WASHINGTON — The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a missing 19-year-old woman named Katelin Akens.
Investigators say she was last seen Dec. 5 when her family took her to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station and dropped her off. According to police, she was taking the Metro to Reagan National Airport to catch a flight to Arizona, where she lives.
Akens never reached her destination, family members say.
On Monday, Akens’ luggage was found in the drainage ditch on River Road, in Spotsylvania County, near the Fredericksburg city limit.
Missing from the luggage was some clothes, some cash, and Akens’ cellphone, which hasn’t been turned on since she went missing, according to NBC12, in Richmond.
“We don’t suspect right now there’s been foul play, but we don’t rule it out either, just because of suspicious circumstances of finding her luggage and some other items that may belong to her on the side of the road in an area of the county where she should not have been,” Captain Jeff Pearce of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office told the station.
“The circumstances surrounding this case are suspicious enough to warrant our full investigative efforts, in attempting to locate Miss Akens,” Sheriff Roger Harris said in a news release.
Akens’ mother, Lisa Sullivan, tells NBC12 the uncertainty is the most difficult part of the experience.
“We’re just all scared. We don’t know where she’s at or if she’s hurt,” Sullivan said. “It’s just a waiting game to find out what comes next — it’s horrible.”
Those with information on Akens’ whereabouts should call Crime Solvers or the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. The information can be left anonymously.
Call 1-800-928-5822, 1-540-582-5822 or visit www.spotsylvaniacrimesolvers.org.
Text a tip: Text SEE911 to 274637.
