Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘Not Her Idea’: 14-Year-Old Girl Missing After Chatting with Older Man Online

Episode Date: January 28, 2024

Family members are desperate to find Ella Jones, 14, who was last seen in Mt. Vernon, Washington on January 6. Her mother, Sarah Merrill, fears that a man in his thirties who Jones met online could have groomed her and convinced her to leave home. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber speaks with Merrill about the status of the search for her daughter and the police response.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’ve suffered an injury and need legal support click www.attorneytom.com/Sidebar for a FREE consultation or dial 855-TOM-WINS.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Immediately all our friends started saying that she had been talking to a man online. The question on a lot of people's minds is where is 14-year-old Jones. We sit down with her mother to talk about what is going on, who she could be with, and the issue with the response from law enforcement. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Really upsetting story out of Washington that we want to talk about right now, and we hope by talking about it here, it can shed some light on what is going on,

particularly if you have information. This is about 14-year-old Ella Jones, which went missing. on January 6th out in Mount Vernon, Washington. She is 5 foot 5, weighs about 130 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, and has these distinguishing dimples as well. And the most disturbing part about this is that Ella may have been speaking with a man in his 30s online. And the police response has also come under question. I want to get into all these details,

and let me bring on right now Ella's mother, Sarah Merrill. Sarah, first of all, I can't tell you how sorry I am and how tough this must be for you. But here's, I told you this off air and I want everybody to know this. I'm so happy you're here because we actually have a very large reach here at Law and Crime. Our videos get thousands of views. We have a very large subscriber base. If anybody has information, if people hear about this story and know something, that's what's important. So the idea that you can tell the story and what is happening, that's what our goal is here.

So first of all, thank you so much for coming on here on Sidebar. Thank you for having me. Let's just start about your daughter. When you believe the last time, when you believe she left the house, and by the way, just to have everybody out. There's a little bit of bird noises in the back. Totally fine. All good. But if you could just let us know when your daughter left the house, give us a timeline here.

So I came home from work Friday evening. We had a normal evening. She laid in bed with me at bedtime, said, good night, Mama, and went to her room, and that was about 9 o'clock. I woke up the next morning. I kind of usually savor my weekend mornings, wake up quiet, have coffee, and then start to cook breakfast. And at about 11, I realized I hadn't heard any noise. And I had cooked an omelet, and I went to go get her, and she was gone. and let's be clear you believe she left the house not that somebody came in and took her or anything like that somewhat she left the house either the night before or in the early morning correct um i did oddly wake up around one o'clock in the morning and uh now in hindsight i'm thinking that maybe i'd heard something and it didn't register all the way um because they don't normally wake up at one o'clock in the morning um but that's just guessing at this point

What did you hear at one o'clock? I just woke up. I don't remember hearing anything distinct, but now in hindsight, like thinking back, maybe I did hear something, and it just didn't register all the way because I was asleep. But I, yeah, I don't know.

She left a note, and she took clothes with her, and her note doesn't really fit, like the typical runaway note. It was, I love you very much, including all of her family and siblings, and that she didn't want to hurt us. And she was just gone. The note you believe, though, was written by her. Let's first start there. You know her penmanship.

That is her writing. That's her penmanship. It was her writing. It was uncharacteristically neat for her writing, but it was her writing. Do you think it was her words, or do you think somebody was telling her what to say? I think someone convinced her that this was a good idea. I don't think that this was her idea. You said she packed clothes.

Did she pack other supplies for a few days? I mean, how much did she pack for? She took enough stuff that I don't believe she just, like, walked out and got on a bus or just started walking down the street. She took one of my larger, like, Osprey backpack. packing bags, and her blow dryer, our flat iron. So things that you would take if you were thinking you were going somewhere. To be clear, she's never done anything like this before. She's never threatened to leave the house before, anything like that?

No, she had done, like, she had skipped school. She always came home, like nothing where she left. We have a close relationship, and... She's close with her family friends. She doesn't, she's really involved with her siblings. It just doesn't make sense that she would not have any contact with anyone. What was your relationship like with her? I mean, in terms of especially the days before this,

anything you saw, any kind of red flags, anything like that? If anything, maybe she was a little clingy and nicer, but I don't think that was really a thing I don't I don't really see anything we there was no fights like I said she's a 14 year old girl and I'm her mother so there's times where you have the normal teen issues on but overall we got along well we spent a lot of time together she likes to do things with me we joke around we had a good relationship So let's get into the big thing here where there have been discussions.

There have been an understanding conversation about whether Ella was communicating with a man online. What can you tell us about that? So in hindsight, I immediately, once she was missing, went to her friend's house and talked to the friend and the friend's parents. They started helping me reach out to other friends and other parents and looking for her. And immediately all the children started saying, that she had been talking to a man online as more and more time went by more and more kids came forward with information about this friend that she had online who was a man in his 30s and i really don't have all that much more information we have conflicting information it's coming

from teens and i don't know if part of that was intentional but there's a lot of conflicting information one kid said they thought that he was from Connecticut another Arizona another Louisiana we've had kids since come forward anonymously with even more information there's some confusion and conflict between someone else that the kids have been associating with online so there's a lot of there's nothing straightforward right um i had not liked what was going on with ella she would have been sneaking behind my back with like internet stuff like that i had apple parental controls on the phone she somehow was able to still download text now onto it um i don't have any idea how she did it

um i was able to find it in her settings but couldn't see the app in the apps or the app list The only way I was able to access it was to undo all my parental settings. So I'm not sure how she achieved that. She had no app store. She had no safari on it. I had locked those downs on the parental controls. And then she had a school computer. And unfortunately, the school computer was kind of a loose canon.

In December, I had gone to the school and the principal and asked them to lock down an entire, page full of lists of possible apps that I wouldn't want her to access, which they help facilitate. And I had been, I didn't know what was going on. I didn't not know the extent of it, but I was alarmed with things enough that I was trying to lock everything down even tighter, was bringing her to work with me, just trying to keep like a real close eye on all of the internet stuff on I've repeatedly talked with her about the dangers of social media and strangers and you know when they're little you start with stranger danger as they get older you start talking about the internet and that's

always been a constant presence you hear about the kids that get taken from grocery stores or all of that we've had numerous conversations about it I didn't It wasn't ignored, and it was still absolutely alarming the extent of what came out after she was gone and what the kids started coming forward with that I wasn't aware of. You talked about the apps. Do you know what apps or platforms she was communicating with this person on? All, again, this is all subjective and from teenagers. Yep.

So her closest friend said she thought she had originally met. him on a meagle come to find out amegal was shut down in like november of last year uh my understanding now i didn't know anything about this prior to her disappearing is that it was like a roulette it matches you with random people and then once you match with someone you go on to another platform so you typically will use like telegram discord or text now to communicate okay and when you look back and you're getting this information from her friends, do you think, oh, that comment that she made or she ever referenced this person in any way? Did she ever get a phone call, a text message that seems strange to you? Now getting this information, do you look back and say

that there was some clue as to who she might have been talking to or was talking to somebody? Yeah. I had found the text now and then wiped her phone because I didn't want her to have access to it. And with the parental controls already being set up and having been bypassed, I did do that, which I'm now kicking myself for because by wiping factory resetting her phone, it has limited what I've been able to access and get back into to try to figure out more information. The police did come, like I think about 11 days ago now and finally take her phone and her computer and they're trying to figure out the digital footprint and backtrack so I'm hoping that will lead us to more information there was two separate children that

are not associated do not know each other at all that saw Ella on a video with a man in his 30s white man dark hair giving similar descriptions we've had a couple witness tips that also have similar descriptions. But at that point, I don't know if our flyers and information we had been putting out has helped form some of those opinions. Unfortunately, none of the sightings have been substantiated. The camera's never, conveniently, the camera's not working, or it was too dark, or we've been, we get tips from all over. It's really confusing. I don't really have a a clear path of or area.

We had a lot of sightings in Everett about a week and a half, almost two weeks ago now. They've kind of slowed down. We're not seeing a lot. Any sightings from another state? Anything like that? I mean, again, I know they're unsubstantiated, but these are people coming forward and saying they see someone matching her

description or looks like or any from other states. We had an email this morning, possibly, I believe somewhere in my, like Northern California, it was very vague, so I don't know how much validity I would put to that. People are looking, though, and my first objective was to try to get as many eyes out there helping us look, because we only have so many eyes, and we're doing our best, but we're limited. So I've been, my first plan of attack was getting flyers to store employees because then we have surveillance at those stores for the hours that they're open we've now have people helping printing out flyers and getting them onto the streets um i spent the first few days going to all the neighbors

trying to get to see if anybody's ring cameras or anything picked up footage uh it just i have a hard time believing there isn't a camera somewhere that has her on it yeah but at this point we don't have any solid leads. You told me that the police now picked up and trying to search her digital history. My understanding is there's been a criticism of the police response in this case. Can you walk us through that? She was treated as a runaway initially. I think primarily, you know, you had the note.

She took stuff. She left willingly. I was definitely frustrated with that at first. My gut immediately was something is really wrong. Within 48 hours, I had reached out to her whole network of friends, and they all gave the same concerns and story about a man she was talking to online. As more and more time went past, I've just gained more, I don't want to say confidence. It's more and more obvious that she isn't sleeping on her friend's couch. She isn't doing the typical runaway scenario.

One of her friends is, was kicked out of his house and has done the, is doing the runaway homeless kid scenario. He's still going to school, going to dentist appointments, and he's been trucking around on buses and trying to help track Ella down and communicating with me. All of her friends have been communicating with me regularly and trying to find any information that they can. But do you feel confident in how the police are hands? handling this right now? I'm hoping at this point that a lot of it's just behind the scenes and I don't know what's going on. I was frustrated by the lack of immediate response that those first few, you know, days are so critical to finding someone in a nefarious situation, which I believe she's in. My gut from day one was something's really wrong, and it was frustrating to have it treated like a typical runaway.

They have pursued different tips. They have tried to pull buses over. They have gotten warning screens across public transport. They've gone into several apartment buildings based on tips that she might be in apartments. They are following through with the tips. I just feel at this point, there's no substantiated proof is essentially what they are telling us. So there's no proof of a crime.

To me, a 14-year-old banishing with no clues and no sightings is a proof enough of a crime. A 14-year-old cannot achieve that on their own. Hey, I got to thank one of our great sponsors here at Sidebar, Attorney Tom and Associates. You know why I like talking about them? because I can't tell you how many times I've been asked, do you know a good lawyer? Do you know somebody that can represent me in this or that? When you need an attorney, trying to find the right one can be incredibly stressful. But that is where attorney Tom comes in.

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slash sidebar link pinned in the comments for a free consultation or dial 855 Tom wins. It sounds like the community, though, has come out in full support. And that's really, really shuring. Sarah, look, if you could say something to anybody that has information about where your daughter is, or even the person, the people that are with her, as you suspect, what would you say to them? Ella is loved. She has an army of love looking for her. There's people who know her, who are coming from all over the world, really, together, to work, to help find you. We have people in the community who have done amazing.

amazing things to try to help find you. You are loved. We're doing everything we can to find you. And we have as many eyes as possible out there helping us do that is pretty much my biggest picture. As far as people who may have information, please call 911. I get a lot of posts on different social media threads,

threads that I had never even knew existed in different apps. And then I'm trying to reach and forward the information to the police. If you think you've seen her or have information, please just call the police immediately. And to double that down, not only call 911, you can also call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-the-Lost or the Mount Vernon Police Department

at 1-360-428-3211. Sarah Merrill, thank you for coming on here. I hope this brings a new set of eyes and ears to this case, to your daughter. I'm wishing you and the family nothing but the best. I'm wishing for a safe return for Ella. And if there's any other way that we can help here at Long Crime, please let us know. But thank you so much for being generous with your time coming on here and talking about this. And again, we are wishing for the best. Thank you so much for your time. Absolutely. All right, everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.

If you have information about Ella's whereabouts, please contact authorities. We are going to do our best to continue to follow this case. And like we told, Sarah, if there's anything we can do, we will make sure to do it. But again, thank you for joining us here on the program. And please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.