Go to Making Light's front page.
Forward to next post: The soft and unmistakable sound of a gauntlet landing on the dusty ground
Subscribe (via RSS) to this post's comment thread. (What does this mean? Here's a quick introduction.)
From the Colebrook Chronicle:
On Tuesday afternoon the N.H. State Police issued a request to the public for help in locating a missing juvenile from West Stewartstown.Celina Cass, age 11, was last seen sitting at her computer by her parents about 9 p.m. on Monday night. When they went to wake her on Tuesday morning, she was not in her bed. A search began and state police were called in. Assisting in the search was N.H. Fish and Game and several K-9 units, as well as local police departments from nearby towns and the U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Celina lives with her family in an apartment building near the Spa Restaurant. Police have said there are no signs of a struggle in the house and that Celina does not have a history of wandering away
By 4 p.m. the state police had issued their request to the public for help in locating Celina, and an automated call system was calling phone numbers throughout the state notifying residents of the missing girl. Radio, television and newspapers throughout the state were uploading information about Celina on their websites and in newscasts.
Anyone with information is asked to call the state police at (603) 846-3333.
See also:
West Stewartstown is the very next town north of (bordering) mine. Washington St, West Stewartstown, is US Rt 3, which is the same as Main Street, Colebrook.
Right now there's a helicopter orbiting the river valley, and a ton of cops in town.
We had heavy rain this afternoon, and the temperature is now in the fifties.
Oh, crap, Jim. I hope she gets found pronto, and is okay.
Every parent's nightmare.
Bright blessings and best wishes for her speedy and healthy recovery.
I too hope it ends well, but... going missing from her own bed, overnight? Given that the police have said both "no signs of struggle", and apparently ruled out family members too... well, I can only think of two scenarios left. One is not hopeful, that classic "went to meet someone she met on the Internet".
The other option... well, if she turns up at a previously-secret boyfriend's home, she'd hopefully be safe, but everyone concerned will be embarrassed as all get-out!
Addendum:
I hope Celina's story ends well, and quickly.
The local Gone Missing story has long faded from the headlines. I still occasional come across store windows with "Kyron Horman -- Endangered Missing" posters, and another feel a pang of sadness for his parents. It's been over a year, without a single solid clue.
Second day of the search, and still no word. Assorted baritones from out of town standing in the parking lot of The Spa talking to cameras.
The police took the young lady's computer; I expect they've read her mail and her chats by now. Yesterday they were going house-to-house.
Light rain all night. Temperature is now 54.
At least Nancy Grace hasn't showed up.
She and her family are in my prayers.
Gah. I've been re-reading Seanan McGuire's An Artificial Night, and this scenario is eerily like the one which starts that story (children taken from their beds by Blind Michael for the Wild Hunt). GoodThoughts being sent that she be found quickly.
11 years old? Oh my. That's particularly troubling if she met someone on the internet.
I hope she is safe and is home soon.
Prayers for her safety and speedy recovery, and for comfort and hope for her family. Gratitude for the searchers. My first thought, too, was "someone she met online." Please keep us informed.
There's going to be a candle-light vigil tonight at 8:00 p.m. opposite Solomon's Store.
Story has gone national:
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20110727/US.Missing.Girl.NH/
I hope that this case resolves happily. My heart aches for her parents.
This is only marginally related - Nancy Grace, much like Jessica Fletcher (who is fictional, yes, but I'm not certain Grace isn't, too) is the modern day harbinger of very bad news.
Oh dear. I hope she's found soon. Her parents must be terribly anguished.
WMUR has contiuous updates and Q&A..
CNN:
FBI offers reward in case of missing New Hampshire girl
The Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team
This story was in the local (Eugene, OR) paper this morning.
Jim, the careful phrasing of the current report, which your link returns, hardly hides anything. A body was found within half a mile of the home. No formal identification yet.
A live news conference is scheduled here at 6:05 EDT today.
Oh gods, this is heartbreaking.
The death is being termed "suspicious." The autopsy is scheduled for 0900 tomorrow.
Mood around town is somber this evening.
That is awful. I feel bad for the family most of all, but also for those in the community who pitched in to search. Take care back there.
*SIGH* Cold comfort, but: There is something to be said for quick closure.
Out here in Portland, in addition to the yet-unresolved Horman disappearance, a missing 14 year old's family had to wait more than a month before her murderer / boyfriend could be coaxed into letting the police know where to find her body. (The story would be a national sensation except, well, murderer and victim were both African American.)
I remember a similar disappearance in Seattle where it was years and years before the body was found. Though it's all still utterly horrible, I am glad that at least Celina's family and friends won't have that torture.
It's going to be bad, at least until the cause of death, and how she left her home, can be nailed down. I wonder how much of the phrasing—terms such as "suspicious"—is a way of saying "We don't know yet."
And the idea of the stranger on the internet is such a tempting explanation when things go wrong. It means it isn't somebody you might know.
Tragic. Historically, the risk of the "stranger on the Internet" is wildly overblown and the primary suspects are almost always a step-father, father, a step-mother, or mother (pretty much in that order). In this case, it seems highly likely to be the step-father, who may very well be in the hospital for self-inflicted wounds...
Just saw a story about her on Road Runner. Damn. I was hoping, as were we all, that she would be found safe.
I've realized that I was actually making a very unsupported accusation against the step-father, based on very little evidence. I was just trying to point out that the "stranger danger" hysteria is both overblown and unhelpful. It is much more likely that it was someone she knew in person, rather than some random person off the street or someone online.
Dave Bell, John Peacock: Well, the thing is: meeting a stranger on the internet is harmless. Letting them persuade you to meet them in the real world, without telling anyone where you've gone, now that's dangerous!
Even a lot of the adults I've heard from leave notes and tell friends beforehand when they meet some IRL for the first time. Hell, I probably would, and I'm a full-grown man who can be a bit intimidating in my own right.
Damned tragic. What a fucked-up world this is.
David @39
I don't entirely agree. Sometimes there is an emotional effect. Contact with other people always has the potential for harm, but it's pretty rare.
And particularly tasteless (if unintentionally so) spam, @42.
Comments containing more than seven URLs will be held for approval. If you want to comment on a thread that's been closed, please post to the most recent "Open Thread" discussion.
You can subscribe (via RSS) to this particular comment thread. (If this option is baffling, here's a quick introduction.)
HTML Tags:
<strong>Strong</strong> = Strong
<em>Emphasized</em> = Emphasized
<a href="http://www.url.com">Linked text</a> = Linked text
Spelling reference:
Tolkien. Minuscule. Gandhi. Millennium. Delany. Embarrassment. Publishers Weekly. Occurrence. Asimov. Weird. Connoisseur. Accommodate. Hierarchy. Deity. Etiquette. Pharaoh. Teresa. Its. Macdonald. Nielsen Hayden. It's. Fluorosphere. Barack. More here.