MISSOURI CITY – Editor’s note: KPRC 2 is no longer identifying the child involved due to the nature of the victim possibly being human trafficked.
New information surfaced in connection to a 12-year-old girl who was missing from the Missouri City area and believed to have been trafficked.
Houston Police Department released new details Thursday, saying the girl, who was last seen a week ago, may have been using the social media app Tagged before her disappearance.
What Happened?
The girl was last seen in the 7700 block of Waterchase Drive in Houston on Feb. 22 at 1:40 a.m.
HPD investigators say she got into a dark-colored four-door Dodge pickup truck and hasn’t been seen since. She was last seen wearing a white crop top and pink joggers.
The girl’s family believes that she could have possibly been kidnapped.
“I pray and hope that she’s not in no type of harm’s way,” her mother Shannon Williams told KPRC 2, adding that her daughter didn’t have access to rideshare apps and she doesn’t know if (she) may have been communicating with someone online.
What is the Tagged App?
According to the Apple Store, Tagged is a dating app designed for single people to match, date and connect with friends through livestream.
The application allegedly has more than 300 million members and is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars with over 300,000 ratings.
To sign up, users can use their Facebook or Google accounts or via email. If you sign up from Facebook, the service is supposed to use your date of birth to verify that you are at least 17 or older.
Thursday Update
The need to find the 12-year-old with the bright smile is urgent for E’minie Hughes’ family. KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel spoke with her family from New Orleans who rushed to Houston to help find her.
“Just bring my granddaughter back,” said Samuel Williams.
“My daughter and I sometimes at night just take a ride in the car and just ride around because we may get lucky,” said Joyce Williams, the girl’s grandmother.
It has been one week since the sixth grader was last seen at her home off Waterchase Drive. Her mother, Shannon Williams, told KPRC 2 Reporter Bryce Newberry on Tuesday that she is worried sick.
“I pray and hope that she’s not in no type of harms way,” Williams said.
Police believe she might have been using an app called Tagged. It’s also known as a dating app that has more than 300-million members. The service is supposed to only allow ages 17 and up. Some of the reviews are concerning.
One user wrote, “Why is this app on Google play? Obviously Google supports human traffickers. Every single woman on here is a scammer.”
Another user posted “Every match is just someone or a bot advertising for sex sites or escort services.”
HPD believes E’minie could be a victim of trafficking. Joyce Williams told Corley the information about her granddaughter is keeping her up at night.
“I can’t sleep,” said Williams.
A neighbor’s surveillance video showed the girl getting inside a dark colored truck around 1:40 am. on February 22.
The girl’s family members said they did not recognize the truck.
The girl’s mother said she left with only the clothes she was wearing and an android tablet that they have not been able to track.
“... please come home. Grammy is here, Papaw is here, all your cousins, we are here for you. Always remember that. We are here for you no matter what,” said Joyce Williams.
The family is not giving up until they see her bright smile again.
The City of Houston’s Trafficking Advisor, Minal Davis, shared this information with KPRC2
“While I do not want to jump to any conclusions about why (she) is missing, social media apps can be used to prey on people. Since Tagged is an online dating app, luring on this app for several criminal reasons is possible. The trafficking survivors in direct services program have not mentioned this app before.”
Jacquelyn Aluotto is the president of No Trafficking Zone, a nonprofit fighting to combat human trafficking which is estimated to be a more than $150 billion industry annually. She explains more about the Tagged app.
“People can use it as a dating site, but it’s a hookup site that young kids use a lot to be, to hook up on,” she said.
Aluotto had to research the app and said she had never even heard of it before this case.