A missing young cheerleader has been found alive after a desperate search was sparked when she vanished from school.
Ava Phillips, 17, had been missing since Tuesday and was last seen leaving Angleton High School at 10:02am getting into a white Toyota Corolla.
Her mother, Kailey Perez, suspected Phillips was with her boyfriend heading to Austin, which is nearly 200 miles away from the town of Angleton.
She later revealed to Click2Houston that her daughter had recently been ‘trying to distance herself from a boy who had been emotionally abusive towards her,’ though it remains unclear if her current boyfriend is the abusive one.
But in a shock update, the Angleton Police Department revealed that Ava ‘is safe and has been reunited with her family,’ though it offered no additional information.
Ava Phillips, 17, was last seen leaving Angleton High School at around 10 am and getting into a white Toyota Corolla after not attending her fourth-period class
DailyMail.com approached Ava’s mother for comment and didn’t receive an immediate response.
The widescale search effort for Ava was helped along by Alex Bregman, the third baseman for the Houston Astros, who shared a bulletin describing her disappearance on X.
His post got 158,000 views.
It remains unclear why Ava abandoned her car in the school parking lot the day she left. Her car still contained crucial belongings such as her phone, keys and backpack.
Ava’s boyfriend hasn’t been identified by police yet.
The widescale search effort for Ava was helped along by Alex Bregman, the third baseman for the Houston Astros, who shared a bulletin describing her disappearance on X
The teenager’s mother, Kailey Perez initially sounded the alarm after her car was found in the school parking lot with her phone, keys and backpack inside. Now that Ava’s been found, it’s not known why she did this
While she was still missing, Perez claimed Ava called her from a different number sounding distressed.
‘She called me from a blocked number. She sounded scared and I don’t think she’s in control.
‘She told me she’d come home, but she hasn’t. I just want her home safely. She sounds very scared.
‘Her voice is very shaky. I don’t think that she’s in control. I think that someone’s telling her what to say.
‘She’s a beautiful, sweet girl who would never run away,’ the distressed mother said.