A 14-year-old girl from Washington state went missing three weeks ago after leaving a cryptic note for her mother, who was punishing her for texting an older man she met online.
Mount Vernon resident Sarah Merrill said she last saw her daughter, Ella Jones, in her room on the night of Jan. 5.
The next morning she realized she was gone. Fox News Digital reported..
According to the paper, Ella's friends told her mother that she had been communicating with a man in his late 20s or early 30s on Discord.
As punishment, Merrill temporarily took away her cell phone.
On the night of her disappearance, Ella left a message for her mother to resolve the issue.
“She wrote a note saying she loved me and didn't want to hurt us anymore,” Merrill said. told KING5.
A mother who is asking for the public's help in finding her daughter has described the events that preceded her disappearance.
“She was here at bedtime and we had a normal night,” Merrill told FOX News Digital. “She slept with me until just before I went to bed. She was tired after a long week at work, and she said, 'I love you.' She said goodnight and left her room.
She said Ella appeared to know where she was going because she took some of her belongings.
“Clothes, her hair dryer, my iron. … So I immediately went to her friend's house and started asking questions,” Merrill told FOX News Digital.
“Something is really wrong…I don't think she can call me,” she told the outlet. “She's never run away. We're very close. There's never been any fights, it's never been a 'I hate my mom so I'm running away' situation.”
She said she “didn't fully understand the gravity” of her daughter's interaction with the stranger.
“There's always stuff going on between teenagers to some extent. But she's a really sweet, good-natured kid. So the longer it goes on, the more kids open up about things.” started [the online relationship]'' Merrill told FOX News Digital.
“One friend said she really trusts him. And they're all pretty confident that that's where she is,” she added.
Merrill said she doesn't believe her daughter is having a mental health crisis, but that she was being groomed by an unknown man, KING 5 reported.
Police could not confirm to the media whether they confirmed the mother's theory.
“As information continues to come in, we are evaluating each on its own merits,” Lt. David Shackleton told KING 5. “The Internet is great for many things, but it's also a dangerous place, especially for children.”
Ella was believed to be wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, multi-colored plaid pajama pants and black Nike Air Force shoes when she departed.
She is listed as being 5 feet 5 inches tall, with brown hair and weighing approximately 135 pounds.
of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children They are also appealing to the public for help in locating the boy.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Skagit County dispatch at 360-428-3211.
