By Gus Saltonstall
A teenage girl has been missing from the Upper West Side for more than six weeks, the New York Police Department announced on Tuesday.
Amber Bell, 17, was last seen leaving her apartment building at 216 West 63rd Street at 4 p.m. on August 12, police said.
She was last seen wearing a white tank top, white sneakers, and gray sweatpants, NYPD added.
Bell is five feet, four inches tall, and around 140 pounds, according to police.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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I hope she is found. Her family must be very upset.
Oh no. Poor kid! Poor family. I hope she is found safe asap
How can she be missing for six weeks with no public notice!
Because it’s possibly the family didn’t want to spook her and the police didn’t either, because if she ventured out on her own or ran away or took off with someone else, she would go or be taken farther away. It’s a delicate balance when the investigation starts.
I’m guessing because she’s a person of color this is the first we’re hearing of this
I don’t think that’s the issue. A few years ago, when a girl went missing near 72nd, it wasn’t publicized until weeks later. When neighbors offered to help, we were told by people close to the family to mind our own business. It later turned out she was active on social media, seen at school the day she supposedly vanished, and was actually with friends in NJ. If Amber has a strong social media presence and active friendships, her social circle is likely where the answers are. Either way, I hope she is safe.
This is so scary. I hope Amber is found safe
Please keep us posted
A notice like this SIX weeks later???
Six weeks???
Is this going to be another case like poor Jafet Jemmott of last year, where the NYPD decided that a fifteen-year-old kid from a stable home and no real issues vanishing after going way outside his neighborhood for reasons unknown showed no evidence of criminality? (https://gothamist.com/news/a-queens-teen-has-been-missing-for-months-his-family-is-asking-for-help-finding-him)
You have NO idea what is going on so please don’t act like you know more about missing persons than people who actually find missing persons for a living. You don’t know the circumstances.
Shoudn’t an Amber alert be sent out?