24 Chilling Messages People Left Before Going Missing

A year after nine-year-old Anthonette Cayedito was kidnapped from her home, a girl claiming to be her called the police. She managed to say she was in Albuquerque before an angry male voice interrupted the call, yelling, "Who said you could use the phone?" The line went dead after the girl screamed, and Anthonette has not been heard from since.

After leaving a pub in Paderborn, Germany, nursing student Frauke Liebs vanished. Over the next week, she made a series of bizarre, brief phone calls and texts to her family, always insisting she would be home soon but never revealing her location. In her final, chilling call to her sister, Frauke was asked if she was being held captive and she whispered "yes," then quickly shouted "no!" before the line cut. That was the last anyone heard from her before a hunter discovered her remains months later.

Hours after going on a date, 21-year-old Matthew Weaver sent two strange, disjointed texts to the woman he had just been with. The messages read, "Like some crazy is going onsh— is going on," followed by, "I just to talk while i have the chance." Shortly after he sent the texts, hikers in the same remote area where he vanished reported hearing cries for help, but Matthew was never found.

The last known recording of Amber Alyssa Tuccaro is a chilling phone call she made while hitchhiking in Alberta, Canada. In the audio, a man's voice tries to reassure her they are heading in the right direction, but Amber's fear is clear. She can be heard telling him, "You better not be taking me anywhere I don't want to go." Despite the public release of the recording, the identity of the man in the car remains unknown, and Amber's remains were found two years after she vanished.

While on the phone with her fiancé, Rob Shafer, 20-year-old Angela Hammond described a strange pickup truck circling the payphone she was using. The conversation abruptly ended when she began screaming into the receiver. As Shafer raced to her location, a pickup truck sped past him, and he heard a voice from inside yell his name. Despite this terrifying encounter, neither Angela nor the driver of the truck have ever been identified.

After finding herself stranded at a man's house after a party, 18-year-old Brookelyn Farthing began sending a series of urgent texts to her ex-boyfriend, who had agreed to pick her up. "Can you hurry," she wrote, followed by "Please hurry," and then, "I'm scared." A final, contradictory text told him to "never mind," but Brookelyn was never seen again, and the house she was in later burned to the ground.

Just two weeks before her life was ended, Gabby Petito sent a text to her mother that raised immediate alarm. In the message, she asked, "Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls." The problem was that Stan was Gabby's grandfather, and referring to him by his first name was something she never did, leading her mother to believe that her ab*sive boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, had actually written the text.

After claiming he found a mysterious, M-shaped cave in the Mojave Desert that made his body vibrate, hiker Kenny Veach felt pressured by online commenters to find it again. Before his final, fatal trip, he left a comment on YouTube acknowledging the danger. He wrote, "I have to be smart and not go alone," but then did exactly that, vanishing into the desert forever.

The day before she vanished, pregnant 18-year-old Kylee Monteiro sent a series of frantic calls to friends and family, saying she was in danger. Although she later claimed the situation had calmed down, her final text message to a friend revealed her true fear. She wrote, "I don’t feel safe right now. Something’s not right," and was never heard from again.

After running out of gas on a remote Texas highway, Brandon Lawson made a frantic and confusing 911 call. In the recording, he can be heard saying he "accidentally ran into" some people and that he needed the cops, not an ambulance. Later, in a final, brief call to his brother, Brandon claimed he was "bleeding" in a nearby field, but he was never found.

After driving his car into a ditch in rural Minnesota, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson called his parents to come get him. He stayed on the line with them for 45 minutes, trying to guide them to his location through the dark fields. During the call, his parents suddenly heard him exclaim, “Oh sh*t!” before the line went dead. Authorities later found his abandoned car, but Brandon Swanson and the reason for his final, panicked words remain a mystery.

After a difficult breakup, 28-year-old Shane Marsden traveled from New Zealand to Thailand without telling his family. The only communication they received was a short, ominous text message he sent to his mother that simply read, "I'm sorry." Authorities traced his phone to Thailand, but he has not been seen or heard from since.

Before she vanished from a scenic Austrian village, Sister Eileen Christie sent a final, cheerful email to her nephew. She told him she had checked into her hostel and shared photos and videos from her phone that showed her enjoying her European vacation. When authorities later searched her room, they found nearly all of her belongings, but the only missing item was a swimsuit, leaving behind a confusing and unsolved final chapter.

Before he drove to the Grand Canyon and vanished, college student David Kramer sent his mother a cryptic text message. He told her he "needed to be back with Mother Earth and set his soul free." This message was the only explanation for his sudden trip, and after he left his car at a lodge and walked toward the canyon's South Rim, he was never seen again.

Shortly after getting separated from his friends at a nightclub, Michael McClain made a panicked, out-of-breath phone call to his boss. In the call, he stated, "They're after me. More than one," before the line went dead. He also sent a series of nonsensical texts to his neighbor, one of which referenced a nearby street, but he was never seen or heard from again.

Months before she vanished, Susan Powell left a chilling message for her family, recorded on a video tour of her home. In a note accompanying the video, she wrote that if anything happened to her while her husband was home, it "may not be an accident." This premonition of foul play became a key piece of evidence after she disappeared, but it was never enough to solve the case.

After abruptly selling her home and leaving for a trip to England, Australian teacher Marion Barter made a series of fragmented calls to her daughter from a payphone. She cheerfully described having tea and scones before the call was cut short as she ran out of coins. Her final words were, "I'll call you back," but she never did, and despite her money later being withdrawn back in Australia, she was never seen again.

In the 24 hours before she vanished, Kayelyn Louder made a series of panicked 911 calls. She told the dispatcher she was afraid and that she lived in a community where people didn't get involved, saying, "I don't want to endanger my friends." This cryptic warning was her last known communication before she disappeared, leaving police and her family to wonder what threat she was facing.

In the middle of the night, while his family slept, 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier's phone came alive with desperate attempts to reach them. He was visiting cousins in Florida when he sent a series of messages, including one to his mother that simply read: "Mom, help." His frantic texts and calls went unanswered until morning. Authorities later found his backpack and phone on a roadside, and a body believed to be his was discovered nearby.

While hiking the closed-off "Stairway to Heaven" trail in Hawaii, Daylenn Pua uploaded several photos of his journey. Internet sleuths later noticed a detail in one of the last images: a mysterious man partially hidden in the dense foliage nearby. Pua was never seen again, and while some witnesses later reported hearing cries for help, the identity of the man in the photo and his possible connection to the disappearance remains unknown.

While attending a concert, 29-year-old Erika Gaytan sent a seemingly normal text to her son's father, asking, "Can you send me a picture of my son in the movies?" This casual message was her last known communication. Her date claimed he left her waiting for an Uber after the show, but Erika never made it home to her son and was never seen again.

When authorities found Leah Roberts' wrecked SUV at the bottom of a remote embankment, they also discovered a cryptic note she left for her sister. It read, "I'm not s*****al. I'm the opposite. Remember Jack Kerouac." The message, referencing the famous Beat author's journey of self-discovery, only deepened the mystery of her disappearance, leaving it unclear if she had met with foul play or had simply chosen to vanish.

On the evening she disappeared, chef Claudia Lawrence spoke to her mother on the phone, making casual plans for Mother's Day. A short time later, she sent her final text message to a friend. The contents of that message have never been publicly released by police, making it a mysterious final communication before she vanished without a trace on her walk to work the next morning.

While sightseeing in Los Angeles after missing a connecting flight, 30-year-old Hannah Kobayashi sent an alarming text to her family. In the message, she said she was scared and believed someone was trying to steal her money and identity. That was her last communication before she vanished, prompting her family to launch a desperate search for her in the city.