Missing Mar Vista middle school students return safely, police say

Two middle school children reported missing over the weekend returned home Monday night and appeared to be in good condition, police said.

The parents of Ashley Montes, 12, and Timothy Reed, 14, reported to police that their children were missing Saturday night after last being seen near Mark Twain Middle School in Mar Vista, where they are enrolled, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

“They just returned home,” said LAPD Sgt. Art Gallegos, with the department’s Pacific Division.

Over the weekend, the children spent one night at a recreation center and apparently spent another night on an apartment rooftop, Gallegos said.

The children’s families became concerned after they did not answer calls and text messages to their cellphones, police said. They went unheard from after swimming in a pool near the middle school on Saturday, police said.

The children returned to Montes’ home Monday night, KTLA reported. Police told the news station that the children didn’t have any reported history of running away.

Family members told KTLA that the children were dating but that their families told them not to do so because of their ages.

“I’m really happy,” Cecilia Sanchez, Montes’ mother, told KTLA on Monday night after her daughter returned.

Sanchez said the children told her that somebody stole their phones and that’s why they didn’t answer. When a reporter asked where the children were, she said, “They don’t say anything.”

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