ZEELAND, Mich. — UPDATE 4/26/21:
On Sunday, April 25, the Zeeland Police Department found Elena Carmona, 15, on the east side of Michigan. She has been safely reunited with her family.
Zeeland Police Department say the investigation is still ongoing.
ORIGINAL 4/20/21:
A 15-year-old girl from Ottawa County has been missing for more than two weeks.
Her family believes it's because she met a stranger online, while police are investigating her as a voluntary runaway.
Elena Carmona hasn't been seen in two weeks. She left home on the night of April 4. Friends and family haven't seen or heard from her since, and her cell phone has been turned off.
Her mother, Sara Carmona, said she's worried sick.
"It's a mother's instinct, a gut feeling," she said. "Something is wrong. My child is with a stranger. I think she met someone online."
Elena walked out of the home that night, taking her cat, Nacho, when she left.
"I want my daughter back. I'm desperate. I'm going to keep working relentlessly to find her. I'm worried, and I'm scared," Sara said.
Police believe Elena left voluntarily. Evidence of a plan was left behind, like duct tape covering cameras around the home.
But Sara thinks there's much more to the story, especially after she found a note on her daughter's bed the morning after she left.
The note read:
"Dear Mom, I left. I've taken as much as I could carry and set off. I'll text you when I can. Please don't get rid of my stuff because at some point I'm going to come back for it. I've taken Nacho and Naranja. Don't worry I'll be safe I'll be around Zeeland/Holland switching between friends houses. Never forget that I love you and tell everyone else I love them and I'll miss them. I'll text you when the time is right but if I don't I promise I'm okay. I'll come back to visit maybe but we'll see. I'll miss you and I love you a lot. Sincerely, babygirl Elena."
Sara also found a packing list crumbled in the blankets of Elena's bed, with things like "toothbrush", "charger", "hairbrush", "perfume" and "Chapstick" written in black Sharpie.
Lt. Tom Ball with the Zeeland City Police Department is heading the investigation into Elena's disappearance. Lt. Ball says Elena's case is currently an open investigation, and they can't confirm or deny any specific circumstances of how she went missing, but he is encouraging anyone with information to call authorities.
Brenda Dyer is close family friend. She and Sara have set up a command center in her living room to spread the word on Elena's disappearance.
"Either she's coming home or we're going to find her," Dyer said. "We love you and please come home. Whatever is going on we'll work it out together. We're hurting and we need you home."
Sara expressed a similar sentiment, saying, "Please just come home. I need you here, you belong here."
Sara said she refuses to think the worst.
"That's how I continue to keep going," she said. "I'm telling myself she's okay and that she'll be home."
"I've done my crying and now I'm fighting."
Elena Carmona is described as a light skinned Latina girl, standing 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing approximately 250 pounds, dark brown eyes and long black hair with bleached tips at the bottom. Lena is known to always wear a choker-style necklace and sometimes wears black-rimmed non-prescription glasses.
Anyone with information on Elena's whereabouts or disappearance is asked to contact the Zeeland City Police Department at 616-772-9125 or Ottawa County Silent Observer at (877) 887-4536.
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