PHOENIX — A 13-year-old girl who apparently ran away in June is still missing, as her family spends hours every day searching the Valley for her.
Jessica Holtzinger has now been missing for a month, and although there have been tips coming in, her family says they still haven't been able to find her.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Un padre desesperado sigue buscando a su hija adolescente a un mes de su desaparición
"Jessica was supposed to start the eighth grade in a couple of weeks, so we should have been shoe shopping and clothes shopping," her father, David Holtzinger said.
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Holtzinger said he's been handing out hundreds of missing persons posters daily, hoping to come across his daughter on the streets of Phoenix.
"I'm usually spending about 10 to 12 hours a day looking for her," he said.
Holtzinger believes his daughter ran away from their home near 24th Street and Roosevelt after accidentally setting a neighbor's umbrella on fire. Holtzinger said Jessica thought they would be evicted because of it. He believes that's why she ran away in the middle of the night.
Family, friends and even Jessica's teachers organized a search for her in June. Since that search, and the media attention it brought, some tips have come in, Holtzinger said.
One tip in Glendale was from an elderly woman who gave a 13-year-old on the street some water. The girl apparently said her name was Jessica. Other tips have gone in placing her with adult men on the streets of Phoenix. None of those tips have led Holtzinger to his daughter.
"She might be concerned that she'll be in trouble with me for what she's had to do to survive out there in the streets," Holtzinger said. "That's not the case and I just want her home."
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