TAYLOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — UPDATE: Seventeen-year-old Amiah Haywood has been found, according to the family, after being reported missing earlier this month.
She was reported missing on Valentine's Day. Police tell us Ahmia arrived home early this morning, around 1:30 a.m.
“My baby has been missing for five days. It has been sleepless nights; I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t do anything,” Amiah's mother, Tamaei Battle, said.
Battle said her daughter was last seen waiting for the school bus near their home on Pond Village Drive in Taylor. She was wearing bright-colored clothing.
“A pink and white jogging suit with some white Air Force 1s. She had like a lace front on and a black Michael Kors coat and a pink book bag," Battle said.
The teen’s family was worried for her safety.
“Kids, they go through stuff, they have another life outside of home and stuff like that, but everybody knows their kid. In this case, Amiah is different, and I can’t even believe that I’m right here saying this right now, looking for my niece," Amiah's aunt, Daquisha Battle, said.
“This could be one of your kids. Just remember that. This could be one of your kids out here. We are crying out for help. Anything will help. Please reach out to the Taylor Police Department,” Daquisha Battle said.
The Taylor Police Department says it is doing everything it can to find the 17-year-old, but Lieutenant Frank Canning said cases like these can be complicated.
“You are empathetic to the position of the parents on the other end and how they are feeling, and also, as someone who has worked in this field as long as I have, you also try to be empathetic to what the child might be experiencing too because they might be having an issue, a personal crisis of their own that may lead them to justify their decision to not come home," Canning said.
He had some advice for all parents.
“Know their friends, know their social circles, know what they’re doing online, know what they’re engaged in so in the off-chance that your child were to not show up from after school one day and you had to come to law enforcement for some assistance you could provide them with as much information as you could have to help," Canning said.
