A 14-year-old Washington state teenager has been missing for three weeks after her mother said she met a man on the messaging platform Discord.
Ella Jones was last seen on January 5 at her home in Mount Vernon, a city in Washington state. The missing girl's mother, Sarah Merrill, believed her daughter was talking to an older man online – someone in his 30s.
Merrill says she can't bear to think about the nearby I-5 corridor, which she says is “the most sex-trafficking route in the world.”
The mother said when she first learned Ella was talking to an older man, she took away her phone and set up parental controls to give her limited access. However, she said when her daughter found the phone, she was still able to send messages through the TextNow app.
On Saturday, January 6, she wanted to wake her daughter up and start breakfast, but then saw that her daughter's window was open and her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
Ella Jones, 14, has been missing since Jan. 6 after she left her Mount Vernon home with an older man she met online
Ella's mother Sarah Merrill (pictured together) believes her daughter is in danger and being held against her will after meeting a stranger she met online
What was left behind was a note telling her that she loved her but had to leave, as well as her cell phone, her house keys and her computer.
Merrill said as she rushed to her daughter's friends, she said many of her friends gave her conflicting information, but everyone knew she was talking to an older man named Keith online.
Her friends told Merrill that she had been talking to him since October and that one of the children had told Merrill that “Ella trusted him.” She also learned that Ella had met him or was planning to meet him.
She told that she believes her daughter has been groomed in recent months.
“That's not her.” I think she is in danger and may be being held against her will. “I’m very worried,” Merrill said.
“I have no proof that this is just my gut feeling. “I can't think of any other way that this would be their decision to do this.”
She also said that she was “surprised she didn't take her phone after trying to find it for so long.”
She adds that her kind-hearted teenager refers to most of her peers as her “friends” and doesn't believe she's thinking about the person she met online in a “romantic way.”
But she is paralyzed with fear knowing that the I-5 corridor, an area notorious for sex trafficking, is nearby, making her daughter's disappearance all the more disturbing.
“We live between Portland and Vancouver, B.C., near the I-5 corridor, the busiest sex route in the world.”
“It's the highway that goes from Canada to Mexico, there are ports everywhere.” I live an hour from the border.
Merrill, who works as a chemist, said she's “trying not to spend too much time in that headspace” but said, “It's alarming.”
“The best case scenario at this point is that she is not a victim of sex trafficking.”
She said after she filed a missing person report with Mount Vernon police on Jan. 6, multiple agencies from different states were involved in the search.
The “Missing Persons” flyer distributed throughout Washington State
Ella Jones smiles in happier times with a dog
She said many tips have come in from everywhere – from the north, from the mountains or from the other side of the peninsula.
“Investigators went to two different apartments, they stopped a bus, they are actively working and looking for her.”;
She said there is a large homeless and street drug epidemic in Washington state, and while she doesn't believe her daughter is in that group, she said she has relied on their information.
“They're out there all the time watching things and I've spoken to some of them. “They don't want to see a child out there.
“It's a big area, it's overwhelming.” There are a lot of unsafe and unsavory neighborhoods and there are a lot of tips coming from the areas that are very concerning.
She said her daughter had dark brown hair and brown eyes and was slim. She stands 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs around 125-130 pounds.
“She has bangs and very noticeable dimples,” Merrill pointed out.
She was last seen wearing multicolored plaid pajama pants, a black hoodie and black sneakers, and carrying a large green backpack.
She said her daughter took her electric toothbrush, hair dryer and yarn and crochet hooks and doesn't believe she is wearing the same clothes she was wearing when she disappeared.
The Discord platform is an instant messaging and social platform that allows users to call, text or make video calls. TextNow is a mobile operator that offers free service once you download the app.
contacted Mount Vernon Police, who said they had received many tips and were investigating.
“There were a lot of reports in these tips that came in, but so far we haven't been able to find them,” said Lt. Dave Shackleton.
“We evaluate each individual contribution, but we can’t say exactly where the tips come from, but they do come from different places.”
He urged the public to call 911 immediately if the teen is spotted and to call police if they have any information about Ella's disappearance.
“It's going into the third week.” “At any time, especially when a young person goes missing and contact with family and friends is lost, that is very worrying.”
If anyone has information on the whereabouts of Ella Jones, they are asked to contact Mount Vernon Police at 1-360-428-3211.