When her 14-year-old daughter disappeared from high school on Friday, Feb. 2, Lucia Vargas Herrera decided to wait until the next day to call police.
Her daughter, who has special needs and chronic anxiety, had been struggling as a freshman at Crispus Attucks High School this year. She had stayed out late another time with a girl she knew before coming back home.
That’s why Vargas waited. But when Vargas messaged the friend to ask about her daughter, Vargas learned her daughter wasn’t with the girl.
“That’s when I started to worry,” Vargas said in an interview conducted in Spanish. “My daughter isn’t one that has a lot of friends or is outgoing or says, ‘I’ll be back, mom, I’m going to a party,’ or ‘I’m going to the store.’ She doesn’t go out.”
When her daughter failed to come home by the morning, Vargas called 911. She intended to file a missing persons report so police could ask for the community’s help through an Amber Alert. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers, though, declined to issue an alert and instead treated the case as a runaway.
Thanks to social media, much of the community responded anyway. Family and friends launched a search effort for the missing girl in the streets of Near Westside neighborhoods and found some clues but could not find her.
When her daughter came home five days later, Vargas said she was pale and cold with bruises and bite marks. She was so traumatized, Vargas said, she has been unable to speak about what happened to family, authorities or medical professionals. Mirror Indy typically does not identify people who may have been victims of a crime.
Vargas wanted to know if her daughter was taken from the school. She said she asked the school’s principal to review security camera footage but she said school administrators declined.
Indianapolis Public Schools officials declined to answer specific questions posed by Mirror Indy, including how and when the student left school, whether that was caught on camera and why her mother or police weren’t immediately notified, but spokesman Marc Ransford issued a prepared statement.
“As soon as school staff discovered the student was missing during dismissal, they followed district protocol and immediately instructed the family to call IMPD,” part of the statement read. “The safety of IPS students and staff is always our first priority.”
An IMPD spokesman, meanwhile, said officers didn’t have enough information to suggest the girl may have been the victim of a crime when Vargas first reported her missing. Now they are investigating what happened during her disappearance.
“The investigation remains active and the investigation is ongoing. There is nothing additional at this time,” said Officer William Young, an IMPD spokesman, in an email to Mirror Indy.
Vargas believes her daughter was abducted after leaving school unnoticed by staff, and is left with questions about a system she thinks failed her family. Why did school officials allow her daughter to leave the high school? Why didn’t they report her as missing?
Why didn’t police do more to find her?
“She’s a girl with a learning disability, with chronic anxiety. She’s not just like any other girl in situations where she leaves with a boyfriend or whatever,” Vargas said. “I told them she’s not a runaway, she’s missing, but they didn’t listen to me.”
Vargas tried to pick up her daughter up from school, but she was missing
It’s unclear precisely when school officials realized the girl had left school. Mirror Indy’s question to IPS spokesman Ransford went unanswered.
But Vargas said she learned when she went to pick up her daughter from school at 2 p.m. on that Friday.
“I went into the school to look for her,” Vargas said. “They told me, ‘No, she isn’t here.’”
School officials were aware the child sometimes skipped class.
Vargas said school officials had previously told her that her daughter would avoid classes and roam the halls during class time. Vargas said her daughter had not attempted to skip classes before this year, her first at Crispus Attucks.
Vargas provided Mirror Indy with photos of her daughter’s Individualized Education Plan, a document schools are required to prepare for students who have special needs. In the plan, school officials detail their knowledge of the ninth grader’s anxiety and tendency to wander hallways.
Their plan recommends that a social worker review the girl’s attendance at the end of the school day and reward her for the days she attends every class. Vargas said she last met with the district to discuss her daughter’s needs in January.
Vargas also remains frustrated that Lauren Franklin, the principal at Crispus Attucks, would not review security camera footage to see when her daughter left the school — and whether she was alone.
“When I went to the school, the principal told me, ‘We can’t do anything because it’s something that’s outside of school. We can’t do anything about things that happen outside of school,’” Vargas said.
Franklin did not respond to Mirror Indy’s requests for an interview. Mirror Indy left a message with a staff member in Franklin’s office and sent her an email.
IMPD: No evidence to justify Amber Alert
When an officer arrived at the Vargas home the day after the girl went missing, the officer filed the girl’s disappearance as a runaway. That decision erased the chance of an Amber Alert, an early warning system to help find abducted children.
The decision to issue an Amber Alert is subjective. Police officers issue the alerts when they believe a child under 18 has been abducted and is in danger. Additionally, there must be enough information about the child’s case to believe the broadcast will help find the child.
Lt. Shane Foley, another IMPD spokesman, told Mirror Indy that the circumstances of Vargas’ daughter going missing, including her age and the absence of other specific details, such as evidence of an abduction, meant IMPD opted not to issue an alert
Tips come in from neighbors
Unsatisfied with the reaction of the police, Vargas also went to the community.
She asked for help on social media to spread awareness of her daughter’s disappearance. Dozens of people from her church and neighborhood helped her comb the streets.
“I have my own daughter, and, honestly, a mother will do everything for their kids, even the impossible,” Andrea Hernandez, Vargas’ friend who helped search for her daughter, told Mirror Indy in an interview conducted in Spanish. “I couldn’t imagine us comfy in our own beds while her daughter was on the streets in the cold.”
Tips came in. The night after Vargas’ daughter disappeared from the school, the search party received a video from a neighbor’s home security camera directly between her home and her daughter’s high school showing a person who appeared to be her daughter walking along a sidewalk in daylight. Vargas said she shared the clue with police.
She later received a tip that her daughter was at a school acquaintance’s home. She called the police and they went with her to check out the lead, but her daughter wasn’t there.
“So the police told us, ‘Ok, ma’am your daughter’s not here, but don’t worry, we’re going to patrol the area and two more officers will be searching,’” Vargas said.
Her frustration increased the longer her daughter was missing.
Then, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, her daughter came home.
At about 2:30 a.m., Vargas’ daughter rang the doorbell and knocked loudly at the door. Through her door video camera, Vargas could see her daughter’s pale face shaking with cold. Vargas let her daughter in, embraced her and rushed to get her medical help.
Daughter won’t discuss disappearance
Vargas suspects someone kidnapped her daughter and kept her locked away. Vargas is convinced that her daughter was released by her captors because of the pressure put on them by the massive community response.
“Thank God I was fortunate enough to have a lot of support,” Vargas said. “My daughter’s case reverberated within the community. That’s why they returned her to me. They didn’t return her just because. They returned her because of the pressure they felt.”
Vargas immediately took her daughter to Riley Hospital for Children. Vargas’ daughter cooperated with hospital staff at first, but that changed after nurses drew blood. There are tests that medical professionals can perform to look for evidence of abuse or sexual assault, but they are invasive. She did not want to be touched anymore and fought off further examination attempts.
“Right now, my daughter doesn’t want to talk much about it because of the trauma,” Vargas said. “She’s said some things, but there’s not a lot of information. She’s going to have to go to therapy. She needs to recuperate physically and mentally.”
Vargas has been interviewed by police several times, she said. Police have attempted to interview her daughter, too. Vargas, who was born in Michoacan, Mexico, said she is receiving interpretation assistance from the Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis.
“She unfortunately had a panic attack from the trauma, so she stopped talking during the interview,” Vargas said. “But so fresh after it happened to her, it’s a very difficult time for her. We’re going to give her some time to absorb the things that have happened. I’ll be coming back to speak to the detective and finish telling her all we know.”
Vargas said she will home school her daughter the rest of the year.
Vargas doesn’t think the case should hinge on her daughter’s ability to speak about what may have been a traumatic event. She still wonders whether the school’s security videos could help. Family and friends gathered on Monument Circle to pressure police to find out what happened.
“I want them to investigate the case beyond what my daughter has to say,” Vargas said. “There has to be more evidence out there.”
Anyone with information about the case can send an anonymous tip to the Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana by calling (317) 262-8477 or by filling out an online form. Tips can also be submitted through the P3 Tips app available on Android and iOS.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
