Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Clark Police Confident Alongi Left Voluntarily, Was Not Abducted

Alongi tweeted "There is somone in my hour ecall 911" around 6 p.m. Sunday night.

UPDATE: 9:30 a.m.: In a new release, Clark Police Chief Alan Scherb says a cab driver has identified Alongi and says he dropped her at Rahway train station last night. Read the full statement, here.

UPDATE, 8:39 a.m.: In a phone interview with Patch, Clark Police Chief Alan Scherb said that police are now certain, based on information they found overnight, Alongi left her home voluntarily and no abduction took place. She is still missing.

Find out what's happening in Clark-Garwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"She is currently still missing, but we are now confident she left voluntarily," Scherb told Patch. "No abduction, no foul play. We are now investigating this as a missing runaway juvenile."

Scherb says police are continuing to persue leads they found over the night as to Alongi's path and whereabouts, but could not reveal what those leads were as of yet, only stating that they are now certain she left voluntarily.

Find out what's happening in Clark-Garwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Scherb says Alongi has not contacted police or her family.

Original Story, 7 a.m.

Kara Alongi, the 16-year-old Arthur L. Johnson junior who tweeted "There is somone in my hour ecall 911" before disappearing Sunday evening, is still missing Monday morning according to Clark Police.

"We still don't know whether she ran away or if there was any foul play," Clark Police Chief Alan Scherb told Patch as police investigated Alongi's home on Hall Drive last night. "There are no obvious signs of a break-in and the home was not ransacked. The door was open. Kara, if you see this, please contact your parents or Clark Police. You will not be in trouble. We are concerned for your safety."

A group of about 20 of Alongi's family, friends and neighbors stood waiting outside the home late into the evening as police were photographing and investigating, while at the same time the search for Alongi went viral on Twitter. At one point in the evening, #helpfindkara was the number three Twitter trend worldwide and her Twitter profile now has more than 90K followers.

A canine unit from the Sheriff's Department was called in, but Scherb says the dog picked up her scent and walked the neighborhood but was broken off after not finding a further trail. Scherb would not confirm whether or not Alongi's phone was found in the home.

A friend of the family says Alongi's family was at her younger brother's sporting event at the time and Alongi was home alone. Alongi's grandmother, Toni Alongi, describes her as respectful, sensitive, and says it is not like her to run away.

Anyone with any information about Alongi's whereabouts should call Clark Police at 732-388-3434.

We will continue to check in with Clark Police and will update this story as more information becomes available.

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READ MORE:

UPDATE, Wednesday, 11 a.m.: Runaway Clark Teen Kara Alongi Found Off Turnpike Near Exit 1, Brought Home This Morning

UPDATED: Clark PD Searching for Missing Girl Who Tweeted 'Call 911'


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