Update: Family of missing Fort Mill teen says she’s safe

A Fort Mill mom who turned to Facebook to search for answers after almost a week without hearing from her teenaged daughter posted that she believes the girl is safe.

“Thanks to all of you, Lauren’s family and friends, we have solid reason to believe that she is safe,” Christy Sulli posted on Facebook in reference to her daughter, Lauren Skye Sulli.

A voice message left for Christy Sulli after her post has not been returned.

On Monday night, Christy Sulli posted a call for help on Facebook for her daughter, Lauren, 17. Sulli wrote of being “terrified and desperate” after not hearing from or seeing online interaction from Lauren since the Nation Ford High senior left home Jan. 20.

By Tuesday morning, the post had more than 27,000 shares.

According to Sulli, her husband and daughter had “just a normal teenage argument” on Jan. 20. Lauren made arrangements for someone to pick her up, though her parents didn’t know the driver.

“My husband saw someone in the car, but we did not know him,” Sulli said.

Sulli said the incident has been reported to the York County Sheriff’s Office and other organizations. The person who drove Lauren away, who is from the Albemarle Road area of Charlotte, was working with the family and the investigation. Lauren spent last Wednesday night with the person who picked her up, but used that person’s phone to have someone else pick her up the following day, Sulli said.

The first person to pick her up didn’t have information about the second, Sulli said.

“Since then no one has seen her or heard from her,” Sulli said Tuesday morning.

Most of Lauren’s friends now are in the Fort Mill area. The family moved three years ago from the Steele Creek area of Charlotte. The family believes Lauren could be with someone she knows in either area. Part of the reason for moving was a group of friends in Charlotte that Lauren’s parents felt weren’t good for her.

“We moved here to get away from some of that,” Sulli said.

Sulli said she planned to return to work Tuesday, but also to continue efforts to find out where her daughter is.

“Today we’ll be reaching out to hospitals and other organizations that may be able to help,” Sulli said Tuesday morning.

The York County Sheriff’s Office didn’t have specific information on the incident Tuesday morning.

Cases of missing persons are handled differently depending on what information investigators have. Suspected kidnapping of a child would be publicized differently, for instance, than an older teen in a runaway situation.

If a teen runs away and is safe with a friend or acquaintance, extra attention can sometimes have an opposite affect to the one parents want, officials said.

“It kind of fuels the desire to stay gone,” said Trent Faris, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

The Facebook post gained shares by the thousands Tuesday morning. Close to 140 comments ranged from possible sightings over the weekend to human trafficking information. One person commented that she may have been at a Harris Teeter in Charlotte and described a young girl waiting on an Uber ride.

“At this time, please respect our families privacy as we help Lauren heal and get back to school,” Christy Sulli posted late Tuesday afternoon.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Update: Family of missing Fort Mill teen says she’s safe."