Friends and family of missing mom Suzanne Simpson issue warning over fake online fundraisers

Friends and family of missing San Antonio relator Suzanne Simpson are sounding the alarm on fake online fundraisers. 

The 51-year-old mother-of-four was last seen late out the front of her $1.5million home in the city's ritzy Olmos Park having an altercation with her husband, Brad, 53, on Sunday October 6.

The couple were walking toward nearby bushland when a neighbor heard screams. She hasn't been seen since. Cops believe she's dead and a search for her body is ongoing. 

Soon after, Brad was arrested in Kendall County and charged with family violence and unlawful restraint. He is being held on a $2million bond. 

But as police continue to make efforts to find Suzanne, her oldest child and a friend have warned sympathizers of scammers setting up fake crowdfunding pages and stealing money. 

In an Instagram story highlight titled 'come home mom,' Simpson's 20-year-old daughter posted a screenshot of one GoFundMe page titled 'Aid Suzanne Kids in Need' and warned readers. 

'Please do not donate to this fundraiser for my family. It is fraud,' she captioned the GoFundMe image. 

Later on, Ayobami Olugbemiga, a GoFundMe spokesperson, confirmed to the San Antonio Express-News that the false page has been pulled down and assured that no funds had been raise. 

In another story, a screenshot was shared of a scam fundraiser that had ripped its entire bio from an authentic MealTrain.com page and falsely claimed to be set up by her aunt, Teresa Clark. 

Ultimately, she shared the real link and requested, 'If you are wanting to give love and support for my family, please only use this link. Thank you for endless prayers as we search to find my mother'. 

Suzanne's dear friend, Abra Liberman Garrett, also took to Facebook to share other deceitful GoFundMe pages. 

The well-wisher posted a screenshot of a page titled 'Honor Suzanne: Raise Awareness for Domestic Abuse' and asked her viewers to report it.  

'I hate having to say this because I hate that any human beings can be this corrupt, depraved, immoral, and reprehensible, however, there are multiple fake, fraudulent GoFundMe campaigns with Suzanne’s name attached. Please report them if you see them. Here are two. (One of them plagiarized my verbiage.)

'The fact that anyone is trying to make money off other people’s good intentions is so vile. I hope these individuals are caught - there is a special place in hell for someone who would do this in my opinion.

'Again, the GoFundMe are false, the family has not set up a GoFundMe, nor are they going to - spread the word, please.

'Thank You and let’s try to keep focusing on the good people out there who are praying, donating, sharing, and caring with pure hearts and godly intentions,' she said. 

In another scathing post, she warned sympathizers to be wary of an account under the name 'Aaron Goldsmith' and asked people to report the phony GoFundMe page. 

'Well, evidently "Aaron Goldsmith" is a total lazy-a$ in addition to being an unskilled conman. He literally just cut and pasted my whole post. Which, by the way, makes zero sense contextually coming from him. Talk about phoning it in. 

'If you see this/him please report. (I did have to smile knowing this dude pretending to be me would have totally cracked up Suzanne!).'

Last week, reports emerged that Brad had allegedly sent frantic text messages to his friend and business partner, James Valle Cotter, on Tuesday October 8, telling him: 'I don't have much time.'

Now, Cotter has been charged with one count of tampering with evidence after police discovered an AK-47 inside the wall of his home.

Police allege Cotter helped Simpson hide a weapon that could be tied to his wife's disappearance, KSAT reported.

According to an arrest affidavit, Simpson text Cotter the day after formally reporting Suzanne missing, writing: 'If you're in Bandera, can you haul ass to meet me at your house?'

'I don't have much time,' the initial text read, according to KENS5.

A secondary text allegedly read: 'Sorry for the urgency but you're all I got especially now... social media is destroying me.'

When police and specially-trained K-9s searched Cotter's home, they found an AK-47 inside a wall behind a mounted television. 

An orange string was allegedly attached to the gun, which allowed it to be pulled from the hiding place. 

Police allege they have footage of a vault inside Simpson's home where he stored his weapons, in which an AK-47 was previously visible. When they executed a search of the vault after Suzanne's disappearance, the AK-47 was missing.

Cotter and Simpson have known each other for 25 years and are longtime business associates. 

Meanwhile large scale, widespread search efforts have been underway to locate Suzanne. Police have confirmed they're looking for a body. 

The missing mother-of-four's own mom, Barbara Clark, revealed the haunting phone call she had with Suzanne just an hour before she was last seen.

Speaking at a vigil set up to honor Suzanne at Lourdes Grotto, Clark said: 'She called me up and told me things Brad had done to her physically.'

Clark said Suzanne confided in her that about 9pm that night, October 6, Simpson had injured her arm and her back.

'I came up with an alternative plan for her that she would move in with me and have her little toddler go to the elementary school in my neighborhood. 

'I never got to tell her the plan.'

Police released a haunting photograph of Suzanne earlier on the day she vanished, showing her walking through The Argyle in Alamo Heights.

Suzanne was pictured alone at the exclusive, members-only club, wearing a knee-length dark dress and her hair down over her shoulders.

Several hours after this photograph was taken, a neighbor claimed he heard an aggressive fight between Suzanne and her husband.

That neighbor claims he saw Simpson hitting and restraining his wife, before they both wandered off to a nearby wooded area.

Shortly after that interaction, the neighbor alleges he heard screams from the woods.

Olmos Park Police Chief Fidel Villegas has since confirmed: 'That night we think she was in distress.'