A 14-year-old girl has been missing since Monday morning after she failed to show up for school, and Rome police say the case now carries added urgency because her phone's location-sharing app has gone dark and the vehicle she may be riding in was low on gas when she disappeared. Alana Phillips was last seen around 8:01 a.m. in the Shannon area of Floyd County, and investigators are asking anyone who spots her or the vehicle not to approach, but to call 911 immediately.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the Rome Police Department has asked the public for help locating Phillips, who is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing around 140 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. She wears glasses and was last seen wearing a gray hoodie and blue jeans. Police consider her a safety concern and have asked anyone with information to call 911 right away.
Investigators believe Phillips may be traveling in a burgundy 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe bearing Georgia tag SHP 5309, per the Rome Police Department. The station's report also notes that police believe the Tahoe had less than a quarter-tank of gasoline when Phillips left, a detail that could point officers toward nearby gas stations and highway routes still within reach of the vehicle.
Digital Trail Goes Cold
Complicating the search, investigators confirmed that Phillips's Life360 location-sharing app was not actively transmitting data as of Tuesday, according to WSB-TV. Without a live GPS signal, police are relying on other investigative methods to try to reconstruct where she and the vehicle may have gone since leaving Shannon, an unincorporated community roughly eight miles northeast of downtown Rome.
Investigators also said Phillips may go by the names “Jacob” or “Heaven,” and asked anyone acquainted with someone matching her description under either name to reach out to law enforcement. The same report noted a discrepancy in vehicle bulletins: while most official alerts describe the SUV as a 2004 model, WSB-TV reported that investigators were also examining a possible 2007 model year for the Tahoe. Neither description has been ruled out, and officials have not clarified which is accurate.
National Alert Issued, Public Told Not to Approach
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has published a missing child alert for Phillips under case number 2097880, also listed as NCIC number M199088091. The alert instructs anyone who spots Phillips or the Tahoe not to approach either, but to call 911 immediately, echoing the caution issued by Rome police.
Under Georgia regulations, law enforcement agencies cannot impose a waiting period before accepting a missing person report, and state law requires that missing minors be entered immediately into both state and national criminal databases, according to state administrative rules cited by Justia. That immediate-entry requirement is why Phillips's case was logged with the GCIC and NCIC systems without delay after she was reported missing.
Broader Context on Missing Child Cases
Nationally, the scale of these investigations is significant. NCMEC data for 2025 shows the organization assisted with more than 32,000 missing child cases across the country, and the agency has estimated that roughly 1 in 7 missing child reports involve potential child sex trafficking or severe endangerment, according to figures published on MissingKids.org. That backdrop helps explain why law enforcement treats a missing 14-year-old with an unresponsive tracking app as an urgent, multi-agency priority.
As of Tuesday, key questions remain open, including who was driving the Tahoe when it was last seen and whether Phillips left voluntarily or under different circumstances. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Rome Police Department, which operates out of 375 Technology Parkway and can be reached through Floyd County 911 or its main line, according to department contact information listed with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
