Former Shawnee Mission East Student Missing

After three weeks of searching for her daughter, Kim Medina, mother of sophomore Sarah Medina, took matters into her own hands by registering her daughter on beyondmissing.com and creating and hanging flyers. Sarah Medina, 16, was last seen Jan. 4 around 7 p.m. at home with her mother. Kim has been on a constant search for her daughter with her ex-husband, Pete Medina, the Overland Park Police and friends and family. Kim believes that her daughter has run away due to the stresses that were going on her life: mainly online school and conflicts with her friends.

“All of these things were about to hit her and I think she just ran away so she didn’t have to face them,” Medina said.

Medina was going into her daughter’s room to ask what she wanted for dinner when she discovered her gone. She decided to wait three hours before contacting the police. Kim estimates that Sarah left with less than $150  and doesn’t know if she packed a bag. Sarah had recently lost her phone and therefore didn’t have any electronic communication device with her. Her only source of communication was through Facebook.  Kim and her son hacked into her daughter’s Facebook and found some messages between Sarah and other people from Gardner, Kan., Kansas City, Kan. and Lone Jack, Mo. but as of last week there has been no activity on Sarah’s Facebook page.

“After we had hacked into her account, Sarah would erase any messages when she would get on,” Kim said. “Now she has stopped using it all together.”

The Medinas live in Overland Park and therefore the report was sent to the Overland Park Police department. Officer Michelle Koos, a police officer from the Overland Park Department, said that they are not allowed to share any information on the case because she is a juvenile. However, they said that for any missing person case they follow any leads that they receive and enter the person into their search data base which is sent to all departments around the area.

“All of these things were about to hit her and I think she just ran away so she didn’t have to face them.”

“In general, any leads we find from social media, electronic devices, email, interviews with friends and family we follow up on,” Koos said.

Although the police department is searching for Sarah, Kim is frustrated and believes that they aren’t doing enough. When Kim called the police department to check on the search, they asked her to to not call back to check up and that they would contact her if they found anything. Unsatisfied with the search, Kim has registered Sarah as a missing person on beyondmissing.com. She has also personally followed five leads.

“I had to do something and so I started researching sites reporting runaways on Monday,” Kim said.

The search has gone all across the Kansas City area and neighboring cities. Last Friday, Jan. 20, Kim received a call from her daughter. Sarah told her mom that she loved her but when Kim asked her to tell her where she was her daughter replied no. The call lasted about 30 seconds.

“She didn’t sound okay,” Kim said. “I said ‘Don’t hang up’, but she did.”

That phone call was the last time Kim had any contact or heard anything from Sarah. Kim created over 600 flyers and will be hanging them up all over Kansas City tomorrow. She is also planning on making a Facebook page. If you see Sarah or have any information you can contact 1-800-THE-LOST or send Kim an email at findingsarahmedina@gmail.com.

“She’s an award winning, ribbon winning, girl because of her horseback riding. She’s a beautiful girl. There is no reason for her to wander off,” Kim said. “I gotta find her.”