PIKESVILLE, Md. — A parent's nightmare: waking up in the morning and finding your child's bed empty, and they're gone.
It’s the nightmare one family is dealing with.
Just five days ago, it happened to them and their 12-year-old daughter, Tayzha Alona Warren.
“She wasn't there. She wasn't in her room. It was just her pillows," says Mia Brooks.
She woke up to find her daughter missing, just 12 years old.
She says her daughter left a note saying she was going to Pennsylvania, don't call the police, and she's not running away.
Her parents say it's very strange for a 12-year-old to say it in a note.
"I immediately called the police, and Baltimore County Police Department came out right away," says Brooks.
For the last five days, they've been getting the word out, hoping she'll come home safe.
On Tuesday evening, family, friends, Tayzha's classmates, and even strangers came to Pikesville Middle School to hand out missing person flyers.
The goal is to place as many flyers as they can all over the state.
"To see the love and support from, like you said, people that we know and have known all our life and people that we've never met, and they're here to support him to do whatever they can do to help us out, that's amazing," says Kenneth Clapp, Warren's father.
The family says they don't know if Tayzha ran away or if someone kidnapped her.
They say her friends tell them Tayzha was communicating with a man who she may have tried to meet in person.
"People have said, and friends have said, that she was talking to a man in his 20s. That means somebody who is an adult has brainwashed by 12-year-old," says Brooks.
Regardless of where she is, her parents just hope she is okay.
"You're not in trouble; you're not in trouble; we just want you to come back," says Mia Brooks.
Monique Smith, who is helping the family, says even if Tayzha ran away, whoever she is with should bring her home.
"We definitely tell parents we think that you're trying to help when there's couch surfing because you're thinking like maybe she wants a break from home. It's against the law to high harbor a minor. Contact her parents, send her home, drop her off at home, but if the person who has her has her in harms way, let her go. And Alona, if you hear me and you feel frustrated that your mother is pleading and your dad is pleading, just come home," says Smith.
The last time anyone saw Tayzha, she was wearing red sparkling crocs.
Her parents also say they want to stress the importance of knowing who your children may be talking to online or through social media apps.
If you have any information about where she might be or if you see her, please call 911 or the Baltimore Police Department at 410-307-2020.
