A 14-year-old girl has been missing from Northeast Washington, D.C. since Tuesday afternoon, and police are asking the public for help finding her. Riley Mercer was last seen at 4:30 p.m. in the 2900 block of Carlton Avenue NE, according to police, and she has been classified as a critical missing person.
Mercer is described by police as Black, 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing 132 pounds, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, according to NBC4 Washington. The station reports she was last seen wearing a green AC/DC T-shirt and black jeans, and carrying a black Puma backpack. The D.C. Police Department has asked anyone with potentially relevant information to contact investigators as the search continues.
Word of Mercer's disappearance has also spread on social media, where users have circulated her description in hopes of generating leads. One post on Threads from the account @pearlsway_vacations listed her case number and appealed directly to the community, writing, “Moms and dads, family and friends. Please help bring this baby home.” A separate post from @pieshopdc described Mercer using similar physical details but referenced a greyish item of clothing, a detail that could not be reconciled with the green T-shirt described in the police account relayed by NBC4 Washington.
How to Report a Tip
The station's report lists 202-727-9099 as a number the public can use to reach police with information or anonymous tips. That same tip line is confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, which notes on its tip lines page that it is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There is a discrepancy over the anonymous text-tip number tied to this case. NBC4 Washington's report lists 50511 for anonymous text tips, while the Metropolitan Police Department's own text-tip line page identifies 50411 as the department's anonymous text-tip number. That MPD page also stresses that the anonymous text-tip line is not meant for emergencies, and that anyone with knowledge of a crime in progress or another police emergency should call 911 instead.
No additional detail on Mercer's case status has been made public. Anyone with information relevant to locating her is asked to reach out through the police tip line as the search continues.
