Teen missing from Coral Springs over a week after Snapchat meet-up, family says
Skylee Merino, 15, has been missing from Coral Springs for over a week after family says she met up with an individual from Snapchat in a Tamarac parking lot on April 21.
The Coral Springs Police Department has classified her as a runaway.
“We believe that it’s more than that,” her older sister, Shynelle Mae Perry, said in a post Saturday.
Merino was picked up from her Coral Springs home around 3:23 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, her sister said. She left her iPhone and Apple Watch there, but did have an old iPhone SE that family members did not know about, according to Perry, who is spearheading online efforts to bring Merino home.
Perry said that a friend driving a white Ford Raptor dropped Merino off at Tamarac’s Cypress Commons Plaza at around 8:30 a.m., where she was supposed to meet a teen or young man that she had been speaking with on Snapchat.
About an hour later, Perry said, Merino asked her friend to pick her up, but the friend was unable to do so because they were at school. Her sister said this is what makes her believe Merino may be in danger.
Merino reportedly hasn’t responded to messages since, her sister said. Her last known social media activity was at 4 p.m. April 21.
In the days following her disappearance, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other organizations have shared her story in response to the family’s concerns.
A police department spokesperson told the Coral Springs News that investigators currently do not have reason to believe the 15-year-old is in danger, but on April 29, the agency shared on social media that it has received increasing requests about the investigation.
Skylee Merino is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs between 110 and 120 pounds, according to family and police. She has braces, and was last seen wearing a black tank top and leggings, a black shark backpack and Jordan 4 sneakers.
Investigators said they’re working to identify the individual from Snapchat and are asking anyone with information to call Detective Daniel Powers at 954-346-1223 or email dpowers@coralsprings.gov.
