KAYLA MORTON - 13 yo - Pepperell (NW of Boston) MA

Local police are assisting in the search
for a 13-year-old Pepperell, Mass., girl missing from her home since
Friday morning, police and the girl’s mother said.

Lt. Kevin DiNapoli said late Saturday that
Pepperell police asked the Hudson department to be on the lookout for
the girl, who he said used to live in Hudson and may still have ties to
the town.






He declined to identify the girl because
of her age, but her mother, Bethann DeStefano, said her daughter’s name
is Kayla Morton. DeStefano also said her daughter may be in the company
of a 18-year-old male from Georgetown, Mass., against whom DeStefano has
a restraining order because she fears for her daughter’s safety, she
said.

“The officers on patrol have her
description and photo, they’ve been keeping an eye out for her today and
tonight,” DiNapoli said. “If we come across her, we’d of course notify
Pepperell authorities right away.”

DeStefano also said her daughter and the
male were involved in a car accident in Nashua about three weeks ago,
when the car he was driving rolled over on the Everett Turnpike. The two
escaped serious injury, she said, but the incident “made me really
scared about what could happen to my daughter” and was what led to the
restraining order.

Justin Rossi, 18, of Georgetown, was charged with reckless
driving after the crash, which took place in the northbound lane of the
turnpike near Exit 4.

Rossi and Kayla Morton suffered minor
injuries, and were treated and released at St. Joseph Hospital. Both
were wearing seatbelts.

DeStefano believes that Rossi took a taxi
from his Georgetown home to Pepperell Friday morning, picking up Kayla
around 9:45, then continuing on to New Hampshire, where they exited the
taxi.

“We don’t know where she is, what she’s doing, who she’s with, where she’s sleeping or anything,” DeStefano said.

Anyone who may have seen Kayla Morton is urged to contact Pepperell police at 978-433-2424.

Police in New Hampshire say they
have found a teenage girl who went missing from Massachusetts and have
arrested a man who was with her.
The Pepperell, Mass., police department on
Saturday issued a missing-child alert for a 13-year-old girl believed to
be with an 18-year-old man. It sent telephone messages to residents and
notified police in Hudson, N.H., about 10 miles northeast.
Hudson police say they received a call from a Pepperell couple familiar with
the Hudson area who said they had gotten the alert and had recognized
the girl and the man.
An officer took the girl into protective custody Sunday morning
and arrested a Georgetown, Mass., man.
The girl is OK. She's been given to her mother.
The man is in jail. He faces charges including kidnapping.