After 2 years, Burton man charged with murder of missing mom, kidnapping of her son
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Beaufort’s Sophia Van Dam murder
Jonas Jerry Washington Jr. is accused of killing Beaufort native Sophia Van Dam and kidnapping her son.
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Jonas Jerry Washington, Jr., 26, is charged with murder for the killing of Sophia Van Dam and the kidnapping of her 2-year-old son Matteo, possibly providing answers to one of the most heart-wrenching crimes in recent memory, Sumter police said Saturday.
The missing mother and son were from Beaufort and had deep local ties. They were reported missing two years ago this month in Sumter, 125 miles north of Beaufort.
Sumter police took Washington, of Burton, into custody earlier this week in Georgia, where he was serving a sentence on unrelated charges. He is being held in Sumter County.
Washington is expected to be arraigned before Circuit Court Judge R. Ferrell Cothran, Jr. Tuesday at the Sumter County Judicial Center.
Washington was living in Sumter with Sophia and Matteo before the mother and son were reported missing by family members in Beaufort, where Sophia was raised, in June 2023.
Ernest Finney, the solicitor for the Third Judicial Circuit, which includes Sumter County, told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet that Washington was charged with murder in the death of Sophia Van Dam based on evidence that was discovered at the home she shared with Washington.
As for Matteo, “We don’t have enough strong evidence” the boy was killed, said Finney, explaining why Washington was charged with kidnapping in his case. “We can only prove he was taken away from his house without permission.”
No bodies have been recovered in the case, Finney said.
Theresa Van Dam of Beaufort reported her daughter, Sophia, 20 at the time, and Sophia’s 2-year-old son, Matteo, missing to Sumter police on June 28, 2023 after not hearing from them for several days.
At the time of her disappearance, Sophia had visited Beaufort and was reportedly returning to Sumter, where she had recently moved. After Sophia and Matteo were reported missing, police did a “welfare check” of their Wilson Street residence in Sumter and found Sophia’s vehicle but there was no sign of the young mother and her son.
“We’ve waited and we’ve wanted it,” Theresa Van Dam said Saturday about the charges. “It’s an answer to prayer. I’ve been praying. I want justice. I want them found. I want to know where they were at. And he’s the one that has the answers.”
Over the past two years, authorities have remained mostly silent about the case but Washington was clearly a person of interest.
In late August 2023, about a month after the mother and son disappeared, representatives of the FBI, Beaufort County, Sumter police and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division searched a Rerock Road location in Burton, an unincorporated area on the western edge of Beaufort, in relation to the disappearance. The address is the home of Washington’s father, Jonas Jerry Washington Sr., where Washington Jr. sometimes lived as well.
Sumter Police said the investigation is continuing. Any information that could help in the investigation can be submitted to the Sumter Police Department by calling 803-436-2700.
Tips can be given to Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC, online at P3tips.com or by using the P3tips app for Apple or Android devices. Tips can also be submitted to SLED at tips@sled.sc.gov.
This story was originally published June 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM.
