The father of missing Florida teen Sophia Cover told The Post he believes she may have been coerced into leaving their home — and revealed her phone went dark just hours after her overnight disappearance.
Richard Cover, 54, said nothing seemed amiss before his 16-year-old daughter mysteriously vanished around at 12:45 a.m. on July 31 — less than two weeks before she’s set to return to high school.
“That’s why I think that somebody convinced her to leave under the false pretenses,” Cover told The Post Friday evening.
Cover said Sophia enjoyed seeking out attention from others and “could see my daughter being coerced” by someone to leave her home.
“I think someone has my daughter. That’s my best answer,” he said.
Sophia was last seen on surveillance footage leaving the family’s home in Naples, Fla. around 12:45 a.m. on July 31 with a bag, filled with a lot of clothes, a new pair of Nike sneakers that she loved and a flatiron hair straightener, according to the heartbroken father.
Around 6:15 a.m. that morning, Cover heard Sophia’s 14-month-old dog wailing inside his daughter’s bedroom.
After knocking on Sophia’s door several times without an answer, he noticed her bedroom door was locked which was “weird” before ultimately discovering she was missing.
Cover, who lives with his girlfriend and their combined four children — including Sophia — woke his girlfriend up in a panic.
“She jumps up like she saw a ghost,” Cover said of his girlfriend.
The couple checked their security cameras and saw Sophia had left in the early hours of that morning with a bag.
Her location-sharing app had also been disabled and her phone was going straight to voicemail.
The distraught father said that the family had relocated back to Florida five months ago and that Sophia was excited to be living in the Sunshine State and to return to school in less than two weeks.
He does not believe his daughter would voluntarily leave their home or put him through such worry.
“So there’s no issue with her not wanting to be here. There’s no issue with not loving where she lives. She was excited about going back to school in a couple of weeks,” he said.
Collier County authorities have reportedly launched a multi-agency investigation into the case while Cover began an online and in the community search effort, hoping for clues into her mysterious disappearance.
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