Family Of Missing 17-Year-Old Girl Last Seen Leaving Party Urges Her To 'Come Home'

The family of a missing 17-year-old girl who was last seen leaving a party in the Macon neighborhood of Georgia is urging her to “please come home.”

Jorja Ethridge went out with her friends to Lake Tobosofkee on Saturday night. The group then headed toward a party at a North Rivoli Farms house at about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Ethridge’s family say they called her and had grown concerned as she did not respond. When the teen missed her curfew, her stepfather went to the house to pick her up. The girl allegedly saw the vehicle and ran away from the home on North Rivoli Farms Road on Sunday morning, leaving her cellphone behind.

"The story has actually changed from what we were told yesterday. She saw the car. She never saw anybody. She never saw me or her stepdad. She saw the car and then got out and left," Ethridge’s mother, Amy McAlpin said to WGXA.

Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman said they believe Ethridge either got lost in the woods around Bolingbroke or she is in hiding. The 17-year-old is believed to have spent two nights in sub-freezing temperature as it dipped into the 20s both nights, the Macon Telegraph reported.

"Please come home, I just want to see your face. I know you've been without food and water and it's cold," McAlpin urged in a message for her daughter, WGXA reported.

McAlpin was left baffled by her daughter’s reaction. "I don’t know what would have caused the fear to run," she said.

On Sunday, a Georgia State Patrol helicopter, a thermal imaging drone and searchers on the ground found no signs of Ethridge. Officials plan to search the southern area of the location where the teenager was last seen. "She could have gone in any direction," Freeman said Monday, the Telegraph reported.

Ethridge’s friends and family are helping the law enforcement in the search. "I just want to know that she’s safe because I’m really scared," the missing teen’s friend, Katelyn Childs told WGXA.

Ethridge has brown or blonde hair and brown eyes. She is around 5 feet 8 inches and was last seen wearing a purple sweatshirt and black leggings.

Police are urging residents of Bolingbroke to check their backyard and outbuildings for Ethridge.