A 15-year-old girl has been missing from East Cleveland since July 19, and investigators are now asking the public for help finding her. Sharelle Hill was last seen wearing a beige shirt, jeans, and glasses, and authorities describe her as a Black female standing 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 100 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, according to the official missing child alert from the Ohio Attorney General.
The case was first reported by FOX 8 News, which is working with abduction survivor Amanda Berry to help locate missing people across Northeast Ohio. Anyone with information about Sharelle Hill is asked to call 1-866-492-6833, a hotline that routes tips to federal and state investigators, while primary investigative jurisdiction remains with the East Cleveland Police Department at (216) 451-1234, per the Ohio Attorney General's poster.
Sharelle's case has also been folded into a much larger effort. Her disappearance is featured as part of Operation Meridian, a statewide initiative the U.S. Marshals Service launched in late July in partnership with FOX 8, Berry, and former Cleveland Browns player Bernie Kosar to locate Ohio's most endangered missing children, according to EssentiallySports.
A Broadcast Segment Built for Cases Like This
Berry's involvement traces back nearly a decade. She joined WJW FOX 8 News in February 2017 to host “Missing with Amanda Berry,” a daily broadcast segment aimed at publicizing missing children and adult cases across the region, as detailed by Cleveland Scene. That platform now feeds directly into the multi-agency push to find Sharelle.
The amplification matters given what national data shows about how missing youth cases get covered. Black youth account for 33% to 37% of missing children reports nationally, despite representing roughly 14% to 15% of the U.S. child population, according to the National Child Identification Program.
East Cleveland's Police Shortage Looms Over the Search
The search for Sharelle unfolds against a backdrop of serious staffing strain within the department leading the investigation. East Cleveland Mayor Sandra Morgan acknowledged this month that the city's police department currently operates with just 17 active officers, down from budgeted levels of 24 to 30 and past levels of 40, relying on overtime and regional task force partnerships to handle active cases, as reported by WKYC. That shortfall helps explain why federal partners like the U.S. Marshals Service have taken on a larger role in East Cleveland missing persons cases.
It would not be the first time a federal task force has recovered missing children inside the city. In July, the U.S. Marshals SPEAR Unit recovered three missing siblings inside an East Cleveland home and arrested their mother for interference with custody, Hoodline previously reported. That case showed how quickly a coordinated federal response can locate children even amid local staffing gaps.
Most Missing Ohio Kids Are Found, State Data Shows
The statewide numbers offer some reassurance, even as Sharelle's case remains open. Ohio recorded 15,367 missing children reports in 2025, with 97.8%, or 15,024 children, recovered safely by the end of the year, according to the Ohio Attorney General's 2025 Missing Children Clearinghouse Report released in May. Runaway incidents accounted for 7,656 of those cases statewide, the same report found.
Nationally, the pattern is similar. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children supported 32,167 missing child cases in 2025, with runaway incidents making up 92% of the overall reports, per MissingKids.org. Whether Sharelle's disappearance fits that pattern has not been stated by investigators, and no additional details about the circumstances of her disappearance have been released.
For now, anyone with information about Sharelle Hill's whereabouts is urged to contact investigators. The case remains active under East Cleveland Police Department jurisdiction, with support from state and federal partners working through Operation Meridian.
