Sarah Merrill: Anxious mom seeks help as teen daughter goes missing after befriending older man online and leaving cryptic note behind
SKAGIT COUNTY, WASHINGTON: Three weeks ago, a 14-year-old girl from Washington went missing after leaving a mysterious note for her mother, who had punished her for texting an older man she had met online.
The last time Mount Vernon resident Sarah Merrill saw her daughter Ella Jones was on the evening of January 5. She discovered she was missing the following morning after leaving a cryptic note for her mother.
Ella Jones leaves message expressing love for her mother
Ella Jones' friends informed her mother that she had been corresponding via Discord with a man who appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s. Merrill temporarily took away her phone as a form of punishment.
Jones left her mother a message the night before she vanished, which seemed to address the issue. “She wrote a note saying she loved me and that she didn’t want to hurt us anymore,” Merrill told KING5.
"She was here at bedtime and we had a normal evening," Merrill told Fox News Digital.
“She even laid with me right before I went to bed. I was tired because I had a long week at work. And she said, ‘I love you. Goodnight,’ and left the room.”
She claimed that because Jones took some of her possessions, it seemed like she knew where she was going. “Clothes, her blow-dryer, my flat iron. … So, I immediately went to her friend’s house and started asking questions,” Merrill stated.
“Something’s really wrong … I don’t think she can call me,” she went on to say. “She has not ever run away. We are very close. There was also not like a fight, and, ‘I hate you mom, and I run away’ kind of a situation.”
Sarah Merrill claims her daughter started trusting a stranger
The mother claimed that she was unaware of the seriousness of her daughter's interactions with the stranger.
“You always have something kind of going on with teenagers to some extent. But, I mean, she’s really sweet, good natured kid. So, the longer it went, the more the kids started opening up about [the online relationship],” Merrill further added.
“One friend had said that she really trusted him. And they’re all pretty confident that’s where they think she is," said Merrill.
According to Merrill, her daughter had been influenced by the stranger rather than being experiencing a mental health crisis, as reported by KING 5. Whether or not the police have supported the mother's theory could not be confirmed to the outlet.
Police Lieutenant David Shackleton told KING 5, "As tips are coming in, we are evaluating each of those on their own merits. The Internet’s great for a lot of things, but it can also be a dangerous place, especially for kids."
Jones is described as 5 feet, 5 inches, a White female with brown hair, weighing approximately 135 pounds. Authorities believe she was wearing a black hoodie, multicolored pajama pants and black Nike Air Force shoes when she left home.
