The family of a missing teenage girl yesterday pleaded with her "Please come home for Christmas." Louise Storey (15) is believed to have left her hometown of Dundalk in the company of a teenage boy she has known for only a few weeks.
She spent last Saturday morning helping her father to buy her mother's Christmas present and returned downtown that afternoon, saying she was meeting a friend, but has not been seen since.
Her family and the Garda believe she is in the company of the older teenager, who lives just outside Dundalk. The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been contacted in case the pair have crossed the Border.
"We are afraid Louise is afraid to ring us, but she shouldn't be. We just want to know she is safe and well," said her father, Bernard, at the family home in Ashling Park.
Her mother, Eileen, pleaded for her only daughter to return home. "I just want her home, I want her to walk through the door. The whole family is devastated without her."
Louise did not take any money with her or her mobile phone. It was hoped she would have kept in touch with her cousin and close friend, Michelle Casey. "We thought she would have texted a message to Michelle from the boy's phone, but there has been no communication. Michelle is so upset she cannot go to school," said Ms Storey.
Gardaí in Dundalk are treating the case as that of a missing person and have asked the public for assistance. Ms Storey is 5'6" and has shoulder-length, light brown hair with blond highlights. When she left home she was wearing blue jeans and a light blue jacket. She had hooped gold earrings and a miraculous medal on a gold chain and has rings on many fingers.