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Monday, October 22, 2012

FBI joins frantic search in New Jersey for Autumn Pasquale, 12, who vanished while on bike ride


Authorities are ramping up the search for a 12-year-old New Jersey girl who disappeared on a bike ride Saturday.

Autumn Pasquale was last seen leaving her father's Clayton, N.J., home on a white Odyssey BMX bike around 12:30 p.m. Saturday, the South Jersey Times reported.

Her parents reported the middle school student missing several hours later, after she missed her curfew.

"It's not like her," Pasquale's father, Tony Pasquale, told the Times. "She would have been home (at) 11 o'clock this morning if she slept over a friend's house."

Pasquale's mother, Jenn Cornwall, said she exchanged several texts with her daughter 15 minutes after she left the home. But she has not heard from her since.

"When you wake up in the morning and your daughter's still not home, it's time to panic," Cornwall told CBS Philly. "I don't know who she was supposed to meet up with. She just left and said she was meeting a friend."

Pasquale’s phone has since run out of battery life or has been turned off, investigators told NBC Philly.

The FBI and New Jersey State Police have joined Clayton police in the search for the girl.

The Clayton community is also rallying behind the family, with more than 400 people volunteering to take part in the search Sunday.

"The more people who see us, the better," Clayton Mayor Tom Bianco told the Times.

The teen was last seen wearing navy blue sweatpants, a yellow T-shirt with "Clayton Soccer" written on the front, bright blue sneakers and a gray or silver backpack with "reckless" written on the back.

Pasquale's parents and the Glouchester County Prosecutor's Office are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

"I can only imagine what her parents and the rest of the family are thinking right now," Bianco said. "I have kids. I can't even tell you what I feel now. We'll get through and find her."



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