Open Letter from Beverly Knepper’s Parents
The parents of Beverly Knepper – the 14-year-old girl who went missing this past Monday near Piedmont Park – have passed along this open letter and asked us to post it.Just to clarify the info that is out there about our missing daughter and to give you a bit more info (we know it’s hard for all media sources to get all info correct) here is a brief recap.
Beverly began communicating with a boy that she did not know on Instagram this past Friday. Their plan (unbeknownst to us) was to meet for the first time in Piedmont Park on Monday at 4pm. He (the boy) said that he did not show up and police have been able to confirm his story. We know that she was upset with us on Sunday night because we were trying to curtail her communication with this young man. (He sent 4 pornographic videos to her). On Monday we were carrying on with life as usual until she left (without our permission) to meet him.
Since she didn’t meet up with the boy from Instagram, we know it is a possibility that she ran away alone or with someone else that she met in the park. We, along with the police, talked to teenage boys at the BeltLine skate park today who thought they saw her there on Tuesday. We are praying that she is nearby and would ask for your watchful eyes to especially look should you walk the BeltLine.
But, we also have the concern that she did not leave the park voluntarily because she took nothing with her. A scenario that is hard to even type is that she left to meet the young boy with the intent of returning but encountered a dangerous situation.
I wanted to make all of you aware of a phone call that I had from a CNN employee who encountered a threatening man twice as she ran in the park within the last two weeks. He tried to block her path and moved over as she moved over. The second time she encountered him, she started yelling as she got away from him. She contacted police both times but did not think they responded. She contacted me because she wanted me to know about the incident and also to tell me that Beverly’s appearance is similar to her own and so it distressed her to think that this man may approach similar looking females. We are, of course, asking APD to investigate this man and we spoke with Piedmont Park Conservancy about him today.
Please continue to be vigilant in looking for Beverly when you’re out and about. If you have any information regarding her disappearance or possible whereabouts, please call the APD’s Youth Unit at 404-546-4260 or Beverly’s parents at 404-453-9310. There’s also a Facebook page devoted to missing Beverly at https://www.facebook.com/findbeverly.
Why has this child been missing since Monday and it has not been on the local news?
Often with teens, it is assumed that they ran away.
I pray for the girl and her family that this all ends well.
OMG what a terrible thing for these parents to be going thru. This has got to be any parents’ worst nightmare. If I lived there I would definetly keep my eyes peeled. But i will keep them in my prayers and thoughts hoping things will turn out just fine. Hoping she is just being an impulsive teenager who may not be thinking about how much her parents are worrying about her right now, and maybe she will end up contacting one of her friends (if she can). I agree TT that does seem unusual if it hasn’t appeared on the local news there in the Atl by this time….when I come there every year since forever, that is one thing I notice about the local newscasts there….they have news stories on just about everything at the begining of the news.
Please Facebook, Tweet, Pinerest, Reddit whatever it is you do. Thanks.
Mom needs to get the girl from CNN to speak with someone in their programming dept, then they can direct the information to Nancy Grace. nancy has been a stalwart advocate for missing children and has been invaluable in the past on cases Ive worked on. Get in touch with Marc Klaas of Klaas Kids, or his partner Brad Dennis, I have direct phone numbers for both, let me know how to get them to you privately. Then have the parent contact the missing children’s organization that I work for, Laura Recovery Center Foundation ( http://www.lrcf.org ). We need to be contacted directly by the parents of a missing child before we can get involved.
Thanks! The facebook link is the only info I have on the parents.
Wow. I truly hope she comes home soon, on her own.
Prayers for her safe and swift return
Prayers for her and her family. Hoping she is ok.
Hmmm, dude sends 4 pornos to the girl. parents forbid teen girl to meet porn boy. Girl goes missing. I think she did meet up with porno boy and he’s either got her or killed her.I’d like to know how the parents know, factually, that their teen didn’t meet up with porno boy?
I think the pornographic pictures were probably dic pics. Pretty common among teens. The police located the boy and interviewed him and his parents to determine if he went anywhere that night. It seem sufficient enough for the girls parents to believe he did not meet her.
She’s been found!! She used a strangers phone from the park to call home!!
I am so glad to hear (read) that!
What is your source for this information? I cannot find any credible news source on the internet that is reporting that she’s been found. I hope you are right, but if you are not, that could be incredibly damaging information to pass along on the internet before verifying.
My soure of information was the FB page that was set up and the local Atlanta news ( where I live)… I would not go off spouting information on a missing child brig found if it weren’t credible.
I see that “lipstick alley” was the first to have a comment saying she was found. AJC and HLN reported in 3 sentences with no details that she’s been found. WTF. Details ppl in the media. I truly hope she’s been found. And, if so, I want some damn details b/c we all prayed for that kid.
She was found on the beltline, it’s basically a hiking trail park thingy where there used to be train tracks, it’s in a swank neighborhood so they turned it into a jogging/walking/skating path.
Just had time to verify from twitter account. She has been found.
From Facebook:
PRAYER VIGIL IS OFF- BEVERLY IS HOME AND SAFE. She just borrowed a lady’s phone on the beltline and called the Swanson’s and said she wanted to come home. She wanted to walk home but Wayne is on his way over there. PRAISE GOD
Thanks TT for confirming. I can’t believe the press didn’t make a bigger deal about her being found.