The search for a missing girl in Lowell has been suspended for the night, officials announced shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday. Neighbors and first responders searched for Anna, a non-verbal girl on the autism spectrum throughout the afternoon.
Anna is black, weighs 70 pounds and is about 4′7″ according to Lowell police. She was last seen wearing black shorts, a white vest and a purple hair tie in the driveway of her East Merrimack Street home in the Belvedere neighborhood between 2 and 3 p.m. She may have been riding a bike, police say.
Neighbors, teachers and other community members took to the streets, blowing bubbles and calling out desperately for Anna before the sun went down.
“She’s one of four children but every child is special,” said neighbor Deborah Agrella. “We’re all devastated. We see her skedaddle quite a bit because she doesn’t understand. Her mother will turn her back and she’s like a roadrunner,” said Agrella, punctuating the statement with a zooming gesture.
As the light began to fade, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan issued an urgent plea to Belvidere residents to search their homes and backyards for Anna.
“We are asking people to go outside to do a real search of their backyards, of playhouses, under wood piles, in a shed they may have,” said Ryan. “Any place that a 4′7″, 70-pound, 7-year-old little girl could be hiding.”
Police scoured the area with bikes, four-wheelers, K9 units and a drone in the hope of finding Anna before nightfall. Dive teams searched the Merrimack River, which runs alongside the neighborhood.
“‘What if that was our kid’ That’s how we feel,” said neighbor Christina Cervantes. “We just gotta got out there and look for her like she’s our baby.”
Family friends told Boston 25 News they had just seen Anna with her family earlier in the day at church and said that they are still holding out hope for a positive outcome.
“We’re asking everyone for prayers. This is heartbreaking and we’re just hoping, we’re praying. We’ve seen god do miracles. We are trusting this is going to end up well,” said Beatrice Njuguna.
Officials hope that Anna got lost or fell asleep somewhere outside. Police have been reviewing surveillance cameras from a number of homes in an effort to retrace Anna’s whereabouts.
The search is expected to resume at 7 a.m. Monday morning.