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Fears grow for Michigan schoolgirl Adriana Davidson who vanished three days ago

‘I knew right away she didn’t run away. The red flag for me was the phone,’ brother says

Gustaf Kilander
Washington, DC
Monday 30 January 2023 19:38 GMT
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15-year-old Michigan girl vanishes, cell phone found at school in ‘suspicious’ case

A Michigan high school student hasn’t been seen since last week, and her family is now suspecting foul play.

Adriana Davidson was last in touch with her father at around 9am on Friday 27 January when she was on her way to school. She was last seen by friends at around 11am that same day outside Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor west of Detriot.

The 15-year-old from Scio Township is a sophomore at the school, according to WDIV.

Adriana was reported missing on Saturday at 12.10am, prompting a search by deputies from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office.

The school, where she was last spotted, is located at West Stadium Boulevard and Main Street in the Allmendinger Heights neighbourhood of Ann Arbor.

When she didn’t come home on Friday, family and friends started to search the area for her, and she was reported missing when that effort was unsuccessful.

Fears grow for Michigan schoolgirl Adriana Davidson who vanished three days ago (Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office)

No official information has been shared regarding why or how she vanished. Video footage from a public bus in Ann Arbor shows that Adriana arrived at school on Friday, but friends said she left because she felt unwell, according to WXYZ. Footage shows Adriana returning to the school at around 12pm but she didn’t go inside.

Her brother, Anthony Lopez, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that “her phone was ‘found at the tennis court’ at Pioneer High by someone who then returned it to her friend”.

“A student told her best friend that they saw her at the bus stop with a man in a black sweatshirt & black pants & ‘they didn’t seem like they knew each other’,” he added.

“I beg that she’s ‘just being a teenager’ but no teenager leaves their phone behind in 2023,” he wrote.

In an update, he added that they believe Adriana was on the Ann Arbor Bus “Route 26, The Ride” shortly after 12pm on Friday 27 January. He said the phone has been handed over to the police “to extract data”.

Father John Davidson told WXYZ that he last heard from her on Friday when she left to take the bus. He called and texted her when she didn’t come home that afternoon. He said she always responds to him, but this time, she didn’t.

“We’re going on what? Day two now? This is not my daughter,” he told the local TV station on Sunday.

The Director of Community Engagement at the Washtenaw Sheriff’s Office, Derrick Jackson, told the outlet that “there’s definitely some suspicious pieces to this”.

He confirmed that the bus footage shows that she arrived at school, left not long after, and that she was last seen when going back to school around 12pm when she didn’t enter the premises. Mr Jackson said “we have no idea at this point,” where Adriana went after that, “so that’s why we’re asking for the public’s help”.

A friend of Adriana, who’s called “Addy” by her family, told Mr Lopez that she spotted her leaving school on Friday and texted her, sending Mr Lopez a screenshot of the conversation, seemingly the last anyone had with Adriana before she vanished.

“The text messages between her and her friend are time stamped at 12.26pm where she had texted my sister saying ‘You straight?’ and then Addy responded saying ‘No’,” Mr Lopex told WXYZ.

Mr Davidson told the outlet he suspects foul play.

Mr Lopez said, “when I found out that Addy was potentially missing, I knew right away she didn’t run away. The red flag for me was the phone”.

“What teenage girl just wanders off and leaves her phone and doesn’t contact someone?” Mr Jackson said.

When she went missing, Adriana was wearing a green coat, black Ugg boots, and glasses with clear frames.

A missing person poster describes Adriana as 5’2’ (157cm) and 100 pounds (45kg).

“I know that wherever she’s at, she’s not there willingly,” Mr Lopez said.

Ann Arbor Public Schools said in a statement that “student and staff safety remain the top priority”.

They added that the sheriff’s office issued a missing person alert for the 10-grade student “through their Washtenaw Alert system on Saturday night”.

“We appreciate that members of our AAPS team have been working diligently and closely with the authorities throughout this weekend in support of this situation,” Ann Arbor Public Schools said.

The school district noted that “in addition to Adriana’s peer group, some students and staff who do not know Adriana personally may also be impacted by hearing this information, especially if they have situations in their own lives that make them more vulnerable right now,” emphasising that “social emotional support is available in our schools, and in counseling offices as needed across our AAPS campuses”.

In a statement, the sheriff’s office said that “anyone with information related to the whereabouts of Adriana is asked to contact Washtenaw Metro Dispatch at 734-994-2911 or through our confidential tip line at 734-973-7711”.

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