A New Jersey mother is pleading for answers after her 14-year-old daughter disappeared more than two weeks ago.
Jashyah Moore, of East Orange, was last seen on Oct. 14 at Poppies deli, according to a press release posted by the East Orange City Hall. The teen was last seen wearing khaki pants, a black jacket and black boots.
Further details surrounding the disappearance have not been released by authorities. Jashyah's mother, Jamie Moore, told WPIX that her daughter had gone to U.S. Food Market around 7:30 a.m. to buy juice and paper towels.
Moore said Jashyah came home and said she had lost the card she used to pay for the groceries.
“I just said, ‘Backtrack your steps,'” Moore told the news station.
After an hour had gone by and Jashyah still had not come back home, Moore went to look for her. The mother told WPIX that she went into several delis in the area but could not find her daughter. She eventually flagged a police officer and reported her daughter missing.
According to WPIX, the teen visited another store besides Poppies on the morning she went missing. An employee at the store said that a man came into the store with Jashyah and paid for her items.
“He talked with her; he pay and go,” the employee, Bassan Awaldi, said.
Moore said her daughter's disappearance is concerning because Jashyah would not stay somewhere overnight without telling her family.
“Nothing would keep her away from me,” the mom told the station. “Nothing would keep her away from her little brother. And she’s such a smart girl. She would not stay out overnight. She would not want me to worry.”
The East Orange Police Department, the FBI and the State Police are working together to find Jashyah. Neither agency returned a request for comment on Tuesday.
The disappearance comes amid a pending domestic violence case involving Moore's estranged husband. WPIX reported that the husband is an East Orange police officer and the case stems from an alleged 2020 simple assault.
A relative, Yolanda Moore, told the station that the husband had allegedly struck Jashyah. The mother said they had recently received a letter in the mail that Jashyah was to testify before a grand jury. NBC News has not been able to verify this information.
The Essex County Prosecutor's Office told WPIX that Jashyah's disappearance does not seem to be related to the domestic violence case.
“The domestic violence case is proceeding against the defendant,” a spokesperson for the office said. “We are aware of the fact that the mother reported the daughter missing. The missing person’s case is being handled by municipal authorities in East Orange. At this point, the domestic violence assault and the status of the missing person do not appear to be related; however, it is being monitored by law enforcement.”