Dora-area teen still missing
Emilee Shipley. Courtesy of Ozark County Sheriff's Department.
Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed says officers are still searching for 16-year-old Emilee Shipley, who was reported missing at 6:58 a.m. Monday, Jan. 8.
“It’s the not knowing that’s so hard,” Emilee’s grandmother Jeanie Shipley, told the Times Tuesday morning.
Jeanie and husband David had recently been granted custody of Emilee after she’d been taken into state custody and placed in a children’s home in Norwood for missing too many days of school while Emilee was living with her mother, Jeanie’s ex-daughter-in-law. Jeanie said Emilee had been in the children’s home for about a month when the court granted them custody.
“We got custody on that Friday, and she stayed with us through the weekend and left sometime Sunday night,” Jeanie said. “Someone had to have picked her up that night. We live about two and a half miles down a dirt road, and it was very cold that night. She didn’t take a coat or hoodie or anything. She only took a few things in a backpack. So, we think someone must’ve met her at the end of the driveway, and she left with them from there. She left us a note that said not to worry and that she was leaving with a friend.”
Jeanie said she doesn’t believe Emilee was abducted or there was any foul play involved in her disappearance, but she and other family members continue to worry about her.
“We’re surprised she hasn’t reached out to any of her friends yet,” Jeanie said. “She was Snapchatting them before she left, but she hasn’t at all since she’s been gone. They have all been reaching out to her, worried about her too. But, she hasn’t responded to anyone yet.”
Reed said officers have searched for Emilee in Ozark County, as well as at a few homes in Howell County, but Shipley has not been found.
She has shoulder length blonde hair, stands 5 foot 5 inches tall, weighs approximately 125 pounds and has green eyes. She was last seen wearing a jean shirt, black leggings and tan boots.
If you have any information on Emilee’s whereabouts, call the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department at 417-679-4633.