She cannot give natural birth, and that’s why our family is so worried,” Lauren told WSOC. “Because if she does go into labor she won’t make it.”

Despite that all, Lauren said Carrie “started getting happier” about the idea of a new baby toward the end of her pregnancy. The baby’s father said he hasn’t heard from her. He was driving to the hospital from his home when she went missing.

In a post on the Missing Carrie Bradshaw-Crowther Facebook page from one hour ago, the administrator said Carrie’s family is en route to a hospital where a woman matching her description had been taken.

 

UPDATE WSOC’s Dave Faherty reports Carrie was identified by family members at the hospital. She is now undergoing a medical evaluation. Bradshaw-Crowther was first spotted by a deputy when driving the van she was believed to be using, and was then transported to the hospital.