A 16-year-old girl went missing on August 20 from after visiting a Chick-fil-A in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, reports say.
Marley McKenna Spindler never made it to her first day at Socastee High School as a junior.
The missing teen was last seen around 7:30am driving away from a Chick-fil-A on Highway 544 in Surfside Beach.
She was last heard from at 8:42am when she participated in a group text message session with friends, reports WBTW.
During those texts, she reportedly told friends she was being followed, but the friends thought she was joking, according to NBC News.
The teens didn’t call police in case their pal was skipping school, reports her aunt, Shelley Long.
The teen was also seen teen driving on Ocean Boulevard and stopping by her bank, where she withdrew a small amount of money from her account, less than $100, said Lieutenant Raul Denis of the Horry County Police Department, according to NBC News.
She was reportedly driving a 2002 silver Ford Escape with South Carolina tag KFI-776. The vehicle is also missing.
Spindler (who goes by ‘McKenna’) stands 5 feet 8 inches, weighs approximately 100 pounds, and has long light brown hair and hazel eyes.
The missing teen was last seen wearing long blue jeans, a white flowery tank top and gold sandals, with a cross-body style purser, a carrying a Vera Bradley book bag and Vera Bradley lunchbox, according to a missing person’s flyer.
Police said that an original person of interest in the case, a 22-year-old man known only as ‘Jeremy,’ and who was reported to have been with the teen, has been cleared.
Police believe she is likely alone and there is no evidence of foul play at this time.
‘We just want Marley back home,’ said the missing teen’s aunt, according to WBTW, ‘And I just want her to know that if she’s able to see this news, your momma and daddy and family love you so much, and we just want you back home safely, baby.’
‘We can’t rule out that she was abducted, but we also have to face that maybe she ran away. We just don’t know,’ Long told Dateline NBC .
‘She’s 16, she’s very young and maybe she didn’t intend to get in a bad situation, but may find herself in one now,’ said the distressed aunt. ‘If you see this we don’t care what you’ve done and you aren’t in trouble. We just want you home safe.’
Anyone with information related to Spindler’s disappearance is asked to contact the Horry County Police Department or call the Tip Line at 843-915-8477 (843-915-TIPS).
Interested parties can also contact the ‘Help find Marley McKenna Spindler’ Facebook page for more information.
