Panhandle girl missing, former co-worker to be questioned
The Associated Press
NICEVILLE, Fla. Authorities believe a 15-year-old girl may have been kidnapped and planned Tuesday to question a former co-worker found in Slocomb, Ala.
An Amber Alert was issued for Janelle Angelea Adkins, whose parents reported her missing from their home in this Florida Panhandle city Monday morning. They last saw her at the house about 10 hours earlier, police said.
Investigators suspect Adkins, a top student and soccer star at Rocky Bayou Christian School, was kidnapped because she has no history of running away, was not dressed for the cold night and left without her purse, cellular telephone and other personal items, Lt. Jason Fulghum said.
He said the girl was not with Alex Gonzalez, 23, when he was located in Slocomb, about 75 miles northeast of Niceville.
Gonzalez was "one of several boys I would say had a crush on Janelle," said the girl's father, Ed Adkins. Both worked at Tampico's, a Mexican restaurant in Niceville that burned down in September.
She apparently left her bedroom through a window after the screen had been cut, her father said. There were no signs of a struggle in the room.
"We feel she left to go sit in a car with somebody, something like that, and that person took her by force," the father said.
An Amber Alert is designed to rapidly notify law enforcement agencies and the public of a missing child under 18 who may be in danger. It can be issued only if there is a clear indication of an abduction, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The alerts are issued to the news media and posted on highway signs. They are named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Texas, who was abducted and killed in 1996.