Missing 12-year-old Baltimore County girl found after a week, was feared to be with man she met online
BALTIMORE -- A 12-year-old girl from Baltimore County was found a week after she went missing, Baltimore County Police said Thursday. Her parents told WJZ they feared she may have been be with an older man that she met online.
Tayzha Alona Warren, 12, was found in Pikesville, police said. She was last seen last Thursday at her home in Pikesville.
Police did not provide additional details about her disappearance, but said an investigation is ongoing and she has been reunited with her family.
"Alona, I just want you to come home," her mother, Mia Brooks, said Wednesday. "I want you to come home now… You're not in trouble. You're not in trouble. We just want you to come back."
Alona left a note
The 12-year-old, who goes by her middle name Alona, was last seen at her home at an apartment complex in Pikesville on Thursday, June 20th.
"Last Friday I went to wake Alona up for breakfast, just for the day, and she wasn't there," Mia Brooks, Warren's mother, said.
Brooks says her daughter left behind a note saying she was going to Pennsylvania and to not call the police.
"She said that 'I'm not running away,' which made it even more cryptic because you're 12," Brooks said.
Friends say Alona met a man online
Alona's loved ones gathered Tuesday night to search for her near Pikesville Middle School. Her parents told WJZ they learned where Alona may have gone from friends.
"People have said and friends have said that she was talking to a man in his 20s," Brooks said.
"If someone is harboring her, let her go," Alona's father, Kenneth Brooks, said. "Let her go. The damage that you're doing right now to this family is immeasurable. Please we are begging you. Let her go."
Baltimore County detectives worked with other law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to locate her.
The Black and Missing Foundation also helped Alona's family with their search.
In a statement, the organization says: "Time is of the essence in this critical missing person case. The more awareness we can raise, both locally and nationally, the greater our chances of a successful recovery."
