Facebook posts about missing couple 'Raymond and Sophie' in U.K. are hoaxes

What's the claim?

Facebook posts appealing for help locating missing couple Raymond and Sophie Peterson have spread quickly across the U.K., shared predominantly in buy-and-sell communities. Notably, the locations the couple were last seen in mentioned in these posts varied, as they appear in different groups.

One post featuring the images in the "BERKHAMSTED For Sale or Free!" group states: "FLOOD YOUR FEEDS ~ MISSING!" It goes on to say, "Our Dad, Raymond Peterson, aged 80, drove out last night with our stepmom Sophie, and they still haven't returned. They were last seen in #Berkhamsted. He doesn't know where he's going and has chronic memory loss. A silver alert has been activated for them. Please help bump this post so we can get them home safely."

Aside from Berkhamtead, similar posts have surfaced across various groups in the U.K. and U.S. Archives of the posts can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the claims circulating online. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the actual missing persons in the photo are Stephanie and Daniel Menard, who disappeared from a resort in California in August 2024. Their remains were discovered in a concrete bunker beneath a neighbor's home, who has since been charged with their murders.

What did we find?

The fact that the posts named different locations where the missing couple was last seen signalled that the claims were not true. Further, a keyword search revealed no reports stating that Peterson or his wife were ever missing.

By conducting a reverse image search of the couple's photo in the posts, we found that the same image appeared in a report by Mirror dated August 31, titled "Chilling update as California couple found in concrete bunker and arrest made in nudist ranch riddle." The report identified the couple as Stephanie and Daniel Menard, confirming that human remains belonging to 73-year-old Stephanie and her 79-year-old husband Daniel were discovered after they disappeared from their home in the Olive Dell Ranch resort in San Bernardino County.

Screenshot of the August 31 article reporting on the discovery of a California couple's remains in a concrete bunker. (Source: Mirror)

Before the discovery, the couple had been reported missing by a friend on August 25, 2024. In a Facebook post (archived here) on August 27, the Redlands Police Department stated that the couple was last seen at their home around 10 a.m. on August 24. On August 29, detectives investigating at Olive Dell Ranch identified a person of interest at the scene and initiated efforts to locate him. The police noted that Daniel suffered from dementia and was diabetic, another fact different from that in the claims. Further, the photos released by the police proved that the Menards were the same couple pictured in the viral posts.

Screenshot of the Facebook post by the Redlands Police Department from August 27. (Source: Facebook)

On September 16, ABC7 reported that nearly two weeks after the Menards' remains were found beneath their neighbor's home in the resort, the San Bernardino County coroner confirmed they died from "blunt force trauma to the head," ruling the deaths as homicides. Their 62-year-old neighbor, Michael Royce Sparks, was charged with two counts of murder and special circumstance allegations. Sparks was arrested shortly after the couple was reported missing, and their remains were discovered in a concrete bunker under his home. The motive for the killings remains unclear, but neighbors at the resort reportedly said they had noted tensions between Sparks and the Menards.

While the San Bernardino County coroner confirmed the cause of death for the Menards on September 16, Facebook posts calling for help in finding "Raymond Peterson and Sophie" emerged on September 24, mentioning various locations from which the couple was alleged to be missing.

In addition to the false details about their names and locations, the posts incorrectly reported a "silver alert" being activated for them. This system, which alerts the public about missing individuals—particularly older adults or those with developmental or cognitive impairments—is exclusive to the U.S. and does not operate in the U.K.

Additionally, social media posts seeking information about missing persons are likely to allow comments for people to share their inputs or carry a contact number for a person. However, we found that all the Facebook posts about the couple had turned off comments, and did not have any contact information, only asking people to share the post, indicating that they are hoaxes. Such posts are scams involving a bait-and-switch tactic, meaning that once the engagement on them increase, the posts are edited to become fake giveaways, rental opportunities, or marketing gimmicks intended to scam people, with links to harmful websites. Logically Facts has fact-checked several such posts here, here, and here.

The verdict

The individuals in the viral Facebook posts are actually Stephanie and Daniel Menard, not Raymond and Sophie Peterson. The Menards went missing from a California resort in August 2024, and their remains were later found in a concrete bunker under a neighbor's home. However, their images have been misused in viral posts falsely claiming they show a couple missing from different locations in the U.S. and U.K.