An intense search for a missing Rabun County mother and her three sons has been ramped up and now includes at least three states. Investigators are now focusing their efforts in the Greenville, S.C. area.
The Rabun County Sheriff's Office said Brittany Rebecca Stewart, 28, and her three boys, between 7 months to 7 years old, were last seen March 23, driving in a maroon 1999 Ford Explorer. The car has Georgia tag RCP0743.
“Those children are the most important thing that's why we jumped on it as quickly as we did and got the information out to the public because of the children,” said Sheriff Chad Nichols, Rabun County.
Sheriff Nichols said the children’s grandparents picked up the 7-year-old boy from Rabun County Primary School Thursday afternoon. Stewart then met her parents to pick him up at the Andy's Market in town with her two other sons in tow. The sheriff said she then vanished.
The next day a family members reported them missing.
They were last spotted by a gas station say at a Habersham County gas station Friday.
“The clerk contacted us to let us know she seen the children. Everyone looked fine. Our eyes want to see her and the children just to make sure they are safe,” said Sheriff Nichols.
Sierrah Justus, who described herself as a lifelong friend of Stewart messaged FOX 5 News from her home near Statesboro in south Georgia.
“The people I know are close to her who I talked to today say she has been a little bit not herself like she's been kind of out of it,” Justus wrote.
She and hundreds of others from Florida to Alabama and beyond are watching the case on social media. They also notice Stewart has not been logged in for a while.
“She hasn't been on Facebook since 2016, that’s kind of alerting because usually she was very active on Facebook; that’s how we used to keep in contact,” said Justus.
She said she and friends all over Clayton and Rabun County are praying for the safe return of Britney Stewart and her three boys.
“My concern for the boys is nobody has seen them. We just want to know if the boys are OK,” said Justus.
Anyone who sees Stewart or her boys should call 911. Sheriff Nichols urges anyone who may have any insight or lead into her disappearance to call Rabun County Dispatch at 706-782-6226.
NEXT: Person killed after plane crashes into Cobb home
