ELIZABETH—A missing 14-year-old girl’s aunt made an impassioned plea for the runaway to return home, saying she is loved and her family longs for her to come back safely.
”We love her and we just want her to come home,” said Charmaynne Gregory, the legal guardian of Quaniece Gregory, who uses the nickname, “Quaddy.”
The teenager has been missing from her First Street home since Dec. 8, but a cousin saw her in East Orange on March 27.
”She actually left on her birthday. It was no problem or anything, but she left out my back door,” said Charmaynne, who also cares for four of Quaniece’s six siblings.
Leon Davis, the Elizabeth police detective investigating the matter, said Quaniece is described as black, 5-foot-3, weighing about 165 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
After her disappearance, Charmaynne said Quaniece sent an email informing her that she was pregnant and the girl called home at least five times on May 17.
”She left three messages on the answering machine, so I waited by the phone,” Charmaynne said. “When I picked up the phone and said, ‘Hello,’ she said, ‘Hello,’ and the line went dead.”
The aunt could only speculate about why the girl departed.
”She wanted to be out there. She wanted to do what she wanted to do,” Charmaynne said. “I want her to know that we love her and we want her to come home.”
The guardian expressed concern that the teen felt restricted.
”Where we live at isn’t a nice area, so I don’t let my children go outside and play,” Charmaynne said.
Quaniece attends Essex Valley High School in West Caldwell.
When she departed from home on Dec. 8, she was wearing black sneakers, blue sweat pants, a white T-shirt and a black puffy jacket.
She was wearing red Converse sneakers, blue jeans, a black coat with brown fur on its hood and a bob-cut wig when she was seen in East Orange in March.
Anyone with information about Quaniece should call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or Detective Davis at the Elizabeth Police Department 1-908-558-2090.
