Monday: no update on missing girl

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Allen County Sheriff's Department says as of Monday morning, there are still no updates on the whereabouts of Aliahna Marie Maroney Lemmon, 9, who has been missing since Friday evening.

Allen County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jeremy Tinkel spoke with NewsChannel 15 Monday morning, and said their active search for the girl has ended, but patrols are still monitoring the area, looking for any sign of Lemmon.

"We've searched all the area, we've knocked on doors everywhere possible within a five mile radius, went to the Dupont Estates, checked the trailer park over there. We have no leads at this point and no suspects," said Tinkel.

Still, that doesn't mean they're giving up hope of finding Aliahna, and detectives are continuing to interview the girl's family in hopes of learning anything new that may lead them towards a positive resolution.

"At this point, the investigation has not went cold. We have people working around the clock, we have detectives that are assigned to this, we're personally committed as a department to be able to find this girl, and to be able to bring her home," said Tinkel.

While the community waits for new information, it has begun spreading information of Aliahna's disappearance through Facebook.  A page dedicated to finding her was created Sunday night.   People have also placed flyers around the area where Aliahna was last seen.

Despite Sunday being Christmas, several people posted on NewsChannel 15's Facebook page, wanting to learn out how they can help volunteer with the search.  A candlelight vigil is also planned for Monday evening.

The following details were published Saturday:

After hours of searching, a young Fort Wayne girl is still missing. A friend of her mother was the last to see the girl yesterday morning. Now police are questioning the friend and family members.

Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries said Aliahna Marie Maroney Lemmon and her two sisters, ages six and eight, had been staying at the home of one of her mother’s friends in the Northway trailer park near Clinton Street and Diebold Road for about a week since their mother had been ill.

The friend told police Lemmon had fallen asleep in a chair in her clothes, not pajamas Thursday night. Police said she was last seen wearing a blue and black plaid coat with fur around the hood, a silver and white sweater dress with white tights and black shoes with bows.

She was still at his home around 6 a.m. Friday, but at 10 a.m. he saw a pile of her clothes by that chair and assumed she was still there.

Police believe she left the home on foot between those times.

Fries said there must have been some kind of miscommunication between the friend and the girl’s mother about where she was because a call about the girl being missing didn’t come in until 8:40 p.m.

Now, a five mile radius wide search is underway for Lemmon.

Indiana State Police are conducting an aerial search with their helicopter, the Fort Wayne Fire Department’s Dive Team is searching nearby ponds, bloodhounds have been brought in to search the area as well. Fries said they can track scents up to several weeks old. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also been brought in to help re-interview the mother, her friend, the girl’s stepfather and her two sisters.

Emergency responders from surrounding areas including St. Joe Township, Woodburn and Poe have also joined in the search.

So far, Fries said they are not ruling any possibility of what could have happened to the girl out, including foul play. There have not been any custody, abuse or neglect issues in the past, but family members said the girl is partially blind, has hearing problems and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Activity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant with Conduct Disorder.

Police have also checked out the possible involvement of several sex offenders who live in the area, but based on the information they learned from them, they are not suspects at this point.

Police command posts were set up Saturday morning at the Value Gas station at 10300 Old Leo Road and in Apple Valley mobile home park for the search and have obtained surveillance video from the Marathon gas station across from the post.

Indiana State Police have not issued an Amber Alert for Lemmon. Fries said this situation does not meet the criteria required in order to issue one. That usually involves a suspected vehicle description, and that is not information they have.

Search teams are going door-to-door and checking out fields and abandoned buildings for the girl.

Fries said nine years old is typically too young to be a runaway, especially around Christmastime and said search teams will work until they find Lemmon, even if that is through the holiday.

Fries is discouraging people wanting to help search for girl because that negatively affects the ISP aerial search.

Lemmon is described as a white female, 41 pounds 4' tall, Blonde hair, blue eyes, hair just