Mystery Deepens As Six Girls Go Missing In Western New York

Any parent will tell you that if their child goes missing, they will go crazy. It's tragic when kids disappear. There are so many horrible things that could happen to them out in the world. Kids go missing for many reasons - they run away, get lost, are kidnapped, etc. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children,

"In 2023, of the nearly 29,000 reports of children that NCMEC received, 93% were of children who ran away. In 2023, 74% of endangered runaways reported to NCMEC were between 15-17 years old; 48% were recovered within a week of going missing."

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But not all kids are runaways. Unfortunately, there are a lot of predators in the world looking to exploit children. What's especially startling is that human trafficking wasn't even illegal in America until 2000, when the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed and made it a federal crime. Per Business Insider, "New York, and Queens in particular, is a documented destination for trafficking, because of its location on the eastern corridor, as well as being close to rural areas like Vermont."

In Western New York, six girls have gone missing in the past month. If you have any information that can help police find them and reunite them with their families, please contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. You can submit a cyber tip here.

1. Aniya Lewis