Missing teen found safe in Dudley
By Melody Brown-Peyton
Published in News on July 31, 2018 8:55 PM
Ashanti Dyzare Harper
Ashanti Dyzare Harper, the 15-year-old who was reported missing by her family more than a week ago, was found safe Tuesday afternoon.
Detective Pat Matthews, with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, said that a passerby spotted Ashanti at the Bojangles restaurant in Dudley just after 3:30 p.m. and called the sheriff's office to give them the teen's location.
Ashanti was reunited with her aunt LaWanda Warren and uncle Jerry Warren just before 4:30 p.m. at the sheriff's annex office. Her parents were on the road, having traveled out of town to pass out fliers.
Ashanti had been missing since July 22 when she climbed out of a window at her aunt's house on Antioch Church Road in Pikeville, according to her family. Deputies classified her as a runaway.
McKiney Harper, Ashanti's mother, was grateful to have her daughter home.
"I feel like the elephant is lifted off me," she said. "I'm just so happy that she is home. Some parents don't get a second chance."
She said that news reports of her daughter's disappearance made a difference.
"We are just so thankful for all the media coverage," McKiney Harper said. "Had it not been for the media, our story would have never gotten out to the public."
William Harper, Ashanti's father, described his daughter as a typical teenager who was excited to have her first summer job working with her aunt's food trailer business. He said that he could not fathom why his daughter would disappear without a word.
Ashanti's parents blamed social media for their daughter running away. They said they believe she met a male on Snapchat, who told her he was 17 years old. The sheriff's office has labeled him as a person of interest, but he has not been identified, yet.
In May, Ashanti's family moved to Lillington from Northfield, New Jersey, where her father was stationed while on active duty in the Army.
Matthews said that Ashanti seemed to be in good health, and that it appeared the teen had gone to an unknown location before taking a bus back to the Dudley area, where she was eventually found. Details surrounding her disappearance and reasons behind her absence were not clear Tuesday afternoon, as deputies focused primarily on reuniting Ashanti with her family.