Social networking sites usually facilitate connections between people, but they can cause real trouble at times, as Victoria Ayling's parents can attest to. The 14-year-old girl from Chelmsford, Essex, in the UK, has been missing since Sunday, and authorities believe she may have eloped with 19-year-old online boyfriend Richard Lewis, whom she met on networking site Bebo. The police found that the little girl had researched “how to evade capture” tactics on her computer before leaving, as well as camping sites in Scotland, the
DailyMail reports. The boy was also reported to be missing by authorities in his home village of Llanbradach, in Gwent, South Wales, since Friday night at 7 pm.
The relationship between the two didn't take place just over the Internet. Richard visited Victoria a number of times at her home, and also met her parents, so one could say that their relationship was pretty official. They ran away together 24 hours before Richard was to celebrate his birthday, but Victoria was last seen in her bed at 4 am on Sunday morning.
“Detectives are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of a 14-year-old girl who went missing from her home on Sunday. It is believed she may be with Richard Lewis, who was also reported missing to Gwent Police. Victoria Ayling was last seen at her home address which she shares with her parents and older brother and sister. She and Richard met on the Bebo website and keep in touch via the Internet and he had visited her a number of times at her home where he had met her parents. Police inquiries revealed Victoria had been researching campsites in Scotland and also tactics to avoid being traced,” an Essex police department spokesperson said.
“There is nothing to suggest there had been any problems between Victoria and her parents and nothing to suggest she was going to go anywhere. There had not been an argument. Naturally, police and Victoria's parents are extremely concerned for her welfare. Although her father and mother have met Mr Lewis on several occasions, they want to know that she is safe and well,” the official also added.
It's still unclear what the motives for their departure were, but the girl's parents are very worried, and have enlisted the help of the police department as a result. The police is currently looking for the car that Richard owns, as it believes that the couple may be traveling in it.
Over the recent years, such cases have, unfortunately, become increasingly common, with more and more people using similar websites to find easy targets. Thieves and child molesters are just some of the criminal groups that have taken hold of such sites, which were created to simply facilitate the interaction between individuals separated by great distances.
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