Missing Dartmouth woman's ex fears the worst

The former partner of a Dartmouth woman who has been missing since November says he's fearing the worst about what may have happened to her.

Melissa Dawn Peacock hasn't been seen since Nov. 7.

The 20-year-old's mother, Ruth Slauenwhite, has said she received a troubling text from her daughter that night about going to "the country" for the evening.

There's been no word from her since.

Micheal Bungay told CBC News he met Peacock about seven years ago, when he was 17 years old and she was 13.

"As soon as I saw her, I realized that she was the girl for methe girl I wanted to have children with," he said Friday.

The two of them moved in together as teenagers and had two childrena boy and a girl. Both of the children were immediately taken away and given to adoptive parents.

Bungay said he had a self-destructive streak.

"Over the years that we were together, she really didn't get into any trouble. It was more me that got into trouble. I was on probation for a while," he told CBC News.

"She wasn't involved in any criminal activity, nothing like that. She was a law-abiding citizen. We partied a little bit but other than that, not too much trouble."

Bungay, who now divides his time between working at a local restaurant and living in a halfway house on Brunswick Street, spent1years in jail for robbing a gas station.

After that stint in jail, Bungay went to see Peacock. He said she was different.

"I saw her and her mentality was different. She was acting different. I sensed something was wrong because I know her so well," Bungay recalled.

"She basically just told me everything she was doing, she'd sell herself once in a while to make some money, she was hard up a couple of times where she was living so she had to go and do that. And just basically experimenting with new drugs and doing stuff that I never thought she would ever do."

'I love her to death'

Bungay said he knows enough about the lifestyle to know it usually doesn't end well.

"This just isn't like her to just take off and not talk to anybody. And knowing how the streetsare and knowing the rules and everything of the streets, if you're involved in certain things and if you want to leave, sometimes those people don't let you leave," he said.

"They make you stay there. So maybe she still is alive, she's just somewhere where she doesn't want to be or maybe she tried to leave where she didn't want to be and they wouldn't let her."

Bungay said there is one thing that gives him hope. He said he left voice mail messages on Peacock's cellphone until her mailbox was full. Then, about a month ago, the mailbox was emptied and he was able to leave more messages.

He said he's not sure whether Peacock emptied her voice mail or the police did.

"Or someone else was in control of her cellphone. Those are the only three possibilities I can think of," Bungay said.

Halifax Regional Police have said Peacock is believed to haveleft Dartmouth in a vehicle that made its way to Beaver Bank, thenGore in Hants County. After that, the trail is cold.

Police would not comment on speculation about her cellphone voice mail being emptied and said all details are part of the ongoing investigation into Peacock's disappearance.

Bungay said everyone in Peacock's family is hoping she'll come home.

"Just knowing everything that she's told me and then her being gone for so long, honestly, I don't want to think it but I think she might be dead. I don't want to think that because that's the love of my life," he said.

"I love her to death. No matter what she's done in life and the mistakes that she's made or she thinks that she went wrong. I love her, her family loves her. All her family loves her. We just want her to come home and be safe."