Amber Alert: North Texas authorities search for missing 7-year-old girl in Wise County

Update: Search for missing North Texas 7-year-old Athena Strand shifts toward investigation

• • •

North Texas authorities are searching for a 7-year-old girl who has been missing since Wednesday evening in Wise County.

The child’s stepmother reported Athena Strand missing to the Wise County Sheriff’s Office at 6:40 p.m., after the family had been looking for her for about an hour, according to the Wise County Messenger.

Athena’s stepmother told the sheriff’s office that she went to her daughter’s room about 5:30 p.m. and she wasn’t there, the Messenger reported.

Athena was last seen in the 200 block of County Road 3573 in Paradise. The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an Amber Alert for her Thursday afternoon, describing her as endangered.

Authorities have told media outlets including WFAA-TV that the child might have run away after an argument with her parents. But they haven’t ruled out that someone could have abducted her, KTVT-TV reported.

According to a missing person flyer, Athena is about 4 feet tall and weighs about 65 pounds. She’s described as having blue eyes and dirty blond hair. She was wearing washed-out blue jeans with white flowers embroidered around the front pockets, a gray and black long-sleeve shirt, light brown boots and possibly a flannel overskirt.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and other area police and fire departments have been assisting in the search of the rural area along with hundreds of volunteers from the community. The searchers have been using helicopters, drones, thermal-imaging cameras, horses, dogs and ATVs.

“We have a lot of citizens that came and volunteered, walking in lines through the brush, almost shoulder to shoulder,” Sheriff Lane Akin told the Messenger.

The Amber Alert says “law enforcement believes the child’s safety and health are in danger.” Temperatures overnight were in the 30s before climbing to the low 50s by Thursday afternoon. Lows are expected to be in the 40s Thursday night and Friday morning, with a high in the 70s forecast for Friday afternoon.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Wise County Sheriff’s Office at 940-627-5971.