Shoshone Anne-Marie Love disappeared from her new Avondale home on April 24. Photo / Supplied
Shoshone Anne-Marie Love disappeared from her new Avondale home on April 24. Photo / Supplied
Police have grave concerns for an 18-year-old girl with a mental age of 7 who has been roaming Auckland barefoot with no phone or money for over a week.
Shoshone Anne-Marie Love moved to Auckland from Christchurch on Thursday, April 23, but disappeared from her new Avondale home early thenext morning.
The teenager does not know the city at all and has no means of contacting friends or family.
Police have conducted extensive inquiries over the past seven days - door-knocking in the wider Avondale area, letterbox-dropping, posting flyers and putting up notices at police stations and known teenage haunts.
A team of Avondale officers will focus their full attention on the search over the weekend and Auckland Central and Henderson staff are also on alert.
"Obviously, because of the timeframe involved, we are pretty concerned," said Senior Sergeant Scott Leonard of the Avondale police.
Mr Leonard said it was possible Shoshone had got caught up with a group of people and was safe, but urged anyone who knew her whereabouts to contact police.
He did not believe Shoshone to be a drinker, but had concerns she might be talked into anything if caught up with the wrong crowd.
Mr Leonard said police would interview a number of people who were gathered at Shoshone's new home the night before she vanished.
He described her as Maori, about 150cm in height, of solid build, with brown, medium-length hair with a blonde fringe.
She was last seen wearing grey checked pants, a white singlet and a grey zipped hoodie with a red pattern on the back and front panel. She was reportedly barefoot when she left her new Avondale home.
Anyone who sees Shoshone is asked to contact Constable Julia Bixley at Avondale police on (09) 820-5701 or 0272- 434-214.
