Breaking update: Both girls have been located, as of Friday, April 22, according to multiple family members and sources. For more updates and details on this story, click here.
PIX11 News has removed the images and names of both teens from the story because they are juveniles.
Original story published April 16 —
THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) — A Bronx dad was frantically looking for his 13-year-old daughter and a foster child in his care after they didn’t come home from school on Tuesday.
Enrique said his daughter and her friend called him Tuesday afternoon, a bit later than their usual after-school call.
“They got out at 1 p.m.,” he said. “They decided to hang out. Their normal time of getting out is 3:20 p.m.”
Another relative told PIX11 News that the girls left with two boys from school. The father said the girls attend a charter school on Garrison Avenue in the Hunts Point area of the Bronx.
“They got off the bus at 161st Street by the courthouse,” he said. “It was 4:39 p.m.”
The father said another friend of the girls took pictures of them with two boys.
“I get out of work at 5 p.m.,” he added. “I told them to come by my job because my mom had an appointment.”
The father noted his foster daughter came to live with him and his daughter last October. He’s had custody of her as a foster parent since February.
He added that his daughter “caught an attitude” with him on the phone and he said, “I didn’t do anything to be disrespected.”
The father said he was working as a porter at a building in Upper Manhattan and thought the girls would reach him by bus.
“They went to 151st on Edgecombe,” he claimed, telling PIX11 News the girls said they had stopped to visit another friend.
“Next thing you know, it’s 6 p.m. and the phone goes through voicemail. Then it’s 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m,” he said.
The father said he filed a missing person report with the 44th Precinct in the Bronx. PIX11 News confirmed the report was filed.
Now, he has been trying to track down the two girls through Instagram, Facebook and Citizen app.
