She was left with her grandmother. Sadly, while searching for her, they have found the body of another child in a lake.
![]()
Family, Friends Continue Search For Missing Girl
Hundreds Of People Search By Foot, Horse, ATV For Missing Girl
POSTED: 6:38 pm EST February 25, 2005
UPDATED: 7:05 pm EST February 25, 2005
HOMOSASSA, Fla. -- Authorities searched all day Friday for a 9-year-old Citrus County girl who disappeared from her bed sometime Wednesday night.
Volunteers Desperately Search For Missing Girl
Jessica Lunsford was last seen by her grandmother on Wednesday and reported missing on Thursday, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.
Her father was not home when she disappeared and authorities tracked down her biological mother in Ohio and Jessica is not with her.
The family was involved in an emotional roller coaster on Friday afternoon when police found the body of a young person in a lake in northern Hillsborough County. Officers talked to her father, preparing him for the worst, but the body turned out to be a different person.
Dozens of local volunteers joined hundreds of law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies in the search for Lunsford.
Citizens used all-terrain vehicles and walked through miles of woods to try and find a girl that many of them had never met. Lunsford's picture has also been posted in many businesses up and down Florida's west coast.
'I just plead with you to please help me find my daughter,' said a weeping Mark Lunsford on Friday.
The girl's grandmother last saw her go to bed at about 10 p.m. Wednesday in her pink, silk nightgown.
'She wouldn't go nowhere without consulting us,' said her grandmother, Ruth Lunsford.
Searches by helicopter, horse, foot and ATV have yielded few clues. Police said there is no evidence that someone broke into her home and no evidence that she was involved in a struggle. There aren't even footprints or strange tire marks outside of the family's Homosassa home.
'We want to find this little girl. We consider this our girl. We want to make sure we bring her home,' said Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy.
Jessica's mother, who now lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, also had few clues.
'I just want her to be found,' Angie Lunsford said.
Dawsy called it a strange case. He said the clothes that she had laid out for school on Thursday were left behind untouched on her bed, however, one of her dolls is missing. They believe that might be a clue to finding her.
If you have any information about Jessica's whereabouts, call 911 or the Citrus County Sheriff's Department at (352) 726-1121.
![]()
