A 15-year-old Cleveland girl who vanished after telling her mother she was headed to a friend's house was found safe in Lakewood, and the 27-year-old California man she had been messaging on Instagram is now facing child sex charges. Police say the girl, identified as Anahis Baker, never arrived at her friend's home, setting off a search that stretched across two cities and drew in the FBI.
According to FOX 8 News, Cleveland police received a call on Wednesday, Nov. 11, reporting the 15-year-old missing from the 12500 block of Bennington Avenue. Baker's mother contacted police after her daughter failed to show up where she said she was going, and officers began working the case alongside investigators in the city's search for the teen.
The break in the case came after Baker left her cell phone behind. Her mother discovered a string of Instagram messages between her daughter and a man identified as 27-year-old Cameron Battisti, FOX 8 News reported. Cleveland police sought the public's help finding the 15-year-old, according to Cleveland 19. FOX 8 News reported that Battisti was from California and that Baker had been communicating with him through social media before she left with him.
A Multi-Agency Search Ends in Lakewood
Investigators soon learned Battisti's full identity: 27-year-old Cameron Battisti of San Diego, California, per FOX 8 News. Cleveland police worked the case alongside the Lakewood Police Department and the FBI, and that coordination led them to Baker, who was found safely in the city of Lakewood with Battisti, the outlet reported.
Once located, Baker was transported to a hospital, FOX 8 News reported. Battisti was arrested in connection with the missing teen and has been charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and pandering obscenity involving a minor, according to the same Cleveland 19 account.
Police Urge Families to Watch Online Contacts
Police Urge Families to Watch Online Contacts In the wake of the arrest, Cleveland police reminded parents and guardians that children can face real dangers on online platforms and social media. Officers advised juveniles directly that not everyone they meet online is who they claim to be, and that kids can turn to a trusted adult if they are made uncomfortable or asked for inappropriate photos or an in-person meeting, the department said in a release, as FOX 8 News reported.
“Protecting our children requires awareness, communication and a collective commitment to their safety, both online and in our communities,” police said in that same release.
A Case That Fits a Troubling National Pattern
The case lands amid a sharp rise in reports of online enticement nationwide. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says its CyberTipline logged a 158% increase in online-enticement reports in 2025 compared with the year before, according to NCMEC's CyberTipline data. The organization reported 1.4 million online-enticement reports in 2025 alone, including more than 800 in which an offender traveled to meet a child in person, and it says more than 80,000 of those reports involved sextortion.
NCMEC says it escalated more than 53,000 of those 2025 reports to law enforcement as urgent or involving a child in imminent danger, per the same data. An earlier NCMEC analysis of 5,863 CyberTipline reports found that 78% of reported child victims were girls, and that 98% of named offenders were people seemingly unknown to the children in real life, according to the organization's analysis of online enticement. That same analysis found that in just 12% of reports did victims or offenders mention meeting in person.
