A Charlotte mom was found dead after her family reported her missing when she vanished mere hours after dropping off her 2-year-old son.

Frezja Matisse Baker, 31, was last seen at 9:52 p.m. on Dec. 4 driving a gray–blue 2004 Honda Accord with temporary South Carolina plates, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Baker called her brother around 10:30 p.m. to say she was “about an hour away.”

She was found unresponsive inside her vehicle on Thursday morning and has been pronounced dead. The case is now being investigated as a homicide. The body was discovered at about 9:35 a.m. in the 2300 block of Sanders Avenue in west Charlotte, on the property of an abandoned church, and police said the vehicle matched the description tied to Baker’s missing-person report.

Authorities noted Baker was seen with a man described as an associate before she disappeared, though the family did not provide further details. 

Loved ones described Baker as caring, loving, and someone who “would give you the shirt off her back.” According to reports, family and friends did their own searches in Charlotte and into parts of South Carolina and issued public pleas after Baker stopped answering her phone. 

Her brother, Fred Baker, told WBTV, “My sister never came home. She always comes home to check on her kid.” Witnesses told local outlets there may have been an argument involving a male acquaintance the night she disappeared; police have not confirmed those details publicly as part of the investigation. 

CMPD asks anyone with information to call the Homicide Unit at 704-432-8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. Authorities said they will release more details as the investigation continues.