NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — As the search for a missing North Conway girl continues, up to 50 local, state and federal authorities and volunteers are combing the areas around the route she walked from school to home before vanishing earlier this week.

Police say 14-year-old Abigail Hernandez left Kennett High School around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon and they believe she made it home. But when her mother arrived home, the girl was gone.

At a news conference Friday, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said there’s nothing suspicious so far and that the large law enforcement presence has just one goal.

“We’re here for one reason: To do what we can to find Abby,” Young said.

Later Friday, roadblocks were set up where police handed out posters with Abigail’s photo on them. Young said police would continue the search over the long Columbus Day weekend.

Abigail’s 15th birthday is Saturday.

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Police won’t discuss specific evidence but say they’re treating her disappearance as a missing person’s case.

About 15 New Hampshire Fish & Game officers are involved and used a boat to search a nearby pond Friday as a precaution.

On land, teams fanned out in lines, carefully searching the area at the southeast corner of the White Mountains.

The search began at the girl’s house where Young said the family has been extremely cooperative. The search is focused so far on the areas surrounding the path Abigail took from school to home. Investigators are also combing through social media sites and phone records looking for details.

The FBI has enlisted the help of its Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team and has agents from as far away as Virginia assisting in the search. They are using the 1-800-CALL-FBI tip line as well as the www.tips.fbi.gov website if people have any information about Abigail.

Abigail is 5-foot-4-inches tall and weighs 118 pounds with brown hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing black stretch pants, tall brown boots and a light colored sweater with a yellow pattern and flecks.


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