Autumn Pasquale Missing: Authorities searching for 12-year-old New Jersey girl
(CBS) CLAYTON, N.J. - New Jersey State Police are asking for the public's help in their search for Autumn Pasquale, a missing 12-year-old girl who disappeared from her father's home in Clayton, New Jersey on Saturday, CBS Philly reports.
PICTURES: Autumn Pasquale, 12, missing
Pasquale was last seen leaving her father's home on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on a white BMX Odyssey bike.
"When you wake up in the morning and your daughter's still not home, it's time to panic," said Autumn's mother Jenn Cornwall, "I don't know who she was supposed to meet up with. She just left and said she was meeting a friend."
She communicated with her mom by phone about 15 minutes after she left the home. Cornwall says they briefly texted back and forth.
Family, friends and neighbors have been searching for Pasquale since her father reported her missing around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. Clayton Police were joined by the Gloucester County Child Abduction Response Team of K-9 units and officers and firefighters from surrounding towns. The FBI is also involved in the search, and a New Jersey State Police helicopter has searched the area.
Autumn's father, Tony Pasquale, said his daughter would not have left on her own.
"The police expressed runaway," he said. "I totally disagree with that, because it's not her at all. She's responsible, respectful. She's a good girl."
Pasquale is 5'2" and weighs 120 pounds. She has long, wavy blonde hair with pink highlights, which is usually pulled back in a ponytail. She was last seen wearing navy blue sweatpants over navy blue shorts, a yellow t-shirt with "Clayton Soccer" written on the front, bright blue high-top sneakers and a light grey or silver backpack with the word "reckless" on the back.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts should contact the Clayton Police Department at 856-881-2301.
