PERSILIA REYES - 15 yo - Millville NJ

MILLVILLE — A
15-year-old has been missing since Tuesday night, and her mother said
that if she is not found soon she could begin to hallucinate as the
effects of her medication wear off.

Persilia Reyes ran away from
her home on the 100 block of Mulford Avenue around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday,
according to her mother, Danielle Mercado.

At the time of her
disappearance she was wearing a red T-shirt on top of a black T-shirt,
blue skinny jeans, and pink, white and black high-top Nike sneakers.


Mercado
described her as 5-feet 8-inches tall, 225 pounds, broad shouldered and
broad-hipped, with a pale face and shoulder-length hair that is reddish
on top and black underneath due to a former dye-job.

She speaks with a stutter and has a chipped left front tooth.

“She
got in a fight with her younger brother,” Mercado said Thursday
afternoon. “They exchanged words and pushed each other and then she ran
out of the house.”

Mercado said she was not home at that moment because she was dropping off a meal to her blind father-in-law.

She
returned home a short time later and called police immediately. She
said she told the responding officer that Persilia is a child with
special needs and is on several anti-psychotic medications, specifically
Abilify, lithium and bupropion.

Mercado said that Persilia has been on the medications since the age of 5, and could begin to hallucinate as they wear off.

She
also said that Persilia has been in and out of institutions her entire
life, including the Youth Case Management facility in East Orange most
recently.

When Persilia left home on Tuesday, she mentioned not
wanting to return to “jail.” Mercado believes she was referring to the
institutions.

She came to Millville about one year ago and does
not have any close friends, Mercado said. She had been using Mercado’s
cellular phone to stay in contact with one classmate from the Pineland
Learning Center, but Mercado said all efforts to reach that child have
so far proved futile.

She does not allow her children to leave the house alone and could not think of any place where Persilia may have gone.

Lt.
Ed Zadroga of the Millville Police Department said that Persilia had
been entered into the National Crime Information Center database as a
missing person, and that the officer who took the original report
searched the area for her without success.

Mercado said she has
been searching since Tuesday night without success, and is preparing to
blanket the city with posters of her daughter on Friday.

She said she is worried about her daughter, especially considering her mental state.
“Without her medication she could have hallucinations,” Mercado said. “And she is mentally a kid, she’s not 15 in her head.”

Anyone with information concerning Persilia Reyes’ whereabouts should call Millville police at 856-825-7010 or contact Danielle Mercado herself at 856-558-5301.

http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2012/05/15-year-old_millville_girl_per.html

Missing 15-year-old Persilia Reyes found by mother in Millville

MILLVILLE — The mother of Persilia Reyes, a 15-year-old missing since Tuesday night, found her daughter sleeping outdoors but seemingly unharmed in Millville on Friday.

“At
6:50 this morning, I was riding around and found her sleeping right on
the porch in front of the church at 2nd and Pine,” said Danielle
Mercado, Reyes’ mother, on Friday. “She’s OK; she’s home safe now.”

Mercado
said she received two phone calls on Thursday from residents reporting
that Reyes had been spotted asking for directions to “the city park” in
Millville.

“We live two blocks away from the park — we just moved here in April — and she was trying to come back home,” Mercado explained.

Mercado told The News
on Thursday that her daughter had run away from their family home on
the 100 block of Mulford Avenue around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday following an
argument with her younger brother.

Reyes had been in and out of
institutions for most of her life in response to special mental health
needs, most recently the Youth Case Management facility in East Orange.
She had been living in Millville for approximately a year but reportedly
mentioned not wanting to return to “jail” when she left home on
Tuesday, which her mother interpreted to mean an institution.

Mercado
was desperate to find her daughter as soon as possible since she said
Reyes “is mentally a kid” and could begin to hallucinate as her
medications began to wear off, since she left home without her supply.
Lt. Ed Zadroga of the Millville Police Department said on Thursday that
Reyes had been entered into the National Crime Information Center
database as a missing person and that an officer had searched for her
without success.

Mercado said her daughter’s travels since
Tuesday night had put her in dangerous situations around the city as she
struggled to find her way home or a safe haven where she could rest.

“She
said she went to a drug house, and a guy who was selling drugs kicked
her out because she wouldn’t sleep with him,” Mercado said. “She had
slept behind a building, then went to the park and slept there.”

Mercado
said she was relieved to have her daughter safely at home by Friday
morning and thanked those in the local community who helped spread the
word on the situation.

http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2012/05/missing_15-year-old_persilia_r.html