Mauldin was last seen in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida on June 10, 2006. She was out with her husband, stepdaughter and friends on a 23-foot pleasure boat, My Millie II. Mauldin went scuba diving with five others at a shallow man-made reef that afternoon. The water was 28 feet deep and the seas were calm. Her companions surfaced at the end of the 40-minute dive, but Mauldin did not and has never been heard from again. No track of her or her diving gear has ever been found in spite of an extensive search. The Coast Guard ruled her disappearance an accident at sea.

Mauldin's mother disagrees with the Coast Guard's ruling and believes foul play may have caused her daughter's disappearance. She said she's filing a lawsuit against Mauldin's husband and the dive shop, which sold Mauldin diving equipment when she wasn't certified to dive. Her disappearance remains unsolved.