Sabrina Heinz’s vehicle was found abandoned on the side of a South Carolina highway on January 30, 2026. She has not been seen since.
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Authorities searching for South Carolina woman missing since January 2026: “She disappeared into thin air”
“She was the best grandma,” Sage Goodwin told Dateline about her mother, 49-year-old Sabrina Heinz. “When it came to my son, she made sure she was perfect.”
In late January 2026, Sage had some good news she was ready to share. She was nearly 12 weeks pregnant with her second child, and had been waiting until that point to tell her mom.
But on Friday, January 30, Sage’s aunt called her. She told Sage that Sabrina’s car had been found on the southbound side of Interstate 77 near Blythewood, South Carolina. The car’s GPS data showed it had been sitting there for two days. And Sabrina was nowhere to be found.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) has been investigating Sabrina’s case since that January day. According to Sergeant Molly Nations, Sabrina’s case has remained a mystery. “It’s like she disappeared into thin air,” she told Dateline.
Sabrina lived by herself in Columbia, South Carolina, about 30 minutes from Sage and her son. According to Sage, the two of them were close, and Sabrina spent a lot of time with her grandson. “Not all moms and daughters have the perfect life,” Sage said, “But we were actually starting to get really, really close the last couple of months before she went missing.”
Sabrina worked as a janitor for a cleaning company, and on the night of Wednesday, January 28, she headed to a cleaning job at a convenience store in Winnsboro. “She was where she was supposed to be that night at the convenience store,” Sgt. Nations said. “We have her on surveillance there.”
Store employees familiar with Sabrina told investigators that
she didn’t appear to be her usual self that night. “She was clearly a little disoriented,” Nations said. “She had this huge roll cart. She was right beside a ramp, but she chose to put it up on the curb,” Nations continued. “She would kind of, like, try to push it up there, and things fell off.”
Sabrina’s employer has contracts with businesses throughout South Carolina. Because of that, Sabrina’s vehicle was a company car, equipped with extensive GPS monitoring. According to Sgt. Nations, that data shows that when Sabrina left the convenience store around 10:00 p.m., she headed in the direction of her home. But at 11:19 p.m., her car stopped on the southbound shoulder of I-77, close to the Blythewood Road Exit at mile marker 29, and did not move again. That was just a few miles from where she was last seen in Winnsboro.
Sabrina’s employer realized something was wrong on Friday, January 30, when he received a call that Sabrina hadn’t shown up for a cleaning job. “That’s when he looked at the GPS and noticed that her vehicle had been stationary for two days at that point,” Sgt. Nations said.
The employer called authorities to report Sabrina missing after he drove to the vehicle’s location and found no sign of Sabrina. Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the scene.
Sage told Dateline that Sabrina’s employer also reached out to her grandmother, Sabrina’s mom. The family confirmed that no one had heard from her since Wednesday, January 28. “We didn’t think anything of it,” Sage said, explaining they sometimes went a day or two without speaking.
According to Sage, the family’s concern grew when they learned that
Sabrina’s personal belongings were found in the vehicle, including her purse, phone, and cigarettes. “That’s not my mom, and she wouldn’t just leave that stuff,” Sage said.
Investigators agree. “It kinda led them and us, of course, to believe that she had every intention of going back to the car,” Sgt. Nations said. “For whatever reason, she got out.”
According to Nations, the vehicle was found unlocked and running. It didn’t have any fresh damage, and still had plenty of fuel. RCSD had a mechanic run tests on the vehicle to see if it had malfunctioned, and tests confirmed there was “nothing abnormal.”
“We didn’t have reason to believe that it was a crime scene,” Sgt. Nations said. “Just based off of the condition of it and everything that was left inside.” Since
Sabrina’s cleaning supplies took up all the other seats in the vehicle, investigators concluded that no one else had been in the vehicle with her. Security video from the convenience store parking lot shows Sabrina driving alone, and when the vehicle was swabbed, RCSD found no DNA evidence belonging to anyone other than Sabrina.
The Criminal Investigation Division of the RCSD conducted searches in the woods on either side of I-77, a heavily-trafficked highway that cuts through the surrounding rural areas. There is a residential area about a mile from where Sabrina’s car was found, but Sgt. Nations says it’s hard to believe Sabrina would have made it far on foot. “The woods are very difficult terrain to walk in the daytime when it’s sunny and nice out, let alone at night,” she said. RCSD did look at Ring camera footage from that neighborhood, but “had no reason to believe” Sabrina went there.
RCSD utilized drones, 4-wheelers, and a plane equipped with heat sensors to cover the area. Dogs were used to try and locate a scent, to no avail. A rescue organization went into nearby ponds, but found no sign of Sabrina.
There is only one item belonging to Sabrina unaccounted for: the Bluetooth headphones she wore constantly. “Those are the only things we could not find in the vehicle or in the woods during any of our searches,” Sgt. Nations said. RCSD tech services were able to determine through Sabrina’s cell phone that although the vehicle stopped at 11:19 p.m., Sabrina’s headphones did not disconnect from her phone’s Bluetooth for about five to seven hours. “So she was in her car for a good five to seven hours after it was pulled off to the side,” Nations said.
“We can’t help but wonder why she got out of her vehicle,” Nations said. “We have to wonder why she was in her car for five to seven hours.”
When it comes to foul play, “it’s hard to say,” Nations said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to rule that out.”
Sergeant Nations theorizes that Sabrina could have started walking along the road and been picked up by a friendly driver and dropped off somewhere. Or, “maybe she did get in the car with the wrong person.”
Nations believes that because Sabrina’s vehicle was found along the interstate, potential eyewitnesses might not even be aware of the case. “We weren’t getting any tips, which is not normal,” she said. “My fear is that because we have not gotten any tips, it’s because the people who saw anything are not local,” she explained. “If she did potentially get into a vehicle with somebody, you could hit multiple jurisdictions, even multiple states fairly quickly.”
That belief led RCSD to request FBI assistance on February 6. “She could be in another county or state,” Sgt. Nations said. “We wanted national attention.” According to Sgt. Nations, the FBI is assisting in the investigation, but has not yet established any leads.
Since the day of Sabrina’s disappearance, there has been no activity on her social media accounts, nor any activity in her bank account.
As the investigation continues, RCSD is asking the public for any information they may have, especially those traveling on I-77 on the night of Wednesday, January 28 into the morning of January 29, 2026.
Every passing day grows harder for Sage. “She’s not here to, you know, be there for me,” she said. “She’s a very caring person. She’ll take her shirt off her back just to give it to you.”
And for those who want to help? “Keep sharing her picture. Say her name,” Sage said. “I just want her story to stay out there. I don’t want it to go unheard.”
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