There's a young girl that's gone missing in my neighborhood.
 

She's 16 years old and she got into a cab one night and left. She left behind a note saying that people were "making her" do this. She was dropped off in South Central Los Angeles, and no one has heard from her since.

Anyway, she comes from a fairly buttoned up immigrant family. She wasn't online at home so no one knows if she has a MySpace page or not. We certainly haven't been able to find one. In the cab, she called someone on a mobile phone but her family was not aware of her having a phone. No one, sadly, can track down anyone who thinks of themselves as her friend at school.

I didn't know the girl except on sight. When I saw her, she was always silent and never smiling. She's a pretty, petite Asian girl.

Her dad is a valued friend. He has hired a superb private investigator and put out a $10k reward. It's going nowhere. This girl's footprint was so light that finding clues is proving almost impossible even to a most intrepid investigator with solid ties to the community to which she arrived.

So, I'm betting that there is a good chance she's checking online to see if anyone is looking for her. As a filmmaker, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do that would be inventive and reliably catch her eye. She has a common name, so it's slightly more complex that just putting up a "missing" page.

Any thoughts?

Sorry to hear about your situation. I hope & pray she's all right.

I'm not an expert in these things, but I did see a TV segment a few weeks back that stuck in my mind. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the mother who gave this advice, but specifically, I remember this:

Be diligent about contacting and using the local media - get them involved to spread the news. Send out press releases to all news agencies and keep them updated. And most importantly, because the news is so fast moving, hold press conferences on a daily or weekly basis so the story doesn't get forgotten. Many news agencies will send at least a camera operator or reporter. I remember between press releases and press conferences she was able to keep the story in the news for several months. In fact, the reporter who did the piece got involved because of this mother's efforts.

The mother's advice on presenting the story to the media, is to go all out to make the person real. It's important that she's not "just another lost girl". Make sure people know her name, re-iterate it as much as possible so people put the face to the name. Pick locations for the press conference that tell us about the girl: use her house, her room, her favorite hang out spots, her high school, job etc. so that people get a sense that she's a real person. And most importantly, when she held the press conferences, she invited any and all people who knew her: immediate family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc. to once again make the person real.

Wow - What a great answer.
 

I do have a friend who is a reporter. I think I'll bring him into this circle, and get the press releases going. That's something I know I can do. :)

Thank you.

For what it's worth, and please, please don't think that I'm trivialising this by the comparison as it is the method I am highlighting, there was a case in my area that turned out well.

An old, blind, deaf dog had gone missing. The people who owned her were out and somehow she got out into the road, where she was found by a couple driving by. They made enquiries locally about the dog's owners, but alas, nobody made the connection and the people drove away with the dog.

When the dog's owners returned they found out what had happened and began the most energetic campaign to raise awareness to find the couple who had picked the dog up. Leaflets on every tree, telegraph post, notice board, car park: local press; local radio & TV which leaked onto national TV. For two or three weeks, absolutely nothing happened. But then some people who lived about 20 miles away saw the local paper and remembered that their relatives - who lived quite a long way away (well out of the area the publicity would have reached) and had been over for a visit - had mentioned picking up a dog on their way back home.

So the people who had read the paper contacted their relatives....and the dog was reunited with its family.

Relentless publicity of every sort that you can imagine worked in this case. I really, really hope that it works in your friend's case.

You and Michael are on the same page. My journalist friend is working on a project in another state for a few more days, but I'm pressing him into action when he returns. The girl took everything she owned with her, so we think she is staying with someone.

Thanks.

Lori,

Any update on this?

Andrew

Lori, I don't know the specifics but she doesn't want to be found.
The investigator should know how to look and it won't be easy.

My first stops used to be 7-11's because everyone goes there at some point.
Somewhere, someone know s this girl and where she is. That's your target audience.

No matter how this turns out, I feel for her parents. It will not be pleasant.