Mother of missing 12-year-old Arizona girl speaks out as search enters second week: ‘I’m scared to death’

‘I’m scared to death about what she’s going through. I don’t know if she’s out there on her own’

Betty Taylor, 12, was reported missing on 20 March (Graham County sheriff’s office)

The mother of a 12-year-old girl from Arizona who has been missing for nearly two weeks has said she is “scared to death” over her daughter’s disappearance.

Betty Taylor was reported missing on 20 March from Safford, Arizona, about 206km away from Tucson.

A large-scale search for the girl is being carried out by the Graham County police with the help of helicopters, drones and several volunteers, who have been handing out flyers with Betty’s photo to raise awareness about her disappearance.

Betty, who is 5ft 5 inches tall and has shoulder-length brown hair with red highlights, had left with a backpack and several water bottles, her family said.

The Graham County sheriff’s office said Betty was wearing a black sweatshirt with white letters, a neon-coloured baseball hat, jeans and pink and blue Vans shoes at the time of her disappearance.

Betty had told her father, in whose residence she had moved to last summer as per her mother, that she was going for a walk and had not returned home.

A flyer created by the family being distributed by volunteers (Graham County sheriff’s office)

Bonnie Jones, the 12-year-old’s mother, said Betty was under a lot of stress about having to attend school and had several secret social media accounts.

“I’m scared to death about what she’s going through. I don’t know if she’s out there on her own. I don’t know if she has a safe place to be. I don’t know if she’s eating,” Ms Jones told ABC affiliate station KNXV in Phoenix.

“She hated school so much that she was getting physically sick because going to school stressed her out so much,” she added.

The 12-year-old was connected to strangers through her social media accounts, the mother claimed.

“And she had promised over and over again that she would get rid of them [the accounts], and I checked her most recent Facebook, and she has her friends hidden, except for the mutual friends,” Ms Jones said.

The family has urged anyone with leads to get in touch with the Graham County sheriff’s office at 928-428-3141 or the Arizona department of public safety at 602-223-2212.