Missing
Adriana Diana Laster
Laster, approximately 2011; Gabrielle Swainson; Freddie Grant
Date and time person was reported missing : 09/03/2011
Missing location (approx) :
Elgin, South Carolina
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
Black
DOB : 10/28/1983 (37)
Age at the time of disappearance: 27 years old
Height / Weight : 5'4, 120 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Laster's nicknames are Drana and Gigi. She has a scar on her chin and her ears are pierced. Some accounts spell her name "Adrianna."
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Laster was last seen on Kelly Street in Elgin, South Carolina on September 3, 2011. She had left her boyfriend, Freddie Grant, and was hiding from him staying with a woman. The woman advised Laster not to go to church on Sunday, as she feared Grant would find her. Laster has never been heard from again. She was reported missing by a family member in Florida on March 17, 2012, six months after she was last seen.
In June 2013, Grant led authorities to the body of Gabrielle Swainson, a 15-year-old Columbia, South Carolina girl who had been Date and time person was reported missing : August 2012. He had dated the girl's mother. Grant confessed that he had used a key he claimed to have lost to enter Swainson's home, kidnapped her from her bed as she slept, and Gender : ually assaulted and murdered her.
Photos of Grant and Swainson are posted with this case summary. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, to run concurrently with 18 years he was already serving for a weapons charge. In exchange, authorities dropped charges against Grant's daughter, who'd been charged as an accessory after the fact to Swainson's murder. Grant's release date is 2043.
Laster left behind a daughter; although she didn't have custody of her, she was active in the girl's life. She is originally from Florida, and her aunt and legal guardian lived in Alabama at the time of her disappearance. Foul play is suspected in Laster's case; she had been a victim of domestic abuse at Grant's hands and he had beaten her severely on multiple occasions, including while she was pregnant. He has never been charged in her disappearance, however; it remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Elgin Police Department
803-438-9917
September 2021 updates and sources
The CUE Center for Missing Persons
WIS 10
WCSC 5 News
CBS News
The Aiken Standard
South Carolina Lostnmissing
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
