PHYLICIA BARNES - 16 yo (2010) - Baltimore MD

By A.F. James MacArthur

A police standoff is currently underway near the intersection of
Patterson Avenue and Liberty Road, not far from where 16-year-old
Phylicia Barnes disappeared just after Christmas and has not yet been found.

Early reports indicate shots were fired just before 5 p.m.
Thursday afternoon and that the incident quickly turned into a
barricade situation, possibly involving one or more hostages, observers
at the scene told Investigative Voice moments ago.

There was no indication the incident has any relationship to the missing teen,
nor have any injuries been reported so far.

Area residents reported officials on police bullhorns appealing to an unknown suspect
or captor to surrender to authorities.

‘FLASHBANGS GOING OFF’
Moments ago, at approximately 9:15 p.m., a neighbor told I.V. police were saying,
“We don't wanna hurt you, come out with your hands up.”Earlier,
witnesses said they "heard flashbangs going off," a reference to
non-lethal stun grenades typically used to incapacitate.

Flashbangs' intense flash of light, combined with an extremely loud
blast, temporarily neutralize a combatant, causing disorientation of the
senses, making vision impossible for at least five seconds. However the
body of the grenade remains intact and the there is no shrapnel.Baltimore
County Police have commandeered the parking lot of the Christian Life
Church on that corner to set up a command center, including a mobile
police station, numerous patrol vehicles, and at least three ambulances.

SHUT DOWN IN BOTH DIRECTIONS
A police helicopter could be seen circling overhead, observers reported.

Patterson Avenue has been shut down in both directions from Liberty Road east to
Wildwood Avenue, with police blocking all side streets leading into
Patterson Avenue.

On Sylvan Avenue, which runs parallel to Patterson one block north,
police vehicles and officers can be seen standing by.

The location is less than a mile from the city-county line, not far from
where Phylicia Barnes was last seen three days after Christmas while
visiting her half-sister in Baltimore City for the holidays.The
teen, a straight-A honor student from Monroe, N.C., not far from
Charlotte, was last heard from Dec. 28 when she posted a Facebook note
saying she was with her sister's boyfriend at the sister's apartment.

I.V. public policy reporter Alan Z. Forman contributed to this report.


macarthurmedia@gmail.com

Janice Sallis said she moved back to Atlanta from Monroe, N.C., at her family’s urging.



Her teenage daughter, Phylicia Barnes, disappeared while visiting a
half-sister in northwest Baltimore last month. Sallis went to Baltimore on
Dec. 30, two days after Barnes’ disappearance, but then came to Georgia
because her family didn’t want her to be alone.

“In times like this they won’t let me stay by myself,” Sallis told the AJC.

Barnes turned 17 last week. She vanished without a trace from her
half-sister’s apartment on Dec. 28.

Sallis is a nurse and said she can’t go to work right now. She plans to remain
in Georgia “when (Barnes) is returned to me.”

“I have more family support here,” she told the AJC.

Baltimore police at one time had half of its homicide force trying to find
Barnes. Authorities from the FBI, the National Center for Missing Children
and the Maryland State Police continue to search for her.

“Her case is very unlike anything we’ve seen here,” Baltimore Police spokesman
Anthony Guglielmi said.

Baltimore police worked about 360 missing persons’ cases in 2010, and all but
four were solved, he said.

About 70 tips have come into the nationwide tip line -- 1-855-223-0033 – but
none of those led to anything. Guglielmi said some of the tips came in from
out of state and investigators continue to pursue those.

“We’ve checked every hospital, every Dumpster, every homeless shelter, most of
the vacant buildings,” he said.

Investigators now are re-interviewing people who last saw Barnes alive and
really focusing on the timeline of that day, trying to account for every
second as best as they can, Guglielmi said.

“We believe strongly that something terrible happened to Phylicia, and whether
she’s in Baltimore, Kansas or Connecticut, we don’t know because we don’t
have any physical evidence to guide us,” he said. “We base our findings on
evidence, and we don’t really give a lot of credit or ammunition to opinion.
Right now it’s all opinion, and we’re not going to put much weight behind that.”

Sallis said she isn’t scared, and she doesn’t stare at the clock and count the
minutes that her daughter has been gone. On good days, Sallis said she
laughs more and talks on the phone or goes shopping at a thrift store with her sister.

On the bad days, Sallis said she isolates herself, going into a room and
closing the door. She grieves, prays and talks to God but doesn’t question
why this is happening to her.

“It reminds me that I am in a valley, and God is carrying me, although I don’t
realize it,” Sallis told the AJC. “I’ve experienced tragedy before, and I
thought it was too hard, but God was carrying me.”

Sallis talks to Baltimore police investigators almost every day. She also talks to the media.

She doesn’t talk to Barnes’ father, Russell Barnes of Riverdale. Their daughter’s disappearance
reopened old family wounds. Sallis also is angry and feels betrayed by her
daughter’s half-sister because she let Barnes drink alcohol and be in “a
certain environment that I did not want her around.”

“I felt that she was disrespectful to me as a mother, and I didn’t appreciate that,” Sallis said.

Sallis is unapologetically protective of her daughter, calling herself
“old-fashioned” in the way that she raised Barnes.

Her daughter is an honor student, ready to graduate from high school a year
early and wants to be a psychiatrist – a career choice that is the latest in
a list that included “astronomer,” “ob-gyn” and “pediatrician,” Sallis said.

Barnes already was accepted to some colleges. She was focused on attending a school in Maryland.

Sallis said she wasn’t going to let her daughter go to school out of state, at
least not right away. Barnes didn’t know that, Sallis said.

“I didn’t think she was ready to leave the state on her own,” Sallis told the AJC.

The Barnes’ side of the family was one that Sallis said she encouraged her
daughter to reconnect with three years ago. Sallis said she told Barnes to
use Facebook to find her half-sisters and the contact her father.

Sallis said Barnes’ stepfather had raised her since she was 3 years old but
that that wasn’t enough.

“I tried to explain to him that ‘although you’ve been in her life, it’s not
the same, she wants to know who her biological father is and where she came
from,’” Sallis told the AJC.

Barnes’ December visit to Baltimore was the fourth time she had gone to visit
her half-sister, Sallis said.

Sallis, whose rules include “children should be home at a certain hour,” said
her daughter was probably enjoying her new-found freedom. She also said her
daughter is naïve.

“I tell her, ‘baby, you can’t trust every smile that appears in front of
you,’” Sallis said. “She’s a ‘people’ person, and she thought everybody was like her. She’s too trusting.”

Sallis said she had an “uncomfortable” feeling around 8 or 9 p.m. the day
Barnes disappeared and immediately called her daughter’s cell phone. It went directly to voice mail.

She tried again, and the same thing happened.

Then, Sallis said she called Barnes’ half-sister who said Barnes was missing.

“I said, ‘what do you mean she’s missing? She’s been missing since 1:30, and
no one has called me.’”

She has been critical of the Baltimore police’s response.

The first week in a missing-person’s case is critical, Guglielmi said. During
the first 24 hours, police officers are doing a character assessment of the person.

“I can’t begin to tell you how many calls this city gets from people who have
gone missing,” he said. “There has to be a small window of time to figure
out what you’re dealing with.”

That includes trying to make sure, for example, the person didn’t go hang out
at a local college for the night, drive off with an acquaintance from
Facebook, or head up to Atlantic City to blow off some steam. In those
cases, usually the “missing” person comes back.

“After the first day, we immediately started expecting something else,”
Guglielmi said. “The day after she missed her flight home, it was full
throttle, and the police commissioner said there’s suspected foul play.
We’ve been at that some point ever since.”

WESTERN NC (WSOC) -- BALTIMORE, Md. --
Investigators in Baltimore acted on another tip Friday as they
continued their search for a missing Monroe teen.Police searched a
vacant home in Baltimore for any sign of Phylicia Barnes. Investigators
focused their attention on a deep well inside a shed on the property.Authorities drained the well of about 20 feet of water but did not find any clues.Barnes was last seen Dec. 28 well visiting relatives.

http://www.wcti12.com/news/26595793/detail.html

The last person to see Phylicia Barnes before
she disappeared in December has now hired an attorney, WBTV.com has
confirmed. The man, who WBTV.com is not identifying by name because no
charges have been filed, is the ex-boyfriend of Deena Barnes, Phylicia's
half-sister.
"That's
ironic because we don't have attorneys," Phylicia's father, Russell
said by phone, "because we don't have anything to hide so that's a
mystery to us in itself."
Barnes said when he arrived in Baltimore soon
after Phylicia was reported missing, the man told him Phylicia had
planned to leave the apartment to get something to eat. "We know
Phylicia -- if she would have got up to get something to eat later on
she would have texted Deena."
Barnes said he now questions the man's account of the day Phylicia disappeared.
"He
actually didn't come back to the house once Phylicia came up missing,
until 2 or 3 o'clock that morning after they were calling for him."
It has now been 4 weeks since anyone has heard from the teen, who's 17th birthday passed since she vanished.
Investigators
were frustrated leads in the investigation were wearing thin. "We may
be at a point where we have covered all of our bases," Baltimore Police
spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said.
With the help of the FBI, investigators have
been tracking the teen's cellphone, bank account, Facebook and MySpace
pages. Two messages on Phylicia's MySpace page caught the attention of
detectives.
One, marked December 28 read, "wit my sis n
bmore." Another message, apparently left December 31, three days after
Barnes was reported missing read, "bored as hell.....save me lol."
Guglielmi said police could not confirm if Phylicia posted the later message.
What appeared to be a promising tip last
week, led to another disappointment for investigators desperate to find
some sign of the missing teen. Thursday night, Baltimore Police
detectives and FBI agents searched a sewer well behind a southwest
Baltimore home, but came up empty handed.
Guglielmi said police went to the home because of information learned in an interview.
Police said tests received from the FBI Crime
Lab showed no evidence of blood or signs of a struggle at the locations
investigators executed search warrants in the search for Phylicia
Barnes, who went missing last month while visiting family in Baltimore.
Russell Barnes said with the help of family,
churches and private donors, a $10,000 reward is being offered for
information that helps find Phylicia.
He has been in Baltimore since the immediate
days following his daughter's disappearance and has helped with search
efforts. On the 'Pray for Phylicia Barnes' Facebook page, the father
wrote, "We miss you so much please come home," adding, "she is our angel. I love you."
Barnes believes his daughter is still alive and will be able to see the message. "As
much as you can, keep fighting and do your best to get away and
everyone is looking for you...do your best to get away," he said.

Guglielmi said in addition to searching the
northwest Baltimore apartment of Dee Barnes, detectives also searched
other apartments, homes and vehicles.
"We've been following every single lead from
the public, searching areas," Guglielmi said Thursday night, "we have
searched Leakin Park, Patapsco State Park, searched dumpsters,
hospitals, homeless shelters, you name it and the BPD and FBI have
teamed up to search it."
Detectives had taken a piece of the carpeting from the half-sister's apartment.
Guglielmi said detectives were working to
piece together the last 24-48 hours before Barnes' disappearance.
"Usually with a case like this the statements are supported by some type
of physical evidence, but we just don't have that," he said.
Guglielmi said if something terrible did
happen to Barnes, it was unlikely the person who did it kept the
information to themselves or acted alone.
Last week, two United States Congressman are
asking for the public's help in the search for Barnes. Rep. Larry
Kissell (D-NC) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) released a joint
statement Friday, a spokesperson in Cummings' office confirmed.
"We urge anyone with information regarding
the disappearance of Phylicia Barnes to contact Baltimore Police
immediately, and help bring this young woman back home safely. Our
thoughts and prayers remain with Phylicia and her family, friends and
loved ones," the statement read.
Barnes turned 17 on January 12, more than two weeks after she was last seen by relatives.
Police said surveillance video from
businesses near the northwest Baltimore home where Barnes was last seen
December 28, did not provide any significant leads.
Barnes' mother, Janice Sallis appeared on CNN
Sunday night in an interview with Don Lemon. "The perpetrators who have
been involved in her disappearance, I'm going to ask you to please let
my baby go," she said to the camera.
In other recent interviews, Sallis was
devastated and distraught. "I wish I could be in her place, and she can
be in my place," she said, "the pain is like labor pains without the
child birth," she told WBTV Reporter Dedrick Russell.
"This case has torn apart [Phylicia's]
family; we're hoping someone out there will see all of the stories and
do the right thing to give us what we're missing," Guglielmi said.
Sallis and Guglielmi had initially been upset
at the lack of national media coverage to the story in the first weeks
after the teen's disappearance.
"Once we realized and ruled out runaway, we
started talking to national media and I have to say the response has
been a bit anemic," Guglielmi said. "I had to pretty much complain that
they're not paying attention."
Barnes, a senior at Union Academy in Monroe,
has been the subject of news reports on network news programs including
CNN's Nancy Grace, NBC's Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America and an
article on the America's Most Wanted website.
Guglielmi said Barnes, who is a young,
attractive, honor-student with no history of drug or alcohol abuse,
should be given the same publicity as other cases of young girls, like
Natalee Holloway, who have disappeared.
"The only difference in this case is that
Phylicia is from North Carolina, she got lost in Baltimore and she's
African-American," Guglielmi said. "We're not asking for interviews; we
don't want our Chief or detectives on television, all we want is for
people to put her photo on and say, this girl is in danger, we need
help."
Barnes was last seen after texting her
half-sister Deena she was leaving the apartment to grab something to
eat. She hasn't been seen since. Police said there has been no activity
on her Facebook page, her cell phone has been silent, and there's been
no activity with her bank account.
"My phone still has all the text messages
from Phylicia, if you take a step back and look at it different, you may
find a new clue," Barnes' other half-sister, Kelly, said.
"This is a very, very, unique case and I
can't remember in the time that I've been here that we've had a case
like this," Guglielmi said. "It is very unlike her not to update her
Facebook page, not to even turn on her cell phone to not try to access
money to pay for things."
Immediately following her disappearance,
police distributed 4,000 fliers of Barnes. The department also used four
of it's own helicopters in addition to two FBI choppers with
heat-sensory capabilities. The Maryland State Police also offered
assistance, officials said.
Ten billboards along I-95 from Maryland to
New York digitally displayed Barnes' picture and a hotline number was
publicized for people to call with tips and information regarding her
disappearance.
Guglielmi said police have received
approximately 70 tips through the hotline, 6 of which came out of the
state of Maryland, likely due to the national media coverage.
Police said there were 12 persons of interest
in the investigation and that all of them may have had contact with
Barnes in the days leading to her disappearance.
In the first week since Barnes disappeared,
police launched an intense search of Leakin Park after reading a comment
posted on a Baltimore Sun web article which urged police to search that
area.
An additional comment left by the same
tipster, 'Cham101' read, "The only reason I said to look in the 4000
block of Franklintown Road is because if someone disappears on the
Westside, that is ground zero of where they're going to be found." The
tipster, later, offered three additional locations where police should
search for Barnes.
In an email last week, Guglielmi said investigators merely thought the tipster was offering suggestions.
"It does not appear he has any first, second
or even third-hand knowledge of the case, and has never seen Phylicia,"
Guglielmi wrote. "In cases like this, time is of the essence and it's
important for people to pass on true intelligence, not personal
theories."
Police were unable to find any clues about Barnes in Leakin Park.
Detectives believe Barnes may have been
abducted. Guglielmi says if she was taken to another state, people in
that state may have no idea she's a missing person unless her story was
broadcast nationally.
Guglielmi told WBTV.com detectives had
located and interviewed the 27-year-old former boyfriend of Barnes'
half-sister. The man, Guglielmi said, was not being considered a
suspect in the teen's disappearance.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld personally requested the assistance of the FBI.
"We're going over every shred of evidence
that we already have; we're re-interviewing everybody we've interviewed,
just make sure we didn't miss anything. Now, with the help of the FBI,
we're going to get some first-class technical assistance as far as
talking to the people who have last seen Phylicia, also looking at her
Facebook account and going through the computer part of this with a
fine-toothed comb."
Barnes' half-sister, Deena, has been cooperating with investigators, police said.
If you have information that could help police find Phylicia Barnes, call the hotline for tips at 1.855.223.0033.
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=13782424

The Baltimore Guardian Angels Video

http://www.baltimoreguardianangels.org/index.php?page=news

Sadly Phylicia Barnes Still Missing Over a Month

Jan 29th, 2011


Phylicia Barnes



Yesterday marked a month since then 16 year old Phylicia Barnes was
reported missing. Her 17th birthday has passed since that time. The
North Carolina teen was visiting her half sister, Deena Barnes, during
the Christmas holidays in Baltimore when she literally disappeared.
Although her story was not immediately picked up by national media as
time went by and people spoke out about that, it gained attention.
Authorities have some people of interest in the investigation
including her half sisters ex-boyfriend who was the last person to see
Phylicia. He reportedly told authorities Phylicia said she was leaving
to get something to eat. The ex-boyfriend has now retained an attorney.
Some question his need for an attorney if he truly knows nothing about
her disappearance. Authorities have said he was not being considered a
suspect.

The school that Phylicia was attending, Union Academy, the Monroe
charter school, has upped the reward for information leading to the
whereabouts of the missing teen. They have pledged $25,000.00 from a
school foundation fund for kids in need, bringing the total reward
amount to $35,000.00.

Although authorities have made a mass effort in the investigation
leads have been few and were dead ends. From fliers, to roadside
billboards, to national media and many internet websites, Phylicia
Barnes photo and story has been placed in the public eye, yet it seems
no new information is coming forth. Police suspect some sort of foul
play. They are saying any break in the case would likely have to come
from the public.

Janice Sallis, Phylicia’s mother, said at a news conference Friday “Someone knows something.”
The family remains hopeful that Phylicia will be returned to them safe.
If you have any information that could help police find Phylicia Barnes, please call the tip hotline at 1 (855)223-0033.

Police in Baltimore are pleading for help to find a 17-year-old who
vanished from her family's apartment Dec. 28. Foul play is suspected but
there are no leads, and detectives and family members hope media
coverage of Phylicia Simone Barnes' case will help them find her. Barnes'
cousin, Harry Watson, recently stood on a corner in the chilly sun,
passing out fliers to the people hurrying in and out of the tall office
buildings in downtown Baltimore.

Enlarge Courtesy of Phylicia Barnes' family Phyilicia
Simone Barnes' family has posted this flier at businesses around
Baltimore, where she went missing in December at age 16.
Courtesy of Phylicia Barnes' family
Phyilicia
Simone Barnes' family has posted this flier at businesses around
Baltimore, where she went missing in December at age 16.

A man stopped to ask: "You haven't found her yet?" "Not, not yet," Watson replied. Despite
freezing winds, many people stopped to chat with Watson and to shake
their heads over the red, black and white fliers he held. On the flier, there's a picture of a fresh-faced, mahogany-skinned Phylicia Simone Barnes smiling in the middle of the page. "We don't pass up anybody; we try to get a flier into just about everybody's hands we possibly can," he said. Those
same fliers are posted on the glass doors of nearly every building in
the northwest Baltimore apartment complex where Barnes was staying
before she went missing. She had traveled to Baltimore from North Carolina, and was staying with her 28-year-old half-sister. Police Suspect Foul Play

There's no forensics, there's no blood spatter, there's nothing to indicate that
she was harmed in the apartment. ... Phylicia's trail goes cold at the
front door.
- Anthony Gugliemi, Baltimore Police Department

"We've suspected foul play from almost the beginning," says Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. He
says this case has been incredibly frustrating. Officers have searched
much of the city, including homeless shelters, hospitals and state
parks. They've checked security camera footage both from the apartment
complex and from the large shopping mall behind it. And they've put her
picture up on billboards along the Interstate 95 corridor. "What
we've tried to do since the very beginning of this case was make sure
that Phylicia's picture and our toll-free hotline was put on every media
outlet from Baltimore to Las Vegas," Guglielmi says. With
help from the FBI, Baltimore police have even used technology that
finds heat signatures given off by human bodies. But they found nothing. "We
don't have any physical evidence to help us out otherwise. There's no
forensics, there's no blood spatter, there's nothing to indicate that
she was harmed in the apartment," Guglielmi says. "We've used canine,
we've used every resource at our disposal. Phylicia's trail goes cold at
the front door." About Phylicia Police
say the 5-foot-8, 120-pound Barnes lived with her mother in the small
city of Monroe, N.C. Within the past two years, she had become
reacquainted with her biological father and her half-siblings in
Baltimore. She was last seen by the half-sister's ex-boyfriend at 1:30
p.m.

Courtesy of "Pray For Phylicia Barnes" Phylicia Simone Barnes went missing Dec. 28 while visiting her father and half-siblings in Baltimore.

Her cell phone goes to voice mail. She hasn't
used her debit card or gotten onto any social networks. "That was not in
her character," says her father, Russell Barnes. He says the high
school honor student didn't know Baltimore very well. Police
and Phylicia's parents say they hope she has been abducted — as awful
as that could be — because the alternative would be worse. "We're just keeping hope going that Phylicia is missing. Someone has her and they're not letting her go," Russell Barnes says. Phylicia's mom, Janice Sallis, says she is frustrated and furious that her daughter is missing. "She has a loving personality. She doesn't like confrontation. She's just a peaceful person," Sallis says. Police
confirm the parents' statements that Phylicia wasn't a troubled child
who would run away or hang with the wrong crowd. Her mother says she
was a typical teenager who enjoyed acting and having fun with her
friends.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/21/133681328/baltimore-police-look-to-media-to-find-missing-teen

The family of missing teen Phylicia Barnes isn't giving up hope.

During
a vigil held Tuesday night, Phylicia’s sisters joined other members of
the community at New Christian Bible Baptist Church on West Northern
Parkway in Baltimore to pray for her safe return. Her family says
they're not giving up the search and beg anyone who may know something
to come forward.

“I feel like you can be anywhere, you see her
picture. I was at Wal-Mart the other day, I turned around and there she
is, which is a good thing but it also kind of gets us because we don't
know what's going on,” said Kelly Barnes.

Phylicia is from North Carolina and was visiting her sister in Baltimore when she disappeared on December 28th.
If you have any information call 1-855-223-0033

http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/praying-for-answers-in-missing-teen-case

Media criticized on response to case of missing N.C. teen

Story not getting much play because she's black? Mother pleads for help

Video: Media response to missing teen case criticized

MONROE, N.C. — The mother of a missing North Carolina teen is pleading for information about her 16-year-old daughter in a case police say might have gained more media attention if the girl had been white.

Missing teen

Baltimore police set up 24-hour hotline — 855-223-0033 — and are pleading for the community's help in finding Phylicia Simone Barnes.

Phylicia Simone Barnes disappeared while spending Christmas break with relatives in Baltimore, her mother, Janice Sallis of Monroe, N.C., told NBC News on Tuesday.

She last talked to Phylicia on Christmas Day, just three days before she disappeared from her half-sister's apartment in northwest Baltimore.

"I told her how sad that I was because all of the children were gone and that next year, they're not going to be able to go because I was lonely without them. And she said, 'Mommy, I miss you, too,'" Sallis said.

Her disappearance has been reported in local media, NBC's TODAY show and CNN. But a Baltimore police official told NBC News that had the missing person been white, the case might have received even more media attention, perhaps aiding investigators in finding a suspect.

"I think the question has to be asked. It's not my position, I don't know what goes into these decisions, but this is Baltimore's Natalee Holloway case," said Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. Holloway, then 18, disappeared in 2005 while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. Her remains have never been found.

Guglielmi said he and "the commander of the homicide unit had been prepared to go on CNN's Nancy Grace but got bumped for an hour-long report on a missing Texas cheerleader," The Baltimore Sun reported.

"Day two, day three, when we were putting information out about Phylicia's disappearance, we were talking about birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas," Guglielmi said in an interview with CNN, The Charlotte Observer reported. "And this girl's in danger. And she needs help. And it was very frustrating for my office to see an anemic response from our national media partners."

Nearly 100 officers — from city, state and federal agencies — joined in the search for Phylicia, a popular, straight-A student who was reported missing Dec. 28. There has been no sign of her since. No cell phone calls or use, no use of her credit cards, and no updates to her Facebook page.

Guglielmi said detectives believe the teen may have been abducted, in part because of items she left at the apartment. Police described the apartment as a flop-house for college students. Janice Sallis told a North Carolina newspaper that at least 20 men had stayed at the house during her child's stay,

"We're doing everything we can do," Guglielmi told The Baltimore Sun.

"We're basically at square one with the investigation. It's not like we have forensic evidence to guide us. The key here will be community intelligence."

Barnes is from Monroe, N.C., about 25 miles southeast of Charlotte. Her mother said her daughter was on track to graduate early from a charter school and had been applying to colleges.

Two congressmen also pleaded to the public to help solve the disappearance. Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Larry Kissell of North Carolina issued a joint statement asking the public to contact Baltimore police immediately with any information about Barnes' whereabouts.

Baltimore police are preparing for another large-scale search for
Phylicia Barnes, a teenager with metro Atlanta ties who disappeared from
her half-sister’s Baltimore apartment three months ago today.

Baltimore Police Dept.

More than 100 detectives - including half of the Baltimore police's
homicide unit as well as Maryland State Police and the FBI - had been
assigned to Phylicia Barnes' case.
Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said authorities will search an area that they have investigated before.
“We wanted to dig deeper earlier, but the weather got in the way,” he
said, adding that he will reveal the area as the day of the actual
search gets closer.
Barnes, whose 17th birthday was in January, was visiting her
half-sister in northwest Baltimore. She was visiting from Monroe, N.C., a
city outside of Charlotte where she was preparing to graduate from high
school a year early.
Barnes’ father, Russell Barnes of Riverdale, spent time in Baltimore after his daughter disappeared. Her mother, Janice Sallis, also went to Baltimore but then moved back to Atlanta in January at her family’s urging.
Investigators talk to the family daily, Guglielmi said.
Authorities have gone to North Carolina and other areas to interview
people but have found no reason to go to Atlanta, Guglielmi said.
“We don’t have any evidence that she left Baltimore,” he said.
Barnes left her 27-year-old half-sister’s apartment on the afternoon
of Dec. 28. Her debit card hasn’t been used, her cell phone was turned
off, and her Facebook page hasn’t been updated. She also missed a flight
home to North Carolina.
More than 100 detectives -- including half of the Baltimore police's
homicide unit -- -- as well as Maryland State Police and the FBI had
been assigned to Barnes' case. Authorities were using helicopters,
cadaver dogs, and other investigative tools to try and find her.
Authorities have interviewed more than 25 so-called “persons of
interest,” but no one has risen to the level of a suspect, Guglielmi
said. Investigators are pursing the case as an abduction and as a
homicide, he said.
“It is truly, truly a baffling case; there’s no physical evidence to
drive us in a new direction,” Guglielmi said. “What we’re waiting for is
the innocuous tip, a tip that seems like nothing, that breaks the case
wide open.”
A Facebook page, "Pray for Phylicia Barnes," has more than 21,048
"Likes" and thousands of postings, including one from her father on
Monday, which says "Staying Focused.
"http://www.ajc.com/news/teen-now-missing-for-889009.html

Baltimore police are planning a mass search Saturday for Phylicia Barnes, the North Carolina teenager and track star missing since a December visit to the city.The new search will involve more than 200 law enforcement officials.Police
are also seeking volunteers to help distribute fliers in the Northwest
Baltimore neighborhood where Barnes had been staying with her half
sister. Anyone interested in helping should call the public affairs unit
at 410-396-2012.Anthony Guglielmi, the chief spokesman for the
city Police Department, would not identify the precise area to be
searched or what is prompting detectives to concentrate there. He said
only that investigators linked a person associated with Barnes to the
area.More details will be released Saturday morning, when police begin the dawn-to-dusk search."It will be an extensive effort," Guglielmi said.Barnes
went missing the afternoon of Dec. 28. The 16-year-old had planned to
graduate early from high school and move to Baltimore to attend Towson University. She was last seen by her half sister's ex-boyfriend sleeping on a couch.Six
homicide detectives worked the case for months but reported few leads.
They have questioned up to 30 people who knew Barnes or who had been
among the last to see her.Police have conducted more than a dozen
searches, including a stream bed in Leakin Park and a well behind an
apartment in Southwest Baltimore. Authorities have also conducted an
extensive media campaign and gone on national cable television stations.But
tips have recently slowed to a telephone line (1-855-223-0033) still
staffed 24 hours a day exclusively for the Barnes case, which police
describe as one of the most extensive and complex missing-persons
investigations undertaken by the department in years.Guglielmi
said only five tips have been called in to the line in the past two
weeks, compared to 180 to 200 in the two months before that."We
know there are people out there who know more than what they've shared
with police," the spokesman said, urging anyone with information to
call. "We're trying to generate as many leads as possible." A $35,000
reward is being offered.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-barnes-search-saturday-20110407,0,4778506.story

Hundreds of police officers and volunteers who spent Saturday trudging through ravines and woods in a state park just west of Baltimore
failed to find any sign of a teenage girl missing from the city since
December, frustrating authorities who said they have run out of leads in
the case. "We are now very much back at square one," said Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, echoing frustrations felt by people who spent 10 hours looking for Phylicia Barnes, the subject of one of the most extensive searches undertaken by police in years. "We have no doubt in our minds that something very tragic has
happened to her," Guglielmi said. "It's been devastating for the family.
We've been at it for three months and we're not very far in knowing
what happen to Phylicia."

Volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol did find a body in Patapsco Valley State Park - the decomposing corpse of a man dressed in layered clothing. Maryland State Police said they did not suspect foul play in the man's death. "We found nothing related to Phylicia Barnes," Guglielmi said. The 17-year-old disappeared from her half-sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28 while visiting from Monroe,
N.C. Reached by telephone, her mother Janice Sallis called the results
of the search "good news. It's good news that they didn't come up with
anything. My baby might still be out there." Police have declined to say what led them to the park, but Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III
said at the onset of the search that such a big and complex undertaking
would not have been undertaken without what he called "actionable
intelligence." Guglielmi said only that "we identified this
as an area of interest. It was associated with one of the people of
interest we talked to, one of the 30 people who last saw Phylicia."
Police said they had searched part of the park before, but "frozen
ground and the snow limited our ability to search further."
Two dozen police dogs and Maryland Natural Resources Department officers
familiar with the 16,000 acre park that sprawls over two adjoining
counties joined city homicide detectives and FBI agents from a task
force on exploited children. Two dozen students from a criminal justice class at Coppin State University, taught by former Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm,
helped search the park. Two hundred volunteers distributed 10,000
fliers near the apartment building from which Phylicia disappeared. Police say they have searched more than a dozen places and
interviewed associates and friends of Barnes, who turned 17 in January.
The former -boyfriend of Barnes' half-sister was the last person to see
her alive, reportedly sleeping on a couch in the sister's apartment the
afternoon of Dec. 28. Barnes, who lives with her mother in North Carolina, was visiting her half-sister in Baltimore for the Christmas holiday. The track star and honors student had planned to graduate early from high school and attend Towson University.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/09/3541114/maryland-searchers-find-no-sign.html#ixzz1J62GHCLd

(CNN) -- The body of a 17-year-old honor student from North Carolina -- missing since December -- has been found in a Maryland river, her father said Thursday.
Russel Barnes said that a female body found Wednesday in the Susquehanna River in Maryland is that of his daughter, Phylicia Barnes. The father said he'd learned as much after talking with authorities.

(snipped)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/21/maryland.north.carolina.body.found/index.html

I wonder if the male body found is associated with her and her death.

I've had a bad feeling about her all along.