Beth Alston
AMERICUS — Two young girls who were reported missing on Thursday night have been found. Col. Eric Bryant of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to the Times-Recorder that, “ the two girls that were missing have been located, and are at the office now.” As of press time no further information could be given as the girls were being interviewed by investigators.
The investigation into the disappearance of two young Americus girls, missing since Thursday, continued into Saturday.
Sumter County Sheriff’s Investigator Matthew Holloway identified the girls as Ayleshia Wellborn(e), 13, and Shatima Hicks, 12, both residents of Bradford Place, a mobile home park located on LaCrosse Road in northern rural Sumter County.
Both the girls, described as friends by Holloway, are African Americans.
Holloway said both girls made it home from school sometime between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Thursday and were last seen around 2 p.m. by family members. He said his office became involved in the investigation into their disappearance around 10 p.m. Thursday.
He said the leads investigators have received have taken them to Weeks Trailer Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the Northside Drive and Cherokee Street areas, and the Douglas Circle area. He said a ping from a cell phone belonging to one of the girls was picked up on Friday by the tower located at Advance Auto Parts, between Fetner and Lamar streets. He said this would indicate that the cell phone was located on the north and east side of Americus at that time; however, he said they did not know if the cell phone was still in the possession of the girls.
Foul play is not suspected, Holloway told the Times-Recorder Saturday. “Right now, there is no indication of foul play. We believe these two juveniles might be in the company of some males. We don’t have much more information than that. We’ve been busy clearing up leads and some are not panning out. The girls may be in danger because the males (we believe they are in the company of) might be adults, 17 or older. We’re not sure how these two girls got involved with them; all we know is that they are older, black males, who have been seen in the area a couple of time in the past when one of the girls disappeared and reappeared. It could be a boyfriend; we don’t know.”
Holloway said he’s been following up on leads from anyone who knows the girls or has had contact with them or has seen them. He said he talked with over 25 such contacts Friday night alone. “No one’s really seen them for several days,” he said.
