Missing in Aruba: 12-year old Morellia Larmonie Missing Since 5/21/2008 … (Update: Found Safe)

There appears to be another missing girl in Aruba. This time its 12 year old Aruban girl, Morellia Larmonie, who has been missing since Wednesday, May 21, 2008. The Aruban police are treating the disappearance as a runaway minor. (Dutch version)

What is rather disturbing and seems to be a common thread when hearing of missing cases in Aruba, the police do not seem to make any real effort to find the missing people. The lack of seriousness, especially at the outset of missing person cases, is troubling.  It is an issue that we are hearing from the parents of 12 year old Morellia Larmonie feel the need to say that “very little effort is made to actively locate the girl.”

12 year old Morellia Larmonie, Diario

Morellia got on the bus in Pos Chiquito last Wednesday afternoon, but never got off the bus in Rooi Hundu where she lives.

They say that the police treat the case as a ‘runaway minor’ and very little effort is made to actively locate the girl.  The father doesn’t say whether there is reason for the girl to run away from Home.  “She lives with her mother, so I do not know all the details.  But I can’t imagine that Morellia prefers to stay in hiding and do not want to call home.  I really can’t imagine that.”

UPDATE I: This is news we like to hear. According to a report that we received from Jossy Mansur, Managing editor of Diario, the 12 year old girl has been found safe by her father yesterday.

Girl missing for almost one week (Amigoe: 5/29/2008)

ORANJESTAD – The parents of the 12-year old Morellia Larmonie that vanished without a trace last week Wednesday, are desperately looking for witnesses that may know where the girl can be.  Morellia got on the bus in Pos Chiquito last Wednesday afternoon, but never got off the bus in Rooi Hundu where she lives.

Morellia, a student of Colegio Hilario Angela at Weg Fontein north of Essoville in San Nicolas, went to visit family in Pos Chiquito after school on Wednesday.  A family member walked her afterwards to the bus stop near the roundabout in construction on the main road near Pos Chiquito, where she took the bus of 16:45 home.  The family member saw her get on the bus, but what happened next is not clear.

Her father says that it is not clear whether she remained on the bus till the bus stop near the chapel in Rooi Hundu, where she had to get off.  The parents are asking people that were with her in the bus, if they know where she got off, to please come forward.  The parents also request witnesses that possibly know whether something had happened in the bus that made the girl change her mind on going home, to please come forward.

Being at a complete loss, the parents went to the media to have a search report spread for their daughter.  They say that the police treat the case as a ‘runaway minor’ and very little effort is made to actively locate the girl.  The father doesn’t say whether there is reason for the girl to run away from Home.  “She lives with her mother, so I do not know all the details.  But I can’t imagine that Morellia prefers to stay in hiding and do not want to call home.  I really can’t imagine that.”

If friends or kids that go to school with her know or suspect where she can be, the family plead to them to come forward and tell their parents in confidence what they know.  “We hope that someone comes forward and that we can close Morellia in our arms again as soon as possible.  This torturing uncertainty is unbearable”, said an emotional father.

Witnesses can get in contact with Morellia’s mother via telephone number 564-1720 or her father via 560-5307.  They can also call 565-2587 with tips about where the girl is staying.