A father is pleading for help in finding his teenage daughter who hasn’t been seen since she walked away from her Snow College dorm late Monday night.
“Maddie, if you can hear us,” said Jonathan Allen while tearing up in front of TV cameras during a news conference Thursday, “we’re anxious for you to come home and be with us for Christmas.”
Madelyn Allen, a 19-year-old student at the school in central Utah’s Ephraim, was reported missing by roommates earlier this week when she didn’t return back to her dorm.
Security footage shows her leaving the residence halls at 9:22 p.m., wearing a white fleece jacket, a dark skirt and carrying a plastic bag. Her strawberry-blond hair is in a braid.
Jonathan Allen said his daughter has depression and anxiety — which she talked openly about on her public YouTube channel — and he’s worried she’s experiencing a crisis.
Marci Larsen, the school’s spokesperson, said finals at Snow College run through the end of this week before most students go home at the end of the semester. Larsen said Allen has not completed her exams yet, and police don’t believe that Allen was trying to go home, given that she wasn’t carrying a duffel bag or other luggage.
Her parents, Jonathan and Taunya Allen, live in Davis County and told police they have not seen their daughter. They have been in Ephraim searching for her, along with other family members.
Uncle Jacob Allen also spoke at the news conference, choking back tears.
“This is an impossibly difficult and emotional experience,” he said. “We are deeply concerned about Maddie’s wellbeing.”
The family shared some of their favorite attributes about Madelyn. Jonathan Allen recalled how she was born premature, at just 1 pound and 8 ounces at 26 weeks.
“From the 110 days she was in the NICU to today, she has been a fighter,” he said.
She also loves singing and dancing ballet. She’s a member of a Snow College choir and has posted several of her auditions in videos online.
She also talks about her interest in fashion — and owning 237 pairs of earrings.
The family has started a Facebook page called “Help Find Maddie Allen.” They also have an email account set up for tips at findmaddieallen@gmail.com.
Snow College police are working with state and local law enforcement, as well as the FBI. Anyone with information about Allen’s whereabouts or might have seen anything suspicious in the area may call the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office at 435-835-2345.
Jonathan Allen acknowledged that many families across the country are currently searching for missing children and that it’s an indescribable grief.
“We are devastated, of course, as you can imagine, and we’re desperate to find her safe,” he said. “We need to find her.”
The police chief at Snow College, Derek Walk, said his officers are currently trying to track Allen’s phone records in an attempt to find her.
He said at this time, though, his investigators have no idea of where she might have been headed when she left the dorms at 155 E. College Avenue.
The school has released Allen’s student ID picture, which shows the young woman with slightly darker hair, blue-green eyes and freckles. She is currently in her first semester at Snow College, Larsen believes.
Snow College President Brad Cook added Thursday that it has been more than 60 hours since Allen disappeared. “Every hour that goes by makes it that much more challenging,” he said.
He also noted that many students on the small, rural campus are concerned and grieving.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3GPQ30P
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