In the late hours of a November evening in 1987, Korrina Sagers Malinoski, a 26-year-old mother, vanished from Mount Holly, South Carolina. She was last seen driving away from the Mount Holly Plantation, where she lived with her husband, Thomas 'Steve' Malinoski, and her children. Steve, the caretaker of the sprawling 6,000-acre property, told authorities that Korrina had left after they had an argument, saying she was going for a drive to cool off.
The following morning, when Korrina, a reliable employee at a local convenience store, failed to show up for her shift, her boss grew concerned. He went to look for her and discovered her car, locked and abandoned, at the entrance to the plantation. An extensive search of the area yielded no trace of Korrina, and she has not been heard from since.
The narrative of Korrina's disappearance is complicated by the accounts of those who knew her and by subsequent events. According to one of their sons, Korrina and Steve's marriage was often troubled, with frequent arguments that sometimes turned violent. Steve's claim that he watched her get into another vehicle from their porch was questioned by investigators, given the distance and obstructed view from the house to the road. He also suggested that Korrina had been having an affair and had left with another man, a theory that law enforcement came to doubt. The family lived in a cabin on the vast plantation, a remote setting that added to the mystery of her sudden disappearance.
A heart-wrenching and perplexing development in the case occurred nearly a year later. On October 4, 1988, Korrina’s eleven-year-old daughter, Annette Sagers, disappeared from her bus stop, located near the same plantation entrance where her mother’s car had been found. A handwritten note was discovered, addressed to her stepfather, which read, 'Dad, Mom came back. I have to go with her. Give the boys lots of kisses & hugs & also you to. Love, Annette.' Handwriting experts confirmed that Annette had indeed written the note, but it was impossible to determine if she did so under duress. Several months after Annette vanished, Steve Malinoski moved with his two sons to Florida, later abandoning the boys he shared with Korrina. The interconnected disappearances of mother and daughter remain a poignant and unsolved mystery, leaving a family and community searching for answers for decades.Last Seen: Nov 21, 1987
