UPDATE–Fayette County Sheriff Steve Kessler reported Monday night Lilly Neff had been located in another state and authorities were hoping to reunite with her Ansted family.
HICO, W.Va. — A Fayette County community is pulling together in hopes of finding a teenager who went missing over the weekend. Lilly Neff, 16, disappeared around 4 a.m. Saturday when she left a rental cabin in Hico and planned to walk to the home of a relative.
There are many unanswered questions about her disappearance. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in locating the teen who is a student at Midland Trail High School.
“Any community that has a child that is missing is devastated,” said Midland Trail Assistant Principal Dawn Dooley.
Dooley could not say anything about the investigation or talk about any specific student. However, she said the school has been a base of operations for a number of search efforts organized by the local community.
“The community has organized several events and used the school as a focal point to start from,” she said. “In small communities the local high school is the place local residents use to gather.”
Ansted Baptist Church has been instrumental in a number of activities including a volunteer search party and a prayer vigil Sunday night for her safe return.
Neff is medium build with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a mole on her left cheek. She’s approximately 5’7″ and weighs 145 pounds. Deputies said she was last seen wearing a tie-dyed tee-shirt cut to expose her stomach, blue jeans, and a jacket.
Anyone having any information concerning this missing child is asked to contact the Fayette County 911 Center at 304-574-3590. You can also submit information through the sheriff’s department’s Facebook page