Okatie woman found safe 4 days after being reported missing on Hilton Head beach
UPDATE: On Friday morning, Bridget Boynton was found unharmed in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. She was alone in an unoccupied home, a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said.
Bridget Boynton, 31, of Okatie loves to walk.
When time allows, she’ll walk much of the span of Hilton Head Island’s beaches: from Sea Pines to Singleton Beach and back, her father Clancy Boynton said.
That’s about six miles each way.
“She loves to be outdoors,” Clancy Boynton said.
Bridget Boynton, who lives in Sun City with her family, went missing on Monday afternoon after one of her beach walks.
She left from Coligny Beach, and when she didn’t return after a few hours, her family began to worry.
Reached by phone on Thursday, Clancy Boynton began to tear up.
“I’m emotional,” he said. “As more time goes by, we hope that somebody can find her and she’s OK. That’s our greatest hope.”
Since Monday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office has sent out two alerts asking people to be on the lookout for Bridget Boynton. She was last seen wearing a No. 16 Chicago Bulls T-shirt and capri pants.
She is described as a white woman with red hair and blue eyes, and she stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall.
Missing on Hilton Head
Bridget Boynton and her family moved to Sun City nearly four years ago from Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb near Chicago.
Six days a week, she teaches English to students in China virtually from 5 a.m. to noon.
In the afternoons, she walks around Sun City or heads to Old Town Bluffton on Thursdays to the farmer’s market.
When she’s not walking or working, she can be found reading, her father said.
Clancy Boynton said his daughter reads five books a week on average and is frequently checking out books from the library.
“She’s a very thoughtful and intelligent kind of person,” he said.
Clancy Boynton described his daughter as quiet and kind.
Bridget Boynton also has lived in other countries: She went to graduate school in Japan, worked as a student journalist in Ethiopia and was employed by an international volunteer work company in Guatemala.
Her father told police she’s very self-sufficient, according to a Sheriff’s Office report. Boynton was reported missing four hours after she went for her walk.
On Monday, the Sheriff’s Office checked local hospitals to no avail. Deputies also went to beach access points.
Anyone with information on Bridget Boynton’s whereabouts may call 911 to reach the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Dispatch.
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 1:57 PM.
