HERRIMAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) – 13-year-old Brooklyn Gittins was last seen by her parents 8:40 Tuesday night. Nearly 1,000 volunteers from the Herriman area came out Thursday to look for the missing girl.
Brooklyn’s uncle Jon Hiller told ABC 4 News, “We just kind of think maybe she just ran away. Maybe she’s just hunkered down with some friends, but we don’t really know.”
The 13-year-old has run away before but this time her family says it’s different. This time she left without her cell phone, without her glasses and she wasn’t wearing a jacket or shoes.
Lt. Justin Hoyal, United Police Department Spokesperson, spoke to ABC 4 News about the importance of finding Brooklyn before Thursday’s storm hit. “It’s cold, there’s a storm coming,” said Lt. Hoyal. “We can get her home and get her safe out of the weather.”
At 5 p.m. the search was called off. Volunteers had searched more than 17 square miles twice and nothing was found.
Police say they’re looking through Brooklyn’s computer and phone records to try to find clues as what may have happened to her. Authorities are still not calling this a run-away, but at this time they’re not ruling anything out. Police have said there were no signs of forced entry into the house and all indications point to Brooklyn leaving on her own.
She was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, with a pink University of Utah logo, and black pants imprinted with Scottie dogs. If you have any information, call the Unified Police tip line at 801-743-7280.
