Police
A state-wide amber alert was issued for a Pennsylvania teen Wednesday. In this photo, a police officer watches over the crime scene from a nearby corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 4, 2009. Getty Images/ Ross Mantle

A statewide amber alert was issued for a Pennsylvania teen on Wednesday, who is believed to have been abducted by her former boyfriend.

According to Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton, the alert has been issued for Marjani Aquil, 16, who was reported missing by her parents from her home in Glenbrook Drive, Penn Hills, Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, around 3:15 p.m. EST on Wednesday.

The missing teen is an African-American with black hair and blond highlights who is five feet, four inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. She was last seen wearing grey, long-sleeve shirt, light blue denim jeans, and tan boots.

She is believed to have been abducted by a 19-year-old African-American male, Jermaine Laquay Rodgers. The kidnapping suspect was described as five feet, eight inches tall and weighing 160 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. He drives an old red sedan.

Rodger has a criminal docket in his name, filed on Wednesday, which included charges such as kidnapping of a minor, unlawful restraint of a minor, burglary, terroristic threats, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief and no information was immediately available regarding the time he was dating the missing teen.

According to Gabriella DeLuca, a local reporter with NBC-affiliated WPXI, the missing teen’s stepfather said Aquil was in contact with her mother through a cell phone which was not hers. It is not known whether she was able to share information about her location.

The teen’s stepfather further added that the suspected abductor showed up at Aquil’s house, lifted up his shirt to reveal he was carrying a pistol in his waistband and made threats to have someone come to the house and shoot the girl. He then proceeded to beat her up and kidnap her from the house.

The amber alert, which is ongoing, was issued at 8:14 p.m. EST. Anyone with any information about the whereabouts of the victim or the suspect was urged to contact 911 or Allegheny County Dispatch at 412-473-3705.

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