PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The family of twins who vanished more than four decades ago waits and hopes for answers to their disappearance.
Patty and Peggy McDaniel were 17 years old in 1979 when they vanished from Broward County. The twins lived with their dad in Live Oak, Florida. They were last seen in Pompano Beach in Broward County.
"My mom is 83 now, and she’s been hanging on. She’s been through a lot of medical issues, and she, I think, has been hanging onto life just to find out what happened to these girls," said Paula McDaniel Hovley, Patty and Peggy's sister.
Paula McDaniel and her mother, Joyce Rivituso, are waiting and hoping for answers.
"44 years, not a day has gone by that we haven’t thought about the girls. They’re always in our thoughts and in our hearts. It’s been, for my mom, a pure, living hell," said McDaniel.
The family believes the twins got into trouble after meeting two men. Rivituso last heard from her daughters through a letter where the girls stated they had run into trouble.
"These perpetrators that lived in Live Oak actually were able to take the girls out of my dad's home, convincing them to...convincing the girls to go with them and then, you know, as you know with any sex trafficking, that's their goal to get them away from the home," said Hovley.
Hovley said her sisters ended up in Pompano Beach before they disappeared.
Earlier this week, Sunshine State Sonar, a private sonar company with volunteers searching for missing people and their vehicles across Florida, spotted a car at the bottom of Lake Tarpon Canal in Pinellas County.
Volunteers could only remove parts of the vehicle and believed it was a 1970s-era Chevy Vega. The family thinks the twins may have been last seen in a Chevy Vega.
"People cannot believe that two girls just disappeared off the face of the earth," said Rivituso.
Sunshine State Sonar said in a Facebook post, "The cold case detective assigned to the Patty and Peggy McDaniel case reached out to us. After reviewing police reports, the detective found no mention of a Chevy Vega."
The family applauds Sunshine State Sonar's work and hopes the case involving the twins will be solved someday.
"I just love the idea this company is doing that...I mean, I just wonder where it will lead with other cases," said Rivituso.
The Broward County Sherrif's Office said at this time, the investigation into the disappearances of Peggy and Patty McDaniel remains open and active.
Anyone with information on the disappearances of the McDaniels is urged to contact the Broward Sheriff’s Office or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
"That’s all we have is hope, and we hang onto that even though we know the girls are not alive and active; just to have that closure would be...it would be life-altering," said Rivituso.
