Female college student, 19, missing in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS - Police are now searching for a 19-year-old University of New Orleans (UNO) student who went missing over the weekend, reports CBS affiliate WWL.
Family and friends are searching with police for clues to the whereabouts of Hayley Howard, who was last seen Friday dropping off a friend at a UNO on-campus dorm.
"We've separated the city into about eight different segments and we've been dispatching people to put fliers up in different segments," friend Elizabeth Gelvin told WWL.
According to Howard's family, the Dean's List student left her home in Slidell Friday morning and was headed to her classes at UNO. After that, she had to work uptown.
"She was supposed to come to Slidell after she got off of work and meet up with us," said friend Damon Lemonier. "But she ended up going with some co-workers and here we are."
The New Orleans Police Department tracked the young woman's cell phone to two locations on the night she went missing; one was in the UNO area, where she called her boyfriend around 2 a.m. Saturday.
Howard told her boyfriend she had a flat tire and a group of people helped her fix it. She said she was on her way home. It's the last time she was heard from, reports the station.
At 6 a.m. Saturday, the NOPD tracked Howard's phone along Irish Bayou.
"If you helped anybody on that day change a tire in any area around here, please, please call the authorities. We would appreciate it. We're wanting to find our daughter safe and sound," said Howard's mother, Cindy.
St. Tammany deputies are aiding the NOPD in the search, checking along the bayou for signs of a vehicle entering the water.
"We just have to have faith in God that all of this will work out," said Jim Howard, Hayley's father. "Try to hold our heads up and search and hope that we find something."
Howard's car is a 2002 silver Toyota Corolla with the Louisiana License Plate XBP 643. Those with information about her whereabouts should call the New Orleans Police Department or the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office.