Missing teen leaves cellphone, vanishes before Thanksgiving

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Worried family members have already gone through the cellphone belonging to Aaliyah Bell, 18, and called every contact name they could find there.

Bell left her cellphone behind and didn't pack a thing before she disappeared the day before Thanksgiving.

She often stayed with her godmother, Juanita Boger, since the time she was a baby.

"I'm holding onto my faith that she's alright," Boger said Wednesday.

Boger last saw Bell when she walked out the door late Tuesday. She assumed she was walking to her uncle's home on Chestnut Street, which she did every day.

"She said, 'I'll see you tomorrow' and walked out the door," Boger said.

After first looking at Bell as a possible runaway, Rock Hill police are now asking for the public's help to find her.

First, her family has been adamant that she would not leave home for such a long period of time. Second, detectives spent two full days working this case and came up with no leads.

"It's really like she just disappeared. No one has heard from her," said Mark Bollinger with Rock Hill Police.

That includes her boyfriend, who also lives in Rock Hill, and has not seen or heard from her either.

Bell's cousin, Rosie Jones, has been helping put up fliers. They are posted on utility poles and in store windows across the south side of Rock Hill.

An aunt, Norisha Caldwell, told Channel 9 that Bell wouldn't have left home with just anyone.

"She had to trust you first. There's no way she'd get a ride from anybody. That's not like her," she said.

Several family members are gathering at her uncle's home on Chestnut Street, where Bell would come every day. It was the last place she was seen.
"She's got a lot of people down here that love her, and a lot of people that want her back home," Jones said. "I'm choosing to think the best."

Police have added Bell to the National Database of Missing Persons. They are hoping someone will recognize the teen's picture, and contact them.