Updated Monday, March 13, 2017, 11:30 a.m. EDT: The Baltimore Police Department has reported that Kennedi High, an autistic 16-year-old girl who went missing last week, has been located and is being reunited with her family.
Earlier:
On Sunday the Baltimore Police Department enlisted the public’s help in the desperate search for an autistic 16-year-old girl who went missing after being dismissed from Western High School last week.
Kennedi High, a 10th-grader from Northeast Baltimore, was last seen March 8 at dismissal at her school. The police have currently not determined if she boarded her normal Maryland Transit Administration bus or got a ride, police spokesperson T.J. Smith said at a news conference, according to the Baltimore Sun.
“She does not have a sense of discernment like you and I, and I don’t think she believes she’s in danger, but she really is,” Kennedi’s mother, Brandi Stallings, said at the press conference. “Whoever has her, I kindly ask that you please, please bring her back home, drop her off at a police station, just put her somewhere safe.”
Smith said that the teen’s disappearance has raised eyebrows in the Special Investigations Division, since Kennedi is not known for going missing for any extended period of time, “and certainly not overnight without having any type of contact with her mother.”
Her mother said that prior to her disappearance, the teen had been acting normally and that no issues had come up at home that could have prompted her to run away.
Police did search Edgecomb Park, which is about 2 miles away from Kennedi’s school, but didn’t find her.
Some in social media have pulled up Snapchats that have allegedly been sent from Kennedi’s account, saying that somehow the teen is in Mountain View, Calif., Smith said. Baltimore police reached out to the Mountain View Police Department, which investigated the angle and eventually debunked it.
Kennedi does not have a phone, Smith said, and airline representatives have no records of her boarding a plane.
“We think local is more likely,” Smith added.
Police also said that so far there has been no indication of abduction or foul play. However, although police don’t think that Kennedi is a victim of trafficking, detectives are still investigating that angle.
“When we’re dealing with missing teenagers in this age bracket, that is something that we have to look into,” Smith said.
The Police Department is pleading that anyone with even the slightest bit of information come forward. The department has also brought her case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“We do have a number of leads we’re following up on, but even the smallest tip that you may think is insignificant is important to the investigation,” Police Capt. Steve Hohman, commander of the Baltimore Police Special Investigations Division, told the Sun.
Kennedi has long braids and was last seen wearing black pants, a white shirt, a black puff coat, black Ugg boots and red glasses.
Anyone with any information is asked to call or text the Baltimore Police Missing Persons Line at 410-458-8136 or call Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7-LOCKUP.
Read more at the Baltimore Sun.