Mom Pleads For Missing 7-Year-Old's Return

(CBS)  Police in north Florida issued an Amber Alert on Tuesday for a missing 7-year old girl who never made it home from school in Orange Park, Fla.

At 2:45 p.m. on Monday, second grader Somer Thompson was last seen walking home with her siblings and friends from Grove Park Elementary School.

Detectives say Somer and her friends argued; she ran ahead and hasn't been seen since.

An Amber Alert wasn't issued at first because no one witnessed Somer's disappearance and there was no description of a vehicle.

An Amber Alert was finally issued at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday and 150 law enforcement officers began to search.

Somer Thompson's mother Deana Thompson and Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler joined "The Early Show" to talk about the case.

Asked to describe her daughter, Thompson said, "She's a beautiful 7-year-old, doesn't know a stranger. She's loving, she's creative. Has a twin, and he wants her to come home."

"We just want her to come home," she said.

Deana Thompson had a message for her daughter: "I just want her to come home, no matter what, she's not in trouble. We're not upset with her. And we will never give up looking for you, Somer."

"Please, please just let her come home to me. Drop her off somewhere. Just put her on a corner and let her come home," she added.

Sheriff Beseler told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez they need help from the public, pleading for anyone with information to call the authorities.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office can be reached at [phone].

[CompletelyFrustrated]

The 75 sex offenders living withing 5 miles has my head spinning! I am sure the people living in the are were not aware of that little tidbit of information. If I live there, from now on I would put a car pool together or something to work with other parents.

Yeah, I know there is a woman who is getting hassled by her municipality for keeping kids safe for their parents on school days - I hope those morons are paying attention to this!!

This family is in my prayers, I truly hope they find this little girl quickly and safely!

[tomanyt]

jax09...Might be ridiculous, but its true.

[Candee_Heart]

First off, my heart goes out to the family and friends of this missing little girl. I pray that she is found safe and unharmed.
Next I am a mother of 2, and I cannot for the life of me understand why a parent would let a 7 yr old walk home without an Adult to supervise especially after the news was saying that just 10 days ago another child from the same school had someone in a car try to get her into the car as she was also going home from school.

My child doesn't ride the bus, because I as her parent feel that I need to fulfill my duties as her parent to make sure that she gets to school safely which in turn means riding in my vehicle where she wears a seatbelt. In a bus there are numerous dangers that I personally don't feel that she needs to be subjected to at such a young age, one being no seatbelts and another being distractions that the children on the bus can cause the driver.
There are so many things wrong with this story that it is frightening; starting with why the child was allowed to walk home without an adult down to why on the news conference this morning the mother didnt have a single tear fall from her face. It sure looked and sounded like she was crying, but after using tiVo I rewound and watched the conference a number of times and noticed that no tears fell and the mother was quite quickly able to regain her composure for the next question. Perhaps I am too suspicious anymore of anyone when a child is missing because of the Casey Anthony's and Susan Smith's out there.
I just hope and pray that the little girl is found safely and unharmed, and I hope that law enforcement is looking at family as well as strangers in the disappearance of this innocent child.
God Speed Somer!

[TinaMcCann]

I live two blocks from this devestated family and you have NO idea of what a loving mother, father, grandparents, children, these people are! You SHOULD NOT judge her for getting it together enough to talk on national television, ALL the networks back-to-back, at the Town Hall. She has been not crying a few tears, but SOBBING uncontrollably, off and on for over 48 hrs.!! She was probably told that she needed to speak clearly and hold it together for the interviews. As for her three children walking home from school all together, plus neighbors' children, you SHOULD NOT judge her for that either! She apparently HAS to work, and lives too close to the school for bus transportation. GIVE this mother a break! Our community has been very safe. The attempted abduction 10 days ago was not reported to the community AT ALL!! And apparently Clay Sheriff's Dept. has determined that the cases are definitely NOT related. Perhaps you are too suspicious, and please keep praying for Somer's safe return home.

[fivecentfamily]

Well, I'm sure we are all SO happy that this potential tragedy has "enabled" you to feel like a better parent because you drive your kids to school.

I do to, but it's just rude to smear that in this family's face. We all do things that sometimes we later regret. We cannot be 100% vigilant. If we were, we would smother our kids. Some things just happen, and you can't ALWAYS be "in control". Even if you think you are, your just fooling yourself.

The Thompson family is in my prayers.

[tomanyt]

Good thing she is white, otherwise we may have never heard about it.

[jax09]

ridiculous comment

[123456789jacob]

Oh my God, I bet you voted for OBAMA LOL and I bet you dont believe in aboortion, To explain, Obama does and so many people voted for him that were anti abortion LOL

[jamieman77]

75 known sex offenders in 5 square mile radius? That is utterly shocking!
I'm so glad I live outside of the USA.

[tomanyt]

So there are no sex offenders outside the USA? Wow.

[Cas2dy]

I just pray the little girl is found and returned to her family. Too many sad stories about people's children going missing.

[thetvguy-2009]

Recently, a woman in Wisconsin was threatened with arrest because she allowed children who live on her street to wait in her home for the school bus when their parents head off to work. If you are a responsible adult, you get threatened with jail? Do you wonder why people don't get involved anymore? I often wondered if I would be arrested as a pedophile if I allowed a child to wait on my front porch when it was pouring down rain and the school bus was running late.

[jax09]

A little boy got off at the wrong stop in my neighborhood. He was standing on the side of the road crying. To make matter worse, it was raining. I found out what school he attended and phoned them. The principal was sent out to my home to retrieve him. I did allow him to come into my home. He was soaking wet, so I gave him a towel to dry off with and another to keep him warm while he waited. My motherly instinct wanted to give him a change of my son's clothing and get him out of his wet ones. But, it was fear enough taking the chance of bringing him into my home. I had my teenage daughter with me, so I was just thinking I had a witness if I was accused of something.

[jax09]

Grove Park is a neighborhood in the town of Orange Park. There are many, many children walking the same route as Somer, her twin brother and 10 year old sister after school each day with some parents present and a couple of crossing guards. That's why it is so unusual that no one saw anything. It is a two lane street running through a residential neighborhood. They pass by the local athletic association where they have baseball, football and cheerleading practice going on every evening this time of year. There is also an outdoor skate park next door. There is a link in the story that takes you to the Amber alert website giving a description of Somer and the clothing she was wearing on Monday. I'm sure the motivation behind televising her mother's grief is to reach as many people as possible and touch their hearts to get involved and/or speak up if they saw something.

[toldyouso21]

Uh huh. And just last week.. so many were posting about how, since they don?t live in a big city, it is necessary to teach their elementary school kids independence by letting them walk to school sans adults. Sheer lunacy. So? is Grove Park a big city? When will people learn that child molesters or those who abduct children (and most do it to molest and or kill the children) live in small towns, bergs, villages, cities, metropolises, megapolises ?-in short ANYWHERE. It simply is imprudent in this day and age to not ensure your child gets where they are supposed to be and return home safely from where they were?AND are not molested or accosted while they are ?THERE? Where ever ?there? might be. to that end, knowing that both Molestation and Abduction are CRIMES OF OPPORTUNITY?Parents need to think a bit more: 1. Take your child to and from school or day care or ensure a trusted adult takes them (I always drive my own child there and back but if not I choose another MOTHER to do so. If a DAD is taking the kids, I MAKE time to take my own child) 2. NO dual gender sleepovers with DADs or ?brothers? or other males over the age of 8 in the home. If I host a sleepover, my husband and my sons stay away from the home in a hotel for that night 3. No Scouts, Soccer, Karate, etc unless you are handson as the Scout leader, Den mom, assistant or Soccer or other sport coach or a very interested and cheering fan in the stands?this includes ALL practices. Let the coach know you are interested and watching ?this is best done by moms since it is well known that most child molestations or killing is done by men (98%). In short, limit those opportunities. It may not prevent some acts but it will deter most and at the very least, you as a parent will know that you did your best to protect your child and as for letting your kids go over homes to just play?I prefer public venues, though I will let my child go to homes for a play date that I know and trust the parents?often, I will hang around and chat up the parents then hours later, come back for my child. The shame of this is,most people, somehow, think this only happens to "OTHER PEOPLE" We ALL ARE "the other people" so think, plan safe--be safe.

[Julie20851]

Ah what was a second grader walking home without a Adult. How old was the kids in charge of her. Such a shame, I hope she is found safe and sound!

[opbrat]

She was walking home with other kids and since she is is within a mile of the school she does not have access to a bus. There are adults out there. There are crossing guards and other parents. Her Older sister and twin brother lost site of her for less than 10 mins when she rounded the corner ahead of them.