HUDSON, Fla. — Jul. 10th, 2006. The U.S. Coast Guard is called to find a missing diver.
Investigators are told 28-year-old Ashley Mauldin was diving 14 miles off the Florida coast with her husband and some friends. Crews search 1,600 square miles for days but turn up nothing.
Investigators say the water was 28 feet deep and calm that day near Hudson Beach. Not a trace of Mauldin or her diving gear has ever been found.
“Somebody knows something out there because nothing adds up,” said Ashley Mauldin’s mother, Charlotte Callis. “And, anyone who hears the story says the same thing."
Callis said her daughter was not certified for scuba diving, and the day she disappeared was her very first time diving in open waters.
“It was totally out of character for her. Not what she would do. She was more inclined to read and listen to music and she did like outdoors, but she was not a risk-taker. So, for her to be reported scuba diving on a day that she was supposed to go to work and have a big presentation, she would not have done that. That’s really out of character,” said Callis.
She said Mauldin was very accomplished, graduating at the top of her high school class and continuing a high level of academic achievement in college.
“I couldn’t have been more proud of the person that she was,” said Callis.
Now going on 16 years of searching, Mauldin's mom continues to fight for answers.
“It’s tough. Even after 15 years of the not knowing. I constantly have to remind myself that God has his arms around her and that she is protected by him. And, I know that even if she is still on this earth, which is unlikely, I understand that.”