Search continues for missing 14-year-old in New Jersey
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on November 5, 2021
(EAST ORANGE, N.J.) — 14-year-old Jashyah Moore has been missing since Oct. 14. Her family is pleading with her community for answers that would help bring her daughter home.
“I cannot imagine what she might be going through just being away from us this long, being away from her family who loves her very much,” her mother, Jamie Moore, said through tears at a press conference Friday morning. “If anybody knows anything, please, please come forward.”
She was last seen around 10 a.m. at Poppie’s Deli Store in East Orange, New Jersey, after her mother asked her to go to the store for groceries. According to police, surveillance footage shows Jashyah entering the store with an older male who paid for her items. The footage does not appear to show them leaving the store together, police say.
When she returned home to her mother, Moore said Jashyah had lost the card the family uses for groceries, and Moore told her daughter to go retrace her steps to find it.
Moore says that was the last time she has seen her daughter since.
Jashyah is 5-foot 5-inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds. She was last seen wearing khaki pants, a black jacket, and black boots, according to an East Orange City Hall press release.
“Jashyah is a smart girl and I can’t reiterate that enough,” Moore said. “She would not stay out. She would not go out, go off with anyone. She’s a homebody. She plays video games. She like to cook, she likes to play with her brothers, like, her best friend.”
East Orange Police, the FBI, and the New Jersey State Police are working in collaboration to help find Jashyah. They say if anyone sees her or knows of her whereabouts, to call the East Orange Police at 973.266.5041.
“Jashyah, if you are out there, we are all looking for you,” said Chief Phyllis Bindi. “We know that you are loved by this community and your family.”
ABC News’ Kasim Kabbara contributed to this report.
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