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Virginia woman goes missing after sending picture of her battered face to friend, says she was 'beaten pretty bad' by estranged hubby

Mary Cathleen Haley, 32, was reported missing earlier this week, 3 days after she contacted her parents, whom she told she was 'doing fine'

WEST VIRGINIA: A West Virginia woman went missing just days after sending a cryptic photo of herself with blackened eyes to a friend, claiming she had been beaten by her estranged husband.

Mary Cathleen Haley, 32, was reported missing earlier this week, three days after she last contacted her parents on December 13, when she told them she was "doing fine".

Krissy Musallam, a friend from a domestic violence support group, said that later on the same day, Haley reached out to her claiming that she had been "beaten pretty bad" by estranged husband William Scott a week earlier, Fox News reported.

After receiving a picture of her bruised face, Musallam said she encouraged Haley to go to a women's refuge. She soon received another message complaining that officials were refusing to take Haley's complaints seriously.

On Saturday, Steven Vaught, a close friend who had helped Haley after she left her husband around August this year, contacted Musallam saying that Haley "is fine" and "is unstable" and that she is "in bed asleep". He also claimed that she got her black eyes after she "fell down the stairs acting crazy".

During the same time, Haley's account went silent. Meanwhile, some of Haley's other friends received a series of cryptic messages which said that she "fell in the lake" and "tried to kill herself".

Sheila Vaught, Steven's wife, on the other hand, said that Scott had refused to sign divorce papers, and Haley feared for her life. She also confirmed that Haley had been staying with them for around a month before she left for Florida.

Haley's parents reported her missing on December 16. When the police started investigating her disappearance, they also discovered that she was wanted on a warrant for grand larceny, dated December 10.

Scott had been questioned in relation to the missing person but not arrested. Police said that he has been fully cooperating and claimed not to have seen his wife in months.