14-year-old girl vanishes on last day of school, Georgia family says. ‘Come home’
.jpeg "Ashley Nevaeh Bell, 14, was last seen May 24 after classes let out at Parkview High School in Georgia, her family says.")
A Georgia teen has been missing for more than a week after finishing her final exams, her family told news outlets.
Now they’re asking for the public’s help to bring her home.
Ashley Nevaeh Bell, 14, was last seen May 24 after classes let out for the year at Parkview High School in Lilburn, according to Gwinnett County police.
She left at about 10:30 a.m., and investigators believe she may be in danger.
“She’s quiet, she’s antisocial a little bit, so she’ll be in her own world a lot,” Ashley’s dad, Remon Bell, told WAGA. “She is a gamer ... for her to leave at just the spur of the moment is really, really different.”
Bell said Ashley and her sister planned to leave together after exams that morning, according to WSB-TV. Her sister arrived at the parking lot to find Ashley’s laptop under the car and her debit card on the windshield, he told the station.
Her cellphone was shut off later that day, and her social media wasn’t active, according to police.
Surveillance video showed the freshman walking toward the parking lot, though it’s not clear where she went.
“She does not have access to money or a car,” police said. “These circumstances are outside her normal behavior, as she has perfect attendance in school.”
McClatchy News reached out to Gwinnett County Public Schools on June 4 and was awaiting response.
Ashley is 5 feet, 3 inches; weighs 145 pounds; and has brown eyes and curly black hair, according to investigators. She was last seen wearing a white shirt, brown tights, and brown and white shoes.
The teen’s father said he suspects his daughter was lured away by someone she met online, WAGA reported.
“We really think that she was just talking to someone on an app and became friends with them, and they lured her out,” Remon Bell told the station. “Because she never do anything like this.”
Ashley’s family has since made public pleas for her safe return.
“If you’re watching, come home,” her father told WSB-TV. “No one’s mad at you. We love you.”
Anyone with information on Ashley’s whereabouts is asked to call Gwinnett County Police detectives at 770-513-5300 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
Lilburn is about 20 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published June 5, 2023 at 7:30 AM with the headline "14-year-old girl vanishes on last day of school, Georgia family says. ‘Come home’."