DETROIT – Police in Detroit are offering a $1,000 reward for information regarding a missing 13-year-old girl.
Na’Ziyah Harris, a student at J. E. Clark Preparatory Academy on Detroit’s east side, was last seen Jan. 9. She was last seen getting off a school bus at Cornwall Street and 3 Mile Drive, near Warren Avenue and Outer Drive.
Officials with the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) started the investigation on Jan. 10, but they hit a roadblock and brought the case to the Detroit Police Department.
The Detroit Police Department canvassed the area Tuesday, Feb. 14, and said they expect an ongoing set of searches could extend outside Wayne County.
After Na’Ziyah’s mother found herself in trouble, she was adopted by her grandmother, Anette Harris, to provide a better life. Neither she, nor DPD, can figure out how Na’Ziyah disappeared in the short distance between the bus stop to Harris’ home.
“I want my baby home and I’m asking in the name of Jesus and I stand on my faith he is going to bring her home and we can band together and find her we can make a difference,” Harris said.
Police fanned out across the eastside neighborhood where she was last seen. Officers, police dogs, officials with the DPSCD and volunteers knocked on doors and did a grid search.
“We have deliberated on a number of different factors, we hope we find her well,” said Labrit Jackson, with the DPSCD Department of Public Safety. “But we can’t operate on hope and we have to operate on information, investigation and work that’s what we’re here to do today.”
Harris knows full well that now more than a month after her granddaughter’s disappearance, a search like this is ominous, and urges anyone who may know something to speak out.
“We’re asking anybody with any information, any information, I don’t care who it is, please come forward, contact the police department, her life could be in danger,” Harris said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Detroit Police Department’s Major Crimes Division at 313-596-2260 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. Tips can be made anonymously and can be submitted online.
More: Missing in Michigan
