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We are losing daughter 18 to boyfriend she met online

Me (53f) and husband (48m) are losing daughter (18f) to a boyfriend (22m) several states away she met online. We are beside ourselves and looking for advice. This all started in Jan while she was 7+ hours away at college, and that’s when they first met in person when he visited her. Since I had access to her email, found out she was a no show her first day of classes for the new semester and saw emails about overnight guests having a 3-day maximum stay….to say I lost my mind was an understatement at which point she blocked my access when questioned and communicated that she needed to be responsible on her own without me being overbearing….we still have Life 360 to monitor whereabouts, fast forward to late April, we make plans for move out day 2 weeks out, notice she’s not where she’s supposed to be for 3 days, trying to get in touch with her, get letter that she withdrew from college the week before with move-out required in 72 hours. I pull her call logs, reach out to repeat #’s, find out from the few friends that she’s with boyfriend, her dorm was all packed up in his truck, and she’s living in her car for past 3 days, door dashing for money. We finally get in touch at 2pm ish, she tells me she was failing semester, didn’t want to upset us, and that she’s trying to get $$ for U-Haul trailer to drive home….obviously this was already in the works prior to us making travel plans for mid-May. I immediately arrange/pay for her to get U-Haul trailer by 5pm before they close, instruct her to get on the road early am….she gets home, says she hated college experience, people, dorm, being so far away, still wants to goto college but wants to stay home and live with us (and sister 9f)….shes basically in a depression for 2-3 weeks, trying to adjust, doesn’t go out much, maybe for an hour or 2 once or twice a week, always asks our permission or if its ok, she’s an introvert, helps a lot around house, with sister, anything i ask, doesn’t drink, is pretty health conscious, juices, vegan/vegetarian type meals 90% of the time, suspect she may when out with friends smoke pot occasionally but no real proof. She likes to sleep in, on phone with BF all day night ridiculous the amount of face time (Not sure how he could possibly work) she’s not working steady, only cash jobs here and there (babysitting, certified lifeguard, food stand)….we do all the college registration, audition, interviews for our local college, and I use Verizon Family to start blocking hours she can use phone/internet from 10pm-6am, so he buys/sends her a phone, she stops using ours. Flash forward to 4th of July, she wants to visit BF several states away, we are not receptive, explain our reasoning, position, etc, ask her not to go….she sneaks off, goes anyway, sends an exceptionally well written detailed text, that she loves us not to worry, she needs to do this, comes back a 5-6 days later, about the great time she had (I don’t care) just glad she’s home, I work remotely from home but have lots of dr/appts so some days in and out, don’t bother her for the most part, other than ask her to do chores, sis is at camp, hubby works 6am-2pm…so not a lot of communication going on we are all busy, have dinner, do it again the next day. We do ask her to go out with us and do things, she does so reluctantly only 25% of the time. Also, not sure if she’s watching tiktok, reels, is being brainwashed or what, but she her opinions views are delusional (food we eat, health coverage, government, living in US) She mentions a few days ago the BF is coming to visit, I immediately state, he’s staying at a hotel, and if he can’t afford one, he’s not much of a prospect, is he? plus we are gonna be away 2 nights for an event she doesn’t want to join us for, then I’m away for business, that I don’t think the timing is good. While I’m away, BF shows up, hubby is blindsighted and uncomfortable, it doesn’t go over well, they leave she is asked to be home by midnight, she says out till 3am. I fly home yesterday, tell her to invite him over for dinner to properly meet, and have a conversation….we explain our intention is not to be rude, we don’t know him to not like him, the negative actions our daughter has taken and scenarios that have taken place thus far don’t sit well with us, he understands, appears to be all talk (a dreamer) little action, next thing we hear is she is not wanting to goto college (my check literally cleared 3 days ago for the semester) she can get her reiki certification instead, live on a farm, live off the land, that she’s not going to have to work like I work (mind you I love my 28 year - 6+ figure career/colleagues ) that all I care about is money (tell her its a sad world but money makes the world go round) and that’s how you pay for shelter, food, ac, heat, cars, clothes, vacations….we agreed to disagree, i said it was nice meeting you called it a night…she said they were going to visit her friend…never comes home. I text her this morning for update, she comes home while I’m on conf call, explains her phone died, shows me, leaves my office, starts cooking with BF, I come in kitchen, offers to make me something, I decline and head out to Dr appt….an hour later hubby is blowing up my phone that he was alerted when garage door opened and he’s watching her move out/load up BF car on video cameras m, then calls police that we are being robbed. I get home, 4 cop cars, neighbors are over, it’s a flippin shit show, at first I was like if you leave, u leave with the clothes on your back, then realize this was planned, premeditated, so tried pleading with her to come to her senses, she’s offering to pay me back for college, she not going, doesn’t want to live with us…left it off that “If you leave now, the only help and support I will extend to you is to get you back home to live” if this doesn’t work out. She left for a few hours and just came back to tell me that she thought about all the points we and others made, that she’ll be back in 3 weeks before college starts, and will commit to completing the 12 week semester while she figures the rest out, I hope she does. I know we all now need individual and family counseling to get through this and am open to advice.

Posted Aug 14, 2025, 12:26 AM UTC

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