By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Authorities are asking for help in finding a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for more than two weeks.
Relatives told deputies Sheniqua Victoria Nicole Peebles left April 9 to stay with her cousins during spring break week.
Aside from a few vague text messages, they haven’t heard from her since.
Ruth Watkins, Peebles’ aunt, said she thinks her niece may have been abducted.
“Somebody may have gotten her,” Watkins said. “Something has gone wrong. I really believe she’s being held.”
Peebles’ mother, Tonya Conner, contacted the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office April 17, two days after she was supposed to have returned home, the report said.
She received texts from her daughter throughout the week, deputies said, and nothing seemed unusual.
But the tone of her texts changed on April 17.
Conner messaged her daughter three times that day, telling her she needed to come home immediately.
The report said the only reply she received was, “Nah.”
Relatives said one of the scariest parts about her disappearance is that her phone has stayed off, sending all calls to her voice mail.
They’ve called so many times the inbox is full.
Watkins said her niece, a West Rowan High School student, does well in school and doesn’t have any problems at home.
“She’s very active in school,” she said. “There are no problems.”
Watkins said she didn’t know who the cousins were that she was staying with, but she believes they live in the Salisbury area.
The report said she typically stayed with her cousins, on her father’s side, some weekends. It was unclear who she was staying with during the break.
After contacting authorities, Connor texted her daughter and said she had reported the incident.
“Why did you do that? I told you I’d be home,” was the response.
Rowan County Detective John Brindle has been working the case since it was filed.
He is speaking to relatives and friends, hoping for more information about where she was last seen, reports say.
Connor told deputies she last saw her daughter walk down the driveway to a light blue Lincoln Towncar, a vehicle she didn’t recognize, and leave on April 9.
As of April 26, Brindle wrote that Connor had not heard anything from her daughter since April 21.
She was last seen wearing jeans and carrying a small book bag and pocketbook.
Peebles is 5-foot-4, 120 pounds, with a medium build, brown eyes and straight neck-length hair.
Deputies ask anyone with information about Sheniqua Peebles’ whereabouts to call 911 or contact Detective John Brindle at 704-216-8706.
Contact reporter Nathan Hardin at 704-797-4246.
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