Siblings: KEVIN and TESSA MERRITT - 17 and 15 yo - Nixa (S of Springfield) MO

Nixa Police are looking for two missing teens.

Kevin and Tessa Merritt were last seen at their home on S. Ridgecrest Ave. in Nixa on Sunday evening.


Kevin
is 17 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds, He was last
seen wearing a gray t-shirt with black and blue camouflage pants and is
mentally disabled.

Tessa is 15 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds and was last seen wearing a salmon-colored shirt and blue jeans.

"Right
now we are treating this as a runaway situation," said Nixa Det. Jason
Hartsell. "Because we have no evidence of an abduction at this time."

Kevin and Tessa may be in route to their biological mother's residence in Oklahoma.

"We attempted to call the biological mother, but was unable to get an answer," said Hartsell.

Neither teen is able to drive, and left their house on foot.

"Right now this doesn't meet the criteria for an Amber Alert because of insufficient evidence of abduction," says Hartsell.

If
you have any information on the Merritts, or see them, please contact
the Nixa Police Department immediately at 417-725-2510.
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=536247

The search for two Ozarks teens now spans three states.

Kevin Merritt, 17, and Tessa Merritt, 15 disappeared from their home Sunday night.

Nixa investigators initially thought they may have run away. Then they tried to contact home.

Tuesday
the Merritt's stepmother got several text messages from Tessa's phone.
The family says what was in those messages made this situation more
serious. One simply said "help".

"They were just gone," says the teen's father, Herman Merritt.

Herman
is searching for his children. Investigators believe Tessa and Kevin
may have left willingly, at first, but that may not be the case now.

Their
stepmother, Melissa Merritt says, "I said Tessa please tell me where
you are and then she came back and said I don't know."

Their stepmother showed us text messages sent from Tessa's phone.

Herman says, "After her stating help, she sent another text message and this text message said, I want to go be with grandpa."

The grandpa Herman Merritt believes she is referring to is dead.

"I want them to know that we're looking and that we'll find them and bring them home. We just want them to come home and be with us," says Melissa.

The case prompted an advisory, warning Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma that the Merritts may be in danger.

Tessa Merritt's cell phone was last traced to the Belle Plaine area of Kansas, near a great uncle's home.

"We
need to know where these kids are because we don't know if they are in
danger. We can only assume that they are in danger because of what the
text messages were and that's the last communication we had with them,"
says Detective Jason Hartsell with the Nixa Police Department.

Nixa
Police say deputies there didn't see the teens at the uncle's home. And
they say the uncle claims he doesn't know where Tessa and Kevin are.
Police also say the mother who lives in Locust Grove, Oklahoma is no
longer cooperating with police.

"Like I said, we will find you, we love you and we miss you and we can't wait until we get back home," Herman says.

Nixa Police say the mother does not have legal custody of the children, only visitation rights.

Herman also worries because he says his son is mentally challenged and needs medication that is still at home.

Detective Hartsell says police are working with authorities in Kansas and Oklahoma to try to find the teens.

If you have any information on the Merritts, or see them, please contact the Nixa Police Department immediately at 417-725-2510.
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=537037

Missing Missouri teen's cell phone bounces off Kansas tower

By Melissa Scheffler KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

9:32 p.m. CDT, October 12, 2011
(BELLE PLAINE, Kan.)—

Officers are on the trail of two endangered teens who many have spent some time in Sumner County. 17-year-old Kevin Merritt and his sister, 15-year-old Tessa Merritt, are from Nixa, Missouri.

Officers say the two ran-away from their father's home Sunday. Tuesday night, Nixa police say Tessa texted her father, saying she needed help. Officers were able to ping her phone within 10 to 30 minutes of her text.

But, Sumner County Sheriff Darren Chambers says sometimes that technology is unreliable in rural areas.

"That area right in there from the county line, coming in from Sedgwick County to Sumner County through Belle Plaine down to Wellington, for some of the cell towers in that area, it's really hit and miss,” Sheriff Chambers said.

In this case, the technology may have worked. The cell phone information sent officers to the 900 block of Hydraulic. Officers say that's where the teens' uncle lives.

Nixa police say officers contacted the uncle. He said he didn't know anything about the teens. Since then, officers haven't been able to get a hit on Tessa's cell phone. But because of the cell phone information, they know the teens were on their way to their mother in Oklahoma.

Possible suspects or associates are believed to be:

Tommy Lee Case, a white, male, age 49, hgt 5'08", 250 lbs, hazel eyes.

The endangered missing persons:

Kevin W. Merritt, is a white, male, age 17, hgt 5'11", 190 lbs, brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a grey t-shirt and cotton blue and black camouflage pants.

Tessa D. Merritt, is a white, female, age 15, hgt 5'07", 135 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a pink or salmon colored shirt and blue jeans.

Brief circumstances regarding the Endangered Missing Person incident:

Kevin and Tessa snuck out of their residence in Nixa, MO on 10/09/2011, and are possibly in the company of their uncle, Tommy Case. Kevin is reportedly mentally handicapped. Father believes they are possibly en route to their mother’s residence in Oklahoma. On 10/11/2011, Tessa texted her father and advised she needed help. Tessa’s cell phone last bounced off a tower in Belle Plaine, Kansas.

Anyone seeing the missing person, suspect, associate, or vehicle, or anyone having any information related to the endangered missing person should immediately dial 911 to contact the nearest law enforcement agency or call the Nixa Police Department at 417-725-2510.

http://www.kwch.com/kwch-kaw-missing-teens-may-be-in-kansas-20111012,0,3647013.story

The Nixa, Mo. Police Department has issued an endangered person advisory
for two missing teens believed to be en route to Locust Grove. Kevin
and Tessa Merritt were last seen at their home in Nixa, Mo., at 7:50
p.m. on Sunday.

Kevin is 17 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds, and
was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt with black and blue camouflage
pants. He is mentally disabled.

Kevin’s sister Tessa is 15 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 135
pounds and was last seen wearing a salmon-colored shirt and blue jeans.
Neither teen is able to drive, and left their house on foot.

Police suspect the teens may be in the

company of their uncle, Tommy Lee Case. Case, 49, is 5 feet 8 inches
tall, weighs 250 pounds and drives a gray passenger vehicle. Tessa
texted her father Tuesday and said she needed help. Tessa’s cell phone
was last used in Belle Plaine, Kan., where Case lives.

The Merritts’ father believes Kevin and Tessa may be en route to their
biological mother’s residence in Locust Grove. “The mother and
grandmother are being uncooperative,” said Hartsell. Hartsell said the
grandmother lives just south of the Kansas-Oklahoma border.

Anyone having any information related to the Merritts is asked to contact the Nixa Police Department at (417) 725-2510.
http://pryordailytimes.com/local/x345564573/Missing-teens-possibly-headed-to-Mayes-County

Missing SW Missouri teens located in Oklahoma

NIXA, Mo. (AP) -- A teenage brother and sister missing from their southwest Missouri home since Sunday have been found in Oklahoma.

The Springfield News-Leader reports (http://bit.ly/poO2OO) that Nixa police confirm the Mayes County, Okla., Sheriff's Office has located Kevin and Tessa Merritt. Nixa authorities were traveling there Thursday to retrieve the teens.

Nixa officials planned to withhold further comment until the two are back in Missouri.

Police said 17-year-old Kevin Merritt and 15-year-old Tessa Merritt left their father's home on foot Sunday evening. Authorities believed they were heading to the home of their noncustodial mother in Locust Grove, Okla., which is located in Mayes County.

Tessa Merritt texted her father Tuesday saying she needed help. Investigators said the girl's cellphone was last used Tuesday night in the southern Kansas town of Belle Plaine.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Police-issue-advisory-for-Nixa-brother-sister-131780518.html