Column: The disappeared
There’s an unsolved missing person case right here in Kershaw County.
Her name is Adriana Laster. She was 27 years old the last time anyone had heard from or seen her. She lived in Elgin with a man named Freddie Grant who -- after anyone last saw her -- was arrested and later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing 15-year-old Gabriella “Gabbiee” Swainson and burying her 6 feet deep in the woods next to Elgin’s Thermoid plant.
But there was no trace of Adriana, and Grant, 52 at the time -- who led authorities to Gabbiee’s grave -- no longer had any incentive to cooperate since his plea deal put him in jail for 30 years. He’ll be 83 when he completes his sentence.
Come this September, Adriana will have also been missing for seven years.
No one, except (most likely) Grant, knows where she is. Is there any chance she’s alive? If so, why hasn’t she surfaced after so many years, especially since Grant is safely behind bars?
If she’s dead, where could her body be? In the same woods as where Gabbiee’s body was found? Adriana was, officially, from Florida. Her aunt and legal guardian lived in Alabama back in 2012. Her family told me back then that Adriana was 15 when she started dating and ended up having a baby girl about a year and a half later. Although she did not have custody of her daughter, Adriana was active in the girl’s life.
Adriana’s family claimed Grant beat her and stole money they had sent her to return to Florida. They knew something was wrong when all contact ceased in September 2011.
The paternal grandmother of Adriana’s daughter contacted me again earlier this year. She said she and Adriana’s aunt are wondering if authorities are still looking for her.
