Dara Lee Watson left her parents' store in downtown Boone a week ago Monday with fiancé David Hedrick, headed back to their home in the Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant.

Watson's boss and a friend received text messages from her phone Wednesday, but nobody could reach her by email or voice.

Late last Thursday, Watson's mother filed a missing person report with Mount Pleasant police. Officers called the couple's home Friday morning and talked to Hedrick. Then a few hours later, police were called to the Rivertowne subdivision home after neighbors heard a noise.

Police found Hedrick dead of a gunshot wound -- a self-inflicted wound, according to the Charleston Post and Courier.

Watson, 30, a native of Boone, remains missing.

Those are some pieces of the story that police are working with -- a mystery that also includes the discovery of Watson's burned-out vehicle in the Francis Marion National Forest last Wednesday, and comments Hedrick made to police during that call last Friday morning, in which he said the couple had an argument.

Investigators with the Mount Pleasant police focused a search Monday on the grassy, marshy area near the couple's three-story house. Using search dogs, police combed the area and looked through trash bins at the residence. Officials would not say what they were looking for, or if they had found anything.

There were no apparent signs of trouble on Feb. 6, when the couple left Watsonatta Western World, the store owned by Watson's parents.

The Post and Courier reported today that John Piebenga, Watson's boss at a medical consulting firm, received a text message from her Tuesday, saying she "was fine" and would be coming to work later in the day. He got a similar message Wednesday. But another friend told police that Watson didn't respond to an email sent to her early in the week.

Police said in a news release that Watson's cell phone was last used about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, the Awendaw Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service found a burned-out silver 2006 GMC Envoy in Francis Marion National Forest, northwest of the Charleston area. Authorities conducted a search but found nothing. At that point, they did not know that Watson was missing.

That changed after several events Friday.

Having received the missing person report from Watson's mother, Mount Pleasant police called Hedrick, 34, CEO of a bail bond company, on Friday morning. He told them the two had gotten into an argument the night of Feb. 6, after returning from Boone. He said Watson left their home the next morning in her GMC Envoy.

According to the report filed by Mount Pleasant police, Hedrick "stated that it did not seem like anything out of the ordinary, because she has left and gone to stay with a friend for a couple days on a few occasions."

The report then indicates Hedrick changed directions with police.

"He then stated that she has never been gone for this period of time, and he was beginning to worry."

Shortly after noon, police got the call about a sound being heard at the house, and they responded. The Charleston Post and Courier reports that a handgun was found next to Hedrick's body.

Eventually over the weekend, police made the connection with the SUV that had been found in the national forest. A search, involving agencies from Charleston and Berkeley counties, covered an area with a radius of 4 to 5 miles.

Charleston County Sheriff Major Jim Brady told WTAT-TV of Charleston it had taken his agency "awhile to actually get information on the vehicle."

The search, Brady said, yielded nothing.

Mount Pleasant police say Watson is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 127 pounds. She was brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information in the case is asked to call investigators at 843-884-4176.

The Charleston Post and Courier and WTAT-TV contributed.