Family Fears Missing Texas Girl in Trouble

The girl, 14, was last seen outside school climbing into a truck with two men.

ByABC News
February 12, 2009, 3:03 PM

Feb. 7, 2008— -- The moment was caught on tape Tuesday afternoon: A Texas teen sitting with her friends outside school after the academic day had ended. A pickup truck pulls in and the high school freshman approaches the passenger window, engages in a brief exchange, and climbs into the truck, sandwiching herself between two unknown men who looked closer to age 20.

Sarah Coronado, the 14-year-old girl who was carried away in a white Dodge truck from her Houston high school, has not been seen since.

"We love her and we want her to come back regardless of what happened," her father, Raymond Coronado, told ABC News. "And we don't care how she approaches us."

Authorities are combing through the family's home computer for leads after Raymond said he feared his daughter may have recently met someone online. She uses MySpace and Yahoo chat rooms, he said.

He described his daughter as a good student who plays the cello in the school orchestra but acknowledged that this year, as she moved from middle school to high school, her grades took a downturn.

"She has struggled, and I think it's all been part of her social interactions and the group she is running in," he said. "It's what I would consider a classic teenage revolt."

Raymond also said that the teen was not abusing drugs or alcohol, as far as he and his wife knew.

Texas authorities, led by a Harris County constable's office, are growing increasingly concerned about the teen's welfare, even though she apparently left voluntarily with the unidentified men.

"The biggest thing is that she is 14 years old and in Texas, that's a child," Sgt. Rick Holloman, spokesman for the Harris County Precinct 2 constable office, told ABC News. "Fourteen-year-olds in Texas cannot make their own decisions."

Police have spent the past two days tracking down leads, Holloman said. Some have been promising, but the majority have proved fruitless. They have spoken repeatedly to Sarah's friends. "She has not contacted anyone to our knowledge," Holloman said.