Akron police are asking the public for help finding Kennedy Kemp, a 17-year-old girl who disappeared more than a week ago. She was last seen Nov. 2 leaving the 100 block of Bittman Street, headed toward a bus stop, and has not been seen since.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the Akron Police Department has asked the public for help in searching for a missing teen. Police said Kemp was going to the bus stop near Bittman Street and West Market Street when she was last seen. Per the police Facebook post cited by Yahoo News, Kennedy never showed up at her mom's house or school.
Police described Kemp as 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, per the same post. Anyone with information has been asked to contact Detective R. Jackson at 330-375-2530.
A Pattern of Missing-Persons Cases in Akron
Kemp's disappearance comes amid a steady stream of missing-person reports handled by Akron police. A 2024 report from the Beacon Journal found that Akron typically has 25 to 30 people who are considered missing on any given day, and the department gets between 1,000 and 1,100 missing persons reports a year. That same report found that in the 18 months examined, 60% to 70% of those cases involved juveniles.
Akron police have said they don't wait to start looking. “If a report comes in, we investigate,” an officer told the paper at the time. “We start right away.” The department has also said it will look for a missing juvenile regardless of how often they've been reported missing before, with investigators typically talking to family members, identifying the missing person's friends, and checking on school and extracurricular activities as part of the process.
Other Recent Searches Around Akron
Kemp's case is not the only one that has drawn public appeals in the region this year. In August, the Hills and Dales Village Police Department searched for 17-year-old Cameron Kiser after his car turned up abandoned in Akron, with Kiser himself last seen July 31 in Hills and Dales Village.
In June, Akron police found four missing juveniles near Summit Lake Community Center and returned them to their parents, according to a report from Cleveland 19. Detectives in that case used Flock Safety cameras and surveillance footage to track down the group. It remains unclear whether similar technology is being used in the search for Kemp.
