Mary was last seen at approximately 10:00 p.m. on May 29, 2002 in Lucedale, Mississippi. She was in the 200 block of Clarence Bonnett Road at the time of her disappearance. She has never been heard from again. Her husband, Jonathan Carl Loper, who goes by his middle name, said his six-year-old son woke him up at 4:00 a.m. the next day. The couple's four-month-old baby was crying and Mary was gone.

Mary and Carl married in 1992. According to her family, the couple had a very happy relationship until the late nineties, when Mary began using methamphetamines to lose weight. On May 29, the day of Mary's disappearance, Mary called her mother from the hospital emergency room, where she'd gone to get stitches. She told her mother that Carl had injured her during an argument, then dropped her off at the hospital and left, and she needed a ride home. Mary also called her sister and said she was afraid Carl would hurt her, but she was going to go home to get the children. Her sister, her mother and a minister she knew all offered to accompany her, but she refused their help. She was last seen after her mother dropped her off at home.

Carl didn't report his wife missing; Mary's mother and sister did on May 30 after they called the house to check on her and were told she had disappeared. When police went to the home to investigate, they found some blood, but it may have been from the cut Mary had had stitched up the night before. They also found marijuana plants and arrested Carl for drug possession. He was already out on bond for another drug charge and an assault charge from 2001, stemming from an incident where he allegedly shot another man in the face. Carl was incarcerated for a time after Mary's disappearance, but he has since been released. Investigators stated he had not been cooperative with the investigation into his wife's disappearance.

A search of the area failed to produce any evidence as to Mary's whereabouts. She is the mother of three sons, who are now in the custody of their grandparents. Mary's case remains unsolved. Authorities stated there was no evidence of foul play, but they are uncertain as to what happened to her.