Jessica Ridgeway: Police Search for Missing Colorado Girl
When Jessica didn't show up for class, school officials called her home.
Oct. 6, 2012— -- Authorities are resuming their search today for a missing 10-year-old Colorado girl after she was last seen leaving for school Friday morning.
Overnight, at least 50 police officers from four jurisdictions including the FBI were looking for any sign of Jessica Ridgeway. An Amber Alert was issued late Friday night.
Jessica left home at 8:30 a.m. to walk three blocks from her Westminster, Colo., home to meet friends for the walk to school. It was a route she took every day, but this time she never got there.
When Jessica didn't show up for class, school officials called her home.
But Jessica's mother, who works the overnight shift at a tech company, was asleep. She didn't get the message, which delayed her calling police for nearly eight hours.
"When we start with an eight-hour delay, or a delay as substantial as this, the distance that she could have wandered even on her own just gets huge," Westminster Police Detective Trevor Materasso said.
Police say that Jessica's father, who lives out of state, is in a custody battle with Jessica's mother.
Police do not believe Jessica is with him, but are not ruling anyone out.
"We don't have a person of interest. And we are going to look at every angle multiple times," Materasso said.
Police are searching vast areas of terrain including fields and lakes. Bad weather kept search helicopters grounded, but about 150 volunteers turned out to help.
Police and FBI agents are stopping and searching cars, handing out fliers, trying to spread the word and generate leads. Officers are also going door-to-door handing fliers to neighbors.
"Nothing like this has really ever happened, like, it's always surprising when something happens here," volunteer Erica Neubauer said.
Jessica was last seen wearing blue jeans, black boots, a black puffy jacket, and pink and purple glasses, ABC affilate KMGH-TV in Denver reported.
