Alexis Ware, 29, vanished from Anderson, South Carolina, in January 2022. She was last seen at the 7-Eleven gas station off Highway 29 on Sunday, January 30. She was reported missing on Tuesday, February 1.
Later that month, Dateline featured Alexis’s story in our Missing in America series. Her half-brother Travis Ware told Dateline at the time that the family just wanted answers and to know that Alexis was safe. “I know my sister is missing but I haven’t accepted the fact that she’s actually, in fact, missing and that’s the part that’s been the hardest for me, because I feel like I’m in a nightmare,” he said. “I’m waiting to wake up from this nightmare.”
In July 2022, Dateline told Alexis’s story in season 1 of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast series. Alexis’s mother, Alberta Gray-Simpkins, told Andrea Canning, “I miss my child every day. I keep asking God to send me a clue. Help me. Sometimes I sit in the car by myself, away from the kids, and I just have my moments. Just racking my brains trying to figure out what happened, ‘What do I need to do? Show me. Guide me.’”
The sentiments Travis and Alberta shared back in 2022 have only grown stronger over the past three years.
And now, they are hoping to make a change that might have helped in Alexis’s case, and could help in the cases of other families whose loved ones go missing in South Carolina.
They are proposing the “Alexis Ware Act,” which would allow for families to request help from SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) directly. Typically, SLED has to be invited in by the department investigating a missing person case.
According to NBC affiliate WYFF, “The bill has yet to be sponsored by any lawmaker, meaning it can’t be attached to a subcommittee; the first steps to becoming a law.”
The bill was presented to the Greenville County legislative delegation earlier this week, but no decision was made during the meeting.
Alexis Ware is still missing. If you know something about her disappearance, call the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office at 864-260-4405. Or you can submit information through Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.