Missing Washington teen may have met with online predator
- Ella Jones was last seen going to bed on Jan. 5
- The teen was chatting with an older man she met online
- Police believe she may have left to meet up with him
Testing widget old system
Editor’s Note: Ella has been located by authorities and is unharmed.
(NewsNation) — Ella Jones, 14, of Mount Vernon, Washington, was last seen on Jan. 5 and her mother believes she may have met up with an older man she’d been talking to online.
Jones was last seen going to bed on Jan. 5 and her mother reported her missing the next morning. Police believe she may have left late on the 5th or in the early morning hours on Jan. 6.
Jones’ mother, Susan Merrill, said her daughter has never run away before and left a note telling her mother she loved her.
Merrill said her daughter had been talking to an older man in his 20s or 30s on Discord. Merrill took her daughter’s phone away as a result, but said she may not have realized how much of a relationship the two had.
Jones’ friends reportedly told Merril Jones left to meet up with the man she’d been speaking to, but Merrill said the stories they told were confusing and didn’t have the same details.
Jones is 5’5″ and weighs about 130 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes and dimples. She was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, multicolored plaid pajama pants and black sneakers and carrying a large green backpack, which likely included other clothes.
Anyone with information on Jones should contact NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or the Mount Vernon Police Department at 1-360-428-3211.
