- Text
Phylicia Barnes Update: School of Missing NC Teen Offers $25,000 Reward, Police Still Have No Leads
Phylicia Barnes (CBS affiliate WJZ)
(CBS/WJZ/AP) The North Carolina school of missing 17-year-old Phylicia Barnes is offering a $25,000 reward for her safe return, one month after she vanished from Maryland while visiting relatives.
Barnes, an honor roll student from Monroe, N.C., located about 25 miles southeast of Charlotte, was last seen Dec. 28 at her half-sister's apartment in northwest Baltimore.
Despite intense searches in more than three dozen locations, more than 100 detectives being assigned to the case, and billboards displaying the young girl's face where she was last seen, police say they still have no leads in the investigation.
The $25,000 reward was announced Jan. 28 and comes from the Phil Hargett Memorial Fund, created last year to help students at the school in financial need. Officials at the public charter school say the committee that runs the fund decided the biggest need for its students right now is the safe return of their classmate.
"There are no words to express my appreciation," Phylicia's mother, Janice Sallis, said of the award.
TV and newspapers in Phylicia's hometown report the half-sister's boyfriend was the last person to see her alive, according to CBS affiliate WJZ.
"This is a young girl who was well-liked in high school," lead investigator, Detective Daniel T. Nicholson IV of the homicide unit, told The Washington Post. "She was doing what any young person would do, visiting her family . . . and she vanished from the face of the earth. That's hard to believe."
Detectives involved in the investigation fear foul play and say there is reason believe the teen may have been abducted in part because of items that she left behind at the apartment, including money.
"We're in full throttle," Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Gugliemi told WJZ. "We have the FBI, homicide, Maryland State Police, all of our partners that were here from day one will continue to be here...we will keep up at this pace as long as we have to."
Police have established a tip line for information on Phylicia Barnes' whereabouts. If you know anything, you can call 855-223-0033.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF PHYLICIA BARNES ON CRIMESIDER
- Jury foreman: Jodi Arias "not a good witness"
- Atty.: New Trayvon Martin texts, photos are "red herrings"
- Matt Baker, "Murdering Minister," Gets 65 Years for Killing Wife
- Hung jury reportedly emotional at Jodi Arias trial
- W.Va. girl pleads guilty in the killing of Skylar Neese, 16
- Hung jury in Arias penalty phase, new panel to be chosen
- Kaitlyn Hunt: "I'm scared of losing the rest of my life..."
- Matt Baker Trial: Ex Mistress Vanessa Bulls Says Preacher Killed Wife
- Kaitlyn Hunt rejects plea deal in underage sex case
- Investigator: Missing Iowa teen's blood found
- Cops: N.Y. girl leaves suicide note claiming she was bullied
- School security guard allegedly pushes girl down stairs
- Fla. girl, 18, charged over underage same-sex relationship
- Woman guilty of stabbing fiance to death on wedding day
- Atty: Charges will not be dropped in Kaitlyn Hunt case
- Fla. man accidentally calls 911 and reveals murder plan
