13-year-old missing Mass. teen may be in Brooklyn, police say
(CBS/WBZ) WAYLAND, Mass. - A 13-year-old Massachusetts girl who has been missing for over a week may be in Brooklyn, police say.
CBS station WBZ reported that Alexandra "Allie" Loftis went to Boston and boarded a Peter Pan bus to New York City on Friday Nov. 4th. She was last seen on a surveillance video at the Port Authority Bus Terminal late last Friday night, reports The New York Daily News.
Authorities believe the girl may be somewhere in Brooklyn, as her father, who grew up there, had taken his daughter there to visit family several times. However, none of her family there has heard from her.
Local police in Wayland, a small rural town outside of Boston, are working with the NYPD and volunteers to scour the city to find her.
"As time goes on we're more and more concerned," said Wayland Detective Ruth Backman. "We're just hoping that maybe she goes somewhere she feels safe and somebody might see her."
Her father, 47-year-old Tony Loftis, said he was stunned she had run away, but ascribed it to teenage angst. The Huffington Post reports her father saying Allie had been unhappy at school recently.
"She's a teenager and thinks the grass is greener on the other side. She's dealing with the same things I think all teenagers do," he said. "She's had a pretty sheltered and well-loved life."
Tony Loftis and her family are turning to social media like Twitter and Facebook to aid the search for Allie. "We've tried to leave messages on her Facebook page. We've created a new 'Find Allie Loftis' Facebook page. We have left voicemail messages on her cell phone until it got filled up. We've tried every method we think possible but haven't heard from her," he said.
Allie Loftis is described as 5'4", 130 pounds, biracial, with black hair and braces. She has long, brown hair and brown eyes. "She is walking with a crutch from a knee or leg injury that she had sustained, so she has one crutch with her," said Wayland Police Detective Jamie Berger.
Anyone with information can call the NYPD Missing Persons Squad at 212-694-7781.