FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. – A very concerned friend reported Susan Mauldin missing on Oct. 24, saying that the woman’s home phone and cellphone have gone straight to voicemail since the day before.
Caller: “You guys are sending somebody there, right?” Dispatcher: “We got people on the way already.”
On Tuesday, Clay County detectives named Corey Binderim, who Mauldin hired to do some work on her Fleming Island house, as a person of interest in her disappearance. Detectives said Binderim was cooperating with the investigation but has since left the area without explanation.
Binderim’s estranged wife told News4Jax earlier this week that she has not seen him for some time.
A neighbor, Paige Ritchie, said she and Mauldin are very close and that she is a good person.
Ricchie said she feels helpless and fears the worst.
“I pray a lot. We are missing her very much. We wish there were something we could do,”Ritchie said.
News4jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said that once a person of interest is named, the focus of the case has changed. As for the outcome, he does not want to speculate.
“I have no feeling one way or the other at this point, simply because everything is still kind of cloudy,” Jefferson said.