HAMPTON, Ga. — A Channel 2 Action News report led to police finding two 15-year-old girls who ran away, authorities said.
Police in the south suburb of Hampton said they are were concerned for the well-being of the teens who left their homes earlier this week. But an officer who saw a report about the missing pair on Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat at 11, helped lead police to the teens.
Police arrested them along with a man Saturday evening for selling drugs. Officers are still investigating their connection to him.
Alana Gray and Mytasia Dormeville were discovered missing at about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Hampton police said it was almost impossible for anyone, much less two 15-year-old girls, to simply vanish off the grid like these two seemingly have.
On Friday, relatives of Gray were busy handing out fliers with pictures of both girls at a Southside Walmart along Interstate 75.
Gray's mother, Crystal Johnson, said her daughter gave no indication anything was wrong in the time leading up to her leaving.
She went to bed when she was told to Tuesday night, but then a few moments later, Johnson discovered the teen was gone and her window was left open.
Dormeville's family said the same thing happened to them right about the same time Tuesday. The two girls live in the same Hampton subdivision.
A relative of Gray's said he saw the two together a few moments later at Luella Middle School, but by the time he could get to them, they had already left the area.
"On Tuesday night, they did ask somebody for a ride to Walmart, so that scares me, because if they are asking strangers for rides, that's dangerous," Johnson told Channel 2's Tony Thomas.
Detectives tried to track down a potential boyfriend of Dormeville's. Friends said she has been talking about some mysterious 21-year-old man she had started to date. But, police had no name, no description and no clue of where this man might be. Investigators believed the two were with someone at that point.
Sparks said there has been no contact between the girls and any relatives or friends and no updates or messages on social media sites.
The families said the two girls had no cellphones, credit cards or cash with them. One of them may have taken some clothes in a bag.
"I worry about prostitution. I worry about someone doing something, crazy stuff to her," Johnson said.
Police confirmed Dormeville has a history of running away, mainly during a time when she lived in New Jersey. But, they said Gray has never left home before.
The case is under investigation.