Leah Batty, 16, is missing, and the Montgomery County Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in locating her.
The Montgomery County Department of Police Special Victims Investigations Division issued the appeal, saying it was “asking for the public’s assistance in locating Leah Batty, a missing 16-year-old,” in a department post.
When Maryland Issues an AMBER Alert
As general context, Maryland State Police says an AMBER Alert requires police to confirm a child under 18 has been abducted, believe the child faces serious harm or death, have information that could help locate the child, believe the child is still in the area and enter the child’s information into NCIC, according to the Maryland Department of State Police. These criteria do not explain this case.
What Missing-Person Records Show
Maryland State Police’s AMBER Alert criteria, described above, concern when an alert may be activated; they do not provide a count of missing juveniles in Maryland. Separately, the FBI reported 88,093 active missing-person records in NCIC nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2025, including 21,487 records for juveniles under 18. Those figures are database records, not annual reports or a Maryland-specific count, according to the FBI.
In a separate Montgomery County case, police sought help locating 17-year-old Tanease Callands in Gaithersburg on April 18, 2025, and later reported that she had been located safe and unharmed, according to the Montgomery County Department of Police. That case does not establish anything about Batty’s circumstances or outcome.
How to Help
Anyone who may be able to help locate Batty is being asked to come forward.
