MARKISHA JACKSON - 9 yo - Jacksonville FL

A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office dive team arrived late this morning
at the scene where a 9-year-old girl ran away from her Westside home
Friday afternoon after being disciplined by her parents.Dive
team members arrived shortly after 11:30 a.m. and began to unload their
equipment in a cul-de-sac on the 7700 block of Rushmore Court, where a
retention pond is located near the family's Argyle Forest home.Shortly
after that, Sheriff John Rutherford returned briefly to the family
home, with several other officers. Rutherford had been at the scene
earlier, at about 1:30 a.m.

Chief Rick Graham said earlier this
morning he does not suspect foul play in the disappearance of Markisha
Jackson, who has been missing from her house in the 8000 block of
Everest Drive since about 3:30 p.m. Friday. Markisha's father,
Jamar Jackson, told reporters that Markisha had been disciplined after
arguing with her parents over something they didn't buy for her. She
was sent to her room and about a half hour later they found her gone
and a window screen pushed out. Graham said she took some of her
clothes and a backpack when she left. "We have no reason to
believe that this is anything but a scared young girl who got in
trouble with her mom and dad," Graham said at a 7 a.m., press
conference. "We're going to work as long as it takes to bring her home
safely. Please come home. We got a lot of people looking for you." Graham
said police have searched a five- to six-mile area with bloodhounds,
helicopters and patrol units. Graham said he is satisfied with the
resources police have and intend to bring in to continue the search. As
rainy weather moves in, Graham also made plea to the public to watch
for Markisha and also asked her to come home if she was at a friend's
house or somewhere else where she could hear his plea. "You're not in trouble," Graham said.Ann
Dugger of the Justice Coalition told reporters at 11 a.m. that the
Sheriff's Office was planning organized searches that will begin
sometime this afternoon. Dugger was holding a 4-inch thick stack of
fresh fliers identifying Markisha as "MISSING."More would-be
volunteers began to trickle into the girl's Collins Ridge neighborhood
this morning. One of them was Jeannie Baker, who lives 2 miles away and
had helped in the search for Somer Thompson, the Orange Park girl who
disappeared in October and was found dead in a Georgia landfill two
days later.Baker expressed frustration that police have yet to
issue an Amber alert, and said she and others are eager too help
authorities to search nearby woods and ditches. She seemed skeptical
that the 9-year-old is staying with friends or simply hiding somewhere.

"A 9-year-old child is not going to stay out all night," she said. "Kids get cold and they get hungry and scared."Retired
Navy sailor and member of the Jacksonville Naval Air Station Natalie
Reed arrived at 11:30 a.m. to meet with the family. She said Jackson is
a religious petty officer who serves at the chapel.At one point,
she approached the police tape and yelled to the parents, "It's Natalie
from the chapel. Is there anything you guys need?" Police waved her
through, where she proceded to hug the parents and then she wrote
something on a piece of paper.

After she returned to her car, she said, "They seem OK."

"We're part of the church family. I wanted to let them know they're part of the church family and that we are supporting them."Police
were called about 6 p.m. and a massive search began throughout the
neighborhood. Police went door-to-door and also searched on the ground,
as did some area residents.Several patrol cars remain outside
the family's home on a block roped off with police tape. A trio of
patrol cars that arrived about 6 a.m. suddenly took off a short time
later after officers put on their rain gear.Markisha is 4-foot-6
to 4-foot-10 and may have been carrying a pink backpack. She was last
seen wearing a red shirt with rhinestones, pink jacket and black skirt.Earlier
in the search, officers were helped by many neighbors armed with
flashlights who helped scour the neighborhood into the early morning.
Rutherford arrived at the scene at about 1:30 a.m. and praised the
neighbors and said it is always frightening when a girl as young as
Markisha is missing. "We're doing everything we can," Rutherford said. "We're pulling out all the stops early in this investigation," he said. Neighbor
Alan Puls said he heard helicopters overhead about 11 p.m. When he went
outside and learned that Markisha was missing, he went back in his
house, gathered up several flashlights and gave them to neighbors to
search for the young girl."I have five kids myself," he said.
"This is the least I can do, be out here since she goes to school
(Chimney Lakes Elementary School) with one of my kids."At around
midnight, the subdivision's streets were full with neighbors shining
flashlights everywhere. As the night went along, the crowd thinned
somewhat but even at 7 a.m., some people were still outside seeing if
they could do anything to help. At one point, three military chaplains arrived at the Everest home but left a short time after.Temperatures
during the night were in the low 50s, chilly but manageable in a
sweater or light jacket. About 5 a.m., a light but steady rain began to
fall in the area. Rain is forecast throughout the day with temperatures
in the upper 60s, cooling to the low 60s or upper 50s in the evening. Police said the girl might have a slight case of asthma but is healthy otherwise.The Sheriff's Office is asking for anybody with information on the girl or her whereabouts to contact them at (904) 630-0500.

A 9-year-old girl who had been missing for nearly 20 hours after
running away from home has been found safe, the Jacksonville Sheriff's
Office said today.Sheriff John Rutherford said Markisha Jackson
was found in a within 2 miles of her home by two citizens, whom he
declined to identify. Police later said the two people found the girl
in the backyard of their home, which is near the Jacksons' in the 8400
block of Everest Drive, near Argyle Forest.Rutherford also wouldn't say where the girl spent the night or if she had been alone.The girl was reunited with her family at Hillcrest Baptist Church around 12:30 p.m.Rutherford said she was "very afraid, as you can imagine, and not very talkative. We're still interviewing her."The girl's father, Jamar Jackson, said the family was relieved."She was real happy to see us," Jackson said, "and we were real happy to see her."We just hugged her. My wife hugged her continuously. We're just rejoicing."Takisha Jackson, Markisha's stepmother, said the girl wouldn't be in trouble for running away."No, no trouble," Takisha Jackson said. "Trouble is the last thing she has to worry about."Hundreds
of officers, including air units and members of the sheriff's dive
team, were involved in the search. Rutherford said, "the concern was
the tender age of the runaway," and because it was out of character for
her to leave home.He said Markisha's pink backpack was found at about 10 a.m., also near the home.Earlier
today, Jamar Jackson told reporters that Markisha had been disciplined
after arguing with her parents over something they didn't buy for her.
She was sent to her room and about a half hour later they found her
gone and a window screen pushed out. Graham said she took some of her
clothes and a backpack when she left.Chief Rick Graham said
police searched a five- to six-mile area with bloodhounds, helicopters
and patrol units. A dive team arrived at the scene late this morning to
search a nearby retention pond before Markisha was found. Retired
Navy sailor and member of the Jacksonville Naval Air Station Natalie
Reed arrived at 11:30 a.m. to meet with the family. Jackson is a
religious petty officer who serves at the chapel."We're part of
the church family," Reed said. "I wanted to let them know they're part
of the church family and that we are supporting them." Police
were called about 6 p.m. and a massive search began throughout the
neighborhood. Police went door-to-door and also searched on the ground,
as did some area residents. Several patrol cars remain outside
the family's home on a block roped off with police tape. A trio of
patrol cars that arrived about 6 a.m. suddenly took off a short time
later after officers put on their rain gear. Earlier in the
search, officers were helped by many neighbors armed with flashlights
who helped scour the neighborhood into the early morning. Rutherford
arrived at about 1:30 a.m. and praised the neighbors and said it is
always frightening when a girl as young as Markisha is missing. "We're doing everything we can," Rutherford said. "We're pulling out all the stops early in this investigation," he said. Neighbor
Alan Puls said he heard helicopters overhead about 11 p.m. When he went
outside and learned that Markisha was missing, he went back in his
house, gathered up several flashlights and gave them to neighbors to
search for the young girl. "I have five kids myself," he said.
"This is the least I can do, be out here since she goes to school
(Chimney Lakes Elementary School) with one of my kids." At
around midnight, the subdivision's streets were full with neighbors
shining flashlights everywhere. As the night went along, the crowd
thinned somewhat but even at 7 a.m., some people were still outside
seeing if they could do anything to help. At one point, three military chaplains arrived at the Everest home but left a short time after.

Walter Price said he couldn’t help but think of Somer Thompson when
he heard a child had gone missing from his Westside neighborhood Friday
afternoon.Somer, a first-grader, was abducted from her Orange
Park neighborhood in October. Her body was later found in a Georgia
landfill.“It’s unnerving to know we are that close to what
happened down there,” he said, explaining his home is just a couple of
miles from where Somer lived.So it was equally emotional for
Price on Saturday morning when he discovered missing Markisha Jackson
hiding under a shrub beside his home on Collins Ridge Boulevard.Price
said he found the 9-year-old after opening his kitchen window about
11:40 a.m. She was muddy, wet, shivering and, most importantly, alive.“I saw this child staring back at me and … she scared me half to death,” Price said.But it was also a huge relief, he said, because of what happened to Somer.“That was in the back of my mind, that it was going to end up like that,” he said.Although
police would not confirm Price as the individual who found Markisha,
they did acknowledge that her discovery ended a massive, 20-hour search
fueled in part by the spectre of Somer and of Haleigh Cummings, the
5-year-old girl who vanished without a trace from her Putnam County
home last February.During a news conference after the Jacksons’
reunion with Markisha, her stepmother, Takisha, said those images
filled her mind with “crazy” thoughts and “just a lot of worry.”Jacksonville
Sheriff John Rutherford confirmed hundreds of police, neighbors and
volunteers scoured the Collins Ridge subdivision south of Collins Road
with Somer and Haleigh in mind. It made finding Markisha even more
meaningful.“Oh yeah, this is excellent news,” Rutherford said in
the early afternoon on the grounds of Hillcrest Baptist Church, where
Markisha and her parents were reunited. “It’s like the weight of the
world is lifted off you.”Detectives are continuing to investigate the case to ensure it really was a case of a runaway girl and not an abduction.Jamar
Jackson told reporters that his daughter had been disciplined after
arguing with her parents over something they didn’t buy for her. She
was sent to her room about 3:30 p.m. Friday and about a half-hour later
they found her gone and a window screen pushed out. Police said she
took some of her clothes and a backpack when she left.Police
were called about 6 p.m. and a massive search began throughout the
neighborhood. Police went door-to-door and also searched on the ground,
as did some area residents. The sheriff credited the community’s sense
of urgency and participation in the search, which included aerial units
and the Sheriff’s Office dive team.The fact that Somer Thompson had lived just a couple of miles from the Jacksons’ home compelled some to get involved.“I
cannot stand to watch another mother go through this,” said Jeannie
Baker, an Orange Park resident who lives near the Thompson home. After
volunteering Saturday morning to help search for Jackson, Baker said it
was she who found the missing girl’s pink backpack shortly before 10
a.m. near the subdivision entrance and reported it to police. Police
wouldn’t confirm or deny Baker’s claim.Police took Takisha
Jackson to the scene to identify the backpack and she started crying
when she saw it, Baker said. “That’s how I knew it was” Markisha’s, she
said.The family home was abuzz with visitors when the Jacksons
returned there with the girl about 1 p.m. Well-wishers and media were
encamped in the street.Jamar Jackson, a Navy petty officer, and
his daughter appeared briefly at the front door, where he said the
family is glad to have her back home. Markisha held a hand over her
mouth and declined to answer questions about her night away from home.Contacted
by phone Saturday night, Price told The Times-Union the girl also never
spoke to him — not even when he took her by the hand and led her to a
nearby police cruiser.“I think she was just tired, I think she just gave up,” he said. “But I’ll tell you what: she was really good at hiding.”