Missing SC woman Alexis Ware goes missing after trying to leave abusive baby daddy with their son

On January 30, 2024, it had been two years since the unexplained disappearance of Alexis Ware, a 30-year-old mother, from Greenville, South Carolina, who mysteriously vanished in Anderson.

In 2023, Alberta Gray-Simpkins, the mother of Alexis, told us that Travis Patterson, the father of Alexis’s child, may have been involved in her disappearance. Despite these suspicions, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office cleared Travis of any involvement, citing his ankle monitor data as proof of his location. Law enforcement authorities stated that the GPS data from Travis’s ankle monitor indicated that he stayed at his home following the pickup of his son and Alexis’s daughter.

Over the weekend spanning January 28-30, 2022, Alexis visited her mother’s residence accompanied by her two children. During this visit, Alexis confided in Alberta about feeling pursued by an individual she described as the “devil.”

The following day, Alexis expressed to Alberta about not making it to her 30th birthday, which was in two months. Despite Alberta’s questions into what was going on, Alexis chose not to disclose the reasons behind her concerns or who she was referring to as the “devil.” On January 30, Alexis left from her mother’s residence at around noon and drover back home in Greenville.

On that evening, Alberta told us that she was having a conversation with Alexis, during which Alexis mentioned she was about to lay down. Later that night, Travis contacted Alberta to ask about Alexis’s whereabouts. Alberta told The North Carolina Beat that Travis told her that he and Alexis had met up at a 7-Eleven Gas Station in on Highway 29 north in Anderson County to get his son.

Alberta reported that Alexis was supposed to have followed Travis to his mother’s home, but instead, she drove past him and made a right turn at a traffic signal. Upon receiving a call from Travis, Alberta said she attempted to contact Alexis but received no response. The next day, on January 31, 2022, Alexis remained unheard from, leading her family to lodge a missing persons report with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Alexis Ware phone pings in Abbeville County

During the police investigation, they learned that on Sunday, January 30, 2022, at 8:35 p.m., Alexis’s cell phone pinged in Abbeville County. Surveillance cameras also captured her car leaving Belton Woods Apartments at 7:30 p.m. and then again at 8:50 p.m. on the same day. Subsequently, Alexis’s 2019 Red Honda Accord was discovered abandoned, containing her phone, her daughter’s phone, keys, and purse, along with a bag of clothes in the trunk and her black hair bonnet on the ground nearby.

Law enforcement also stated that they retrieved fingerprints from Alexis’s vehicle, but they have not released the identity associated with these prints.

Alexis was a talented hairstylist who was running her own studio from home, a social media maven with aspirations of becoming an Instagram sensation. She faced challenges from her son’s father, Travis but she refused to let him dim her dreams. With plans to launch her own boutique in Atlanta and create a brighter future for her children, Alexis was not stopping.

Days before her death, Alexis was granted to break her lease, as she awaited approval for housing in Atlanta.

In a lengthy email sent on January 23, 2022, to her former apartment manager, she detailed the mistreatment she had experienced from Travis Patterson. Describing him as “abusive, domineering, and deceitful,” she expressed her fear that being in his presence would result in more harm. She ended their relationship with Travis in December 2021.

“I feel the more I stay around him, he’s going to really hurt me one day… I have to leave, and I’m trying to leave fast and quietly. I need help,” Alexis wrote in the email to her apartment manager.

In the email, Alexis expressed her exhaustion with tolerating Travis’s mistreatment in front of her kids, emphasizing that her and her children’s well-being was more important..

“I’m trying to leave an abusive relationship on all levels,” Alexis said in the email. “I wasn’t strong enough then, but I’m ready now! My life and kids are more important.”

In the email, Alexis mentioned how she came to Travis’s rescue during his legal issues, going above and beyond by dipping into her savings to hire not one, but two legal attorneys for him. She even revealed that she shelled out a whopping $50,000 from her kids’ nest egg to support him.

“He took everything from me,” she said in the email.

Meet the one and only TJ, whose real name is Travis Howard Patterson, a 34-year-old man who was sentenced to 13 years in prison in February 2024 for Attempted Murder, Discharging a Firearm Into a Dwelling, Criminal Conspiracy, Obstruction of Justice, Possession of a Weapon During a Violent Crime, and First-Degree Burglary after accepting a plea deal.

In the email, Alexis recounted a disturbing incident where Travis supposedly attacked her in front of her young son, his own parents, and other relatives, all for no apparent reason. She described how she thought bringing her son to his family’s home was an opportunity for him to harm her. Alexis said that after the alleged assault, Travis’s family seemed more concerned about why she involved the police rather than the violence itself.

Due to the abuse at Travis’ family residence, Alexis had started arranging meetups to pick up their son with a family member of Travis or his mother “off the highway in Anderson.” It’s quite possible that Alexis had no clue that Travis would be the one picking up his son; she likely assumed it would be a relative or his mother instead.

“I got to get out while I got the chance now. He already killed 2 people years ago in his past early teens, which is why he did jail time,” Alexis says in the email. “Only 10 years.”

Each time Alexis tried to give Travis another chance, he continued to mistreat her, but this time, Alexis had reached her breaking point and decided to cut ties with him for good.

“This time I can’t let this chance pass me to get away because that same GPS controls his every move; he can’t even leave out of town, he has a 9pm curfew for now. So this is my shot!”, Alexis said in the email.

In the email, Alexis said she was single Travis, vowing to keep her cool until she could make her escape with her children.

“But I know for a fact I’m done. If I can play it cool long enough, that’s what I’m doing. But I’m in fear for my life…,” Alexis wrote.

Alexis said she distanced herself from everyone out of fear that someone might have leaked her plans to him. She also recalled in the email that Travis allegedly told her that he hadn’t “smoked” her yet because he was on GPS monitoring.

“He actually told me on the phone the only reason why he ain’t smoked me yet is only because he’s on GPS”,  Alexis said in the email.

READ FULL EMAIL BELOW:

In a series of text messages allegedly from Travis, he expresses his strong dislike for Alexis and his desire to cause her harm.

“You just don’t know how much I hate you n want to hurt you. Don’t f**kn text me period,” TJ allegedly says in the text message.

Alexis responds back, “I won’t. I’ll just got through your mom bout everything! Don’t worry,” to which TJ allegedly text back and says “B***h die.”

In another text message, TJ allegedly apologizes to Alexis for what he did and says “you was never supposed to put no police n involved with nothing.”

Alexis responds back saying, “I didn’t make you do what you did.. I was simply trying to be cordial with you about our child.. smh how can you not expect me to be upset when I didn’t do nothing to you.. big as you are compared to me. big of man compared to a female I couldn’t even defend myself…but that’s that hate coming out I guess idk I can sit here all day tryna figure that out or understand why it happened but i’ll never know..”

In another text message, Alexis sends Travis a picture of her face bloodied and beaten, along with some words. In response, he says he doesn’t remember what happened because he blacked out.

“I honestly don’t remember what really happen, it’s like I blinked out but on God you never have to worry bout this again.”

“You want me n jail?”, a text message is sent to Alexis allegedly by TJ to which Alexis responds, “you going mf! You can’t even be grown bout our f**kin child!! B***h if you done you done!!Df you need to put your f**kin hands on me for!! Then think you not gon get locked df up.”

Travis also sent Alberta a text message apologizing to her for assaulting her daughter.

In a Facebook message, Alexis is chatting with a friend about a photo showing a black eye she got from Travis.

READ ALL MY TEXT MESSAGES BELOW:

Alberta told The North Carolina Beat that Detective Jason Fowler from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department had not contacted her since last year. He also possesses copies of the email Alexis sent to her apartment manager and the text messages that Travis allegedly sent to Alexis.

“Detective Fowler won’t answer my calls or emails. He has been silent and has done nothing for my daughter,” Alberta said.

Alberta said she found the email Alexis sent to the apartment complex manager in Alexis’s email account, with the text messages attached. Alberta believes Travis set her daughter up, suspecting that he didn’t want Alexis to move to Atlanta with their son. Alberta now has custody of both of Alexis’s children.

Contact Detective Jason Fowler at jmfowler@andersonsheriff.com and urge him to do his job and find Alexis! You can also contact Detective Fowler at (864) 260-4420.

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