Sheriff says 12-year-old girl who vanished from Hall County home considered ‘missing and endangered’

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — The search for a missing 12-year-old girl in Hall County has expanded to include state and federal agents.

Maria Gomez-Perez was last seen almost two weeks ago.

Channel 2’s Candace McCowan was outside the Hall County Sheriff’s Office where Sheriff Gerald Couch explained there is now an extensive investigation into Gomez-Perez.

She is classified as missing and endangered right now. Investigators say they still do not know where she is or what happened to her.

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On May 30, Gomez-Perez was reported missing from her home in Hall County. The sheriff’s office says in that period they’ve conducted several ground searches with K9s and even searched parts of Lake Lanier. They interviewed everyone who lives in her home, people from her school, friends and social media friends.

They’ve worked with the Consulate General of Guatemala in Atlanta to help through any language barriers.

“Just on the investigator front the FBI provided a dozen personnel, Homeland Security has contributed six agents and the GBI has given us four agents bringing the total number of investigators on this case to 70 people including several Intelligence analysts,” Couch said.

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There has been quite a bit of community organizing in this case.

“I feel like there’s more we can do about it,” Edward Andrade told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson.

“We’re just trying to do our part as a club, as a community,” Andrade said. “We can’t give up.”

The sheriff’s office announced Friday that anonymous citizens are offering $20,000 as a reward in Gomez-Perez’s disappearance.

“We hope this reward money prompts someone who knows something about Maria’s whereabouts to come forward,” said Couch. “Our investigators and investigative partners are following every lead they get, but so far, none of those leads have led us to Maria.”

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