Did the family of three sisters who drowned in Brighton, England, in May 2026 previously run a GoFundMe campaign for their mother, whose body was never found? No, that's not true: The body of the mom, Janice Adetoro, was recovered from a lake in Birmingham, England, in early February 2010. There is no evidence that a GoFundMe was ever started, as the fundraising service did not launch until May 10, 2010.
The claims appeared in a video (archived here) by the carla_lou_hopkins account on TikTok and uploaded on May 27, 2026. It opened:
The 3 sisters that drowned in Brighton is so bizarre the deeper you dig #brighton #drowned #uktiktok
This is what a screenshot of the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by carla_lou_hopkins on TikTok.)
The video is embedded below:
@carla_lou_hopkins The 3 sisters that drowned in Brighton is so bizarre the deeper you dig #brighton #drowned #uktiktok ♬ original sound - 🖤Carla🖤Chaos,Crime&Real Life
The speculation surrounds the family following the deaths of sisters Jane Adetoro, Christina Walters, and Rebecca Walters, whose bodies were found in the water near Brighton Marina early on the morning of May 13, 2026. The Times reported (archived here) on May 23, 2026. Authorities have not said why the women traveled from London to Brighton before their deaths. Sussex Police (archived here) also said there was no evidence of third-party involvement or criminal activity. A GoFundMe account (archived here) was set up to pay for their funeral expenses.
In the video on TikTok, Carla Lou Hopkins presents her case:
So, there's been rumors that this family are well known for running scams of missing people. I'm not saying that there are not three people that have been pulled from the water in Brighton. Let's just clarify that, but I find it so bizarre, the history of this family.
So 2010, their mom is reported missing. A GoFundMe gets set up, the police search for her. It's then said that she's drowned in a lake in Birmingham. Nobody were ever recovered, no death certificate.
While it is true that their mom, Janice Adetoro, was reported missing in early January 2010, the rest of Hopkins' claims are false. The Birmingham Mail (archived here) reported this on Feb. 5, 2010:
A BODY has been found in a lake in Birmingham by police search teams...
A West Midlands Police spokesman said it was unclear whether the body was that of a male or female and added that no formal identification had taken place. However, it is understood the family of missing mum Janice Adetoro have been informed of the find.
The 43-year-old, who suffered from stress-related mental health issues was last seen by one of her daughters at their home in nearby Linton Walk in the early hours of January 5, during the recent cold snap.
The Times reporting was more exact 16 years later:
The body of their mother, Janice Adetoro, 43, was recovered from Brookvale Lake in Erdington, Birmingham, a month after she went missing from the family's nearby home in January 2010.
There is also no evidence to support Hopkins' claim that the family set up a GoFundMe campaign following her death. Janice Adetoro died before the fundraising service launched in May 2010, months after her body was found. Still, a Lead Stories search of the GoFundMe site (archived here) found no listing for a fundraiser under her name.
Hopkins makes an additional claim in the video about the family:
2012, these [women] have got an older sister who was reported missing, stated that they believe that she had been kidnapped. Again, a GoFundMe set up, they get £34,000. 2016, that very sister is found to be living in America, alive and well, new life, married, job, everything. The family failed to tell the police, so she's still a missing person. This family then get reported for fraud, they get investigated by the police and other authorities.
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo! News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports for the words: "Walters, Adetoro, kidnap, and fraud." Had there been such a reported kidnapping and fraud investigation, there likely would have been widespread news coverage in England.
Lead Stories again searched GoFundMe (archived here) for a 2012 fundraiser linked to the Adetoro family. None was found.
