UPDATE: Kingston police say Stephanie Gipson was located safe and sound at around 7 p.m. on June 10. Police want to thank the community for their assistance.
Family and friends of a young Gananoque woman have been searching for her for the last week.
According to Kingston police, Stephanie Gipson was last seen in Kingston around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5.
Her mother, Chris Gipson, says she’s holding out hope that Stephanie, the 23-year-old mother of a five-year-old son and a two-year-old girl, will be found.
“I’m just hoping Stephanie is going to come home,” said Chris.
According to Chris, Stephanie was dropped off in Kingston for a job interview with a cleaning company that was to take place at the Tim Hortons at Arlington Park Place on Wednesday afternoon.
Chris said she was meant to be picked by her aunt at 5 p.m. at the same Tim Hortons, but Stephanie never showed up.
Her mother says police confirmed to her that Stephanie was last seen in the area of Queen Mary and Robert Wallace roads in Kingston around 10:40 p.m. getting into a white van.
“At night with two guys and a girl. And that’s the last anyone has seen of Stephanie,” said Chris.
Kingston police confirmed that Stephanie was last seen in the area her mother indicated, with two men and a woman, but couldn’t confirm that she was seen getting into a white van.
Since her disappearance, family and friends have been out looking for her.
“Ever since I had the police show up at my door on Friday night, telling me Stephanie had not been found and that a case was going to be started, I started worrying,” said Jamie Webster, a good friend of Stephanie’s.
Webster has spent the last few nights searching local hot spots in Kingston where Stephanie is known to frequent.
“The second night I was out until 4 a.m. in the morning in Kingston just driving around, just looking for her and hoping I even see her on the street,” said Webster.
Stephanie’s mother says her daughter does go out some nights and has stayed out overnight, but she always contacts the family the next day.
Chris says Stephanie’s two young children aren’t quite aware of how serious this case is and are crying for their mother.
“Little Aria is only two so she really doesn’t understand. All she knows is she cries for her mommy and wants her mommy. And little Hunter doesn’t know what to think; he’s five.”
Stephanie is described as between five feet and five feet six inches tall and 140 pounds with blond hair. She was last seen wearing a blue sleeveless shirt, grey-black pants and beige sandals.
Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call Kingston police.