Tips received about missing Fayetteville girl

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayetteville police are following up on several leads generated by a public plea for help in locating a girl who ran away from her home over four months ago.

Earlier this week, police distributed a request for the public's help to area media outlets in locating Tara Stockton, 15, who was last seen March 2 by her family at the Cobblestone Apartments where the family lives.

Several citizens have responded to the call for help by calling the police department with possible tips to Stockton's whereabouts, said Lt. Beverly Trainor.

"We are working those leads but we haven't found her yet," Trainor said.

Detectives have questioned Stockton's friends all over the metro Atlanta area and conducted undercover surveillance with no results, police said. Stockton's stepmother, who has legal custody of the girl, is very concerned about her, Trainor noted.

Stockton's name also has been listed on the registry for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in an effort to locate her, Trainor said. She is described as a white female being 5'8", 160 pounds with long brown hair and blue eyes.

There are no allegations of abuse connected with the case and Stockton is not wanted for any criminal investigation, Trainor said.

Although detectives are usually able to locate runaway children "rather quickly," police have become concerned with this particular case, Trainor added.

"We want to find out where she is and get her home safely," Trainor said.

Some of Stockton's friends used to call police occasionally to report that they had just seen her and she was okay but didn't want to come home, Trainor said. But those calls stopped about a month ago, Trainor said.

Anyone with information on Stockton's whereabouts is asked to call Det. Debbie Chambers at 770-461-4441.