TRANSCRIPTON OF INTERVIEW WITH MUM
REPORTER - Go ahead and tell us what's going on with Maddy.
MUM - Well, Monday morning we took her to school, we dropped her off close to school; across the street from a church which is very... it's right next to the school. She crossed the street and walked to school, what we thought walked to school. My boyfriend who drove her to school, drove away at that point. It was seen on video footage that she hung out in the parking lot of the church for a few minutes and then got up and walked towards the school, but she never made it.. that walk from... and that was around 9 am., when she got up, she never made it to school after that, it's right next to the school, I don't know why she didn't make it. I don't know if something happened on her walk along the way or she got taken, but she never made it.
REPORTER - And that was the last anyone had seen of her or heard from her?
MUM - Yes. I went to pick her up after school and she wasn't there, so I started driving around, maybe thinking she took a walk; maybe she decided to walk to my mum's office which is pretty close to the school as well, drove around and I didn't see anything. I drove back to the school, the school was closed. I emailed one of her teachers, they confirmed that she was absent all day. At that point is when I called 911 because I realised something was truly wrong.
REPORTER - Have you heard from any of her friends? has she been active on any social media?
MUM - She hasn't been active on social media, none of her chats, none of her games. We did contact all her friends, none of them had seen her Monday or heard from her. Yeah, there's no update.
REPORTER - I have to ask this, and I know... I hate doing it, but is she the type that would run away? Has this happened in the past or anything? Has she ever threatened to run away?
MUM - Never. She's never ever mentioned anything like this before and she's not the type to want to do this. She did accidentally leave her phone on Monday which is kind of normal for her; she's got ADHD and very forgetful. So, she left her phone at home so there's no way to trace her. They tried tracing her school laptop, but that's off, so it's not pinging to anything.
REPORTER - What is your fear? I know you mentioned she's on games and stuff. Do you think she could have like met somebody and tried to meet up with them?
MUM - She's open with us about.. you know. if she's got a crush on anyone, she told us she had a crush on someone at school and I looked at their messages, nothing was weird. I looked at all her messages, all her deleted messages; nothing seemed weird, it didn't seem like she was talking to anyone. So I don't feel like that's the case. I feel like she may have been taken because this is not like her at all to just disappear and not tell us, not let us know where she's going or who she's with.
REPORTER - What are you getting from law enforcement? I mean, are they actively searching for her? what happens now? I mean especially that she doesn't have her phone with her.
MUM - So as far as I know, they're conducting a search around the school, behind the school there's a (?) creek, there's a wooded path area that you can walk, it's a hiking path. They are going back there with their K9 dogs. They've taken a piece of her clothing to see if they can trace her scent. They are also taking their own vehicles, I'm not sure what type of vehicles, but they're going into the woods to search for her, but I don't feel like that's gonna find anything right now. We've had people all day on that trail, sending us photos to see if anything there looks familiar, like her personal belongings and nothing is hers, so I'm not sure, I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm just contacting the news to get the word out, to get some help because I'm desperate, I'm a wreck right now.
REPORTER - Do you think that she's been taken against her?
MUM - I do think so, yes.
REPORTER - As a mum, you know, what is your mother's intuition telling you right now?
MUM - I'm trying to hope for the best but I'm just scared for her, I want her to be okay, I want her to be safe, I don't want her to come back harmed, I just want her back, whatever that means, I just want her back.
REPORTER - Are you getting any updates from law enforcement? I mean, yes, they're searching that small area but have they gotten any hits on any scent or anything like that?
MUM - They haven't let me know anything, they haven't updated me since I spoke to them this morning. I've contacted them to get some information or to give them some leads but I've heard nothing back.
REPORTER - And there's no way that she... just being a teenager was like - maybe had a fight with you or an argument with you and was like 'you know what, I'm gonna go and hang out at so and so's house and teach her a lesson', you know, could that be a scenario?
MUM - I don't believe so. We actually haven't gotten into a fight in like a few weeks or arguments or anything like that. If anything, on Sunday, she celebrated her 13th. birthday with my entire family and she had the best day, she was so happy, she showed us all her gifts. She was.. she's just a happy girl and she showed it. On Sunday night, when she went to bed, she was so happy, you know, she had the best day. I just, you know, there was no moment in that evening from when she got home from the party that she had the phone or had the laptop, she went straight to getting ready and went to bed. So I know she didn't have any conversations with anyone. She didn't make plans with anyone, I didn't see any of that.
REPORTER - So, she spent the whole Sunday celebrating her 13th. birthday. Was her 13th birthday on that Sunday or that was just like, the time you guys were celebrating?
MUM - That was the time we were celebrating, her birthday was on Thursday the 22nd.
REPORTER - That's just so heartbreaking to be celebrating her 13th. birthday and then the very next day that's the last you've seen of her.
MUM - Yeah.
REPORTER - Where do you go now? are you going to go out there and search or look or what.. what is your.. are you sticking by the phone, you know, what are you doing?
MUM - I'm staying at home, staying by the phone, hoping she just appears. I know my entire family's out looking, they've all spread a bunch of flyers. I've had people contact me that they've gone to the International Airport to spread flyers, to Amtrak, to greyhound, any way that... if someone's taken her and they're trying to take her - just to show her face, just to make sure she's not being taken against her will.
REPORTER - And you mentioned ADHD. Was there anything else maybe mentally going on or.. that you knew of?
MUM - She does suffer from anxiety and once upon a time she was diagnosed with autism. We had her re-evaluated a few months ago actually and they told us; no she doesn't have autism but she did have some autistic traits. She did have ADHD, some autistic traits, but not autism, so I'm not sure where to leave with that because one doctor said she did and one doctor's saying she doesn't and I don't know, she's just in the middle I guess because she does have some tendencies, but socially she's pretty great, so I'm not sure.
REPORTER - And would the video that you were able to see, whenever your boyfriend dropped her off - where was that, like which video was that? was it a surveillance camera?
MUM - It was a surveillance camera from the church.. Peace Church right next to Hunter's Creek Middle School.
REPORTER - And do you have that video?
MUM - I don't have that, they didn't show me, they wouldn't show me. It was actually... my sister was the one at location and they were letting her know what they saw on camera.
REPORTER - Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
MUM - Please, please, please, if you have any information, contact , contact law enforcement. Any information helps. Maddy if you see this - please come home, please be safe. I love you very much. If you have my Maddy please just let her come home, we just want her home.
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