Caitlin Winchester vanished on her first day as a 9th grader at North Atlanta High School in the upscale Paces neighborhood of Atlanta.
She was last seen walking along Northside Parkway near North Paran Road around 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5.
Caitlin’s mother, Angela Winchester, said her daughter’s cell phone was either turned off or is dead and they have no way of tracking her.
“I’ve been calling her number all through the night, all through the morning, and I even been able to reach her, and it just clicks. It doesn’t even ring anymore,” Angela Winchester told CBS46.
“With the phone… being off and dead and with the increasing rates of attacks and violence in the city recently, a mother’s heart, a father’s heart is wounded to even contemplate that possibility.
“So again, we’re hopeful and we’re prayerful and if anyone has any information on our sweet gurl please just help us bringer home.”
Angela spoke with a bus driver who said many buses were running behind schedule that day. She said children were “hopping on the wrong bus” and pleading with bus drivers to take them home.
Caitlin’s father, Roger Winchester, said Caitlin told him she decided to ride the school bus home. She even texted him and told him she was on the bus stuck in traffic as late as 5:40 p.m.
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The school reviewed video on Caitlin’s bus and did not see her on it.
Now police are considering the possibility that Caitlin may not have sent the text messages herself.
Caitlin was wearing a black long-sleeve top, a brown and red plaid Burberry skirt and a black face covering (see video below). Her brown hair was styled in long braids.
She wore a Powerpuff Girls backpack similar to this one.
Family and friends circulated flyers with information about Caitlin in their Buckhead neighborhood.
Family members deny reports that Caitlin is a runaway or a problem child.
“Our child is a straight-A student, and she was so excited to start her French 3 class, Angela Winchester said on Friday.
There is a new Facebook group to help share information about Caitlin and how people can get involved in helping search for her.
Crime Stoppers is offering $100,000 for information leading to Caitlin’s safe return. Anyone who knows her whereabouts is asked to call 404-802-2000.
