A search effort is under way for 15-year-old Bedria Williams, who went missing from her home in Oregon last month and was last seen in Sacramento.
The teenager left her school in Creswell, Ore., shortly after noon Jan. 11. Her father, Pat Williams, believes she boarded a commuter bus to Eugene, Ore., before making her way to Sacramento.
"The leads are not panning out," Williams said Friday in Sacramento. "Somebody out there locally knows where she is at."
Bedria is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds. She was last seen on Jan. 19 near Greenhaven and Rush River drives. Williams believes his daughter "is being held against her will."
The girl was adopted from Ethiopia six years ago and speaks English with a slight accent.
Samora Deng, 22, of Elk Grove showed up Friday morning to pass out fliers at local stores. Deng said he heard about the case through an email from an Ethiopian community leader.
Shelli LaMadrid, a volunteer with the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, is leading the search effort. LaMadrid and Williams have set up a command post outside Vientos Mexican Concina restaurant at 7600 Greenhaven Drive in Sacramento. "We really need the public's help for volunteers," LaMadrid said.
Sacramento police have called Bedria an "at-risk missing person due to her age."
Search efforts will continue today. Anyone who wants to help can call LaMadrid (916) 267-7877 or Pat Williams (541) 731-2462.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Richard Chang
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.