Reward Increased, Social Media Campaign Launched In Search For Jashyah Moore, 14-Year-Old East Orange, N.J. Girl Missing Since Oct. 14 – CBS New York
EAST ORANGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — There is new video in the case of missing New Jersey teenager Jashyah Moore. It shows the 14-year-old in a deli on the day she disappeared.
CBS2’s Alice Gainer has learned the reward in the case has grown to $20,000.
Security video from a deli on Central Avenue shows Moore enter on the morning of Oct. 14. She puts some drinks on the counter and also gets some candy. An older man pays for her items and they both leave the store.
“Every day she come in here. She nice girl. She buy some Kit Kat … She buy Kit Kat every day,” deli employee Bassam Alawei said.
Jashyah Moore (Credit: Family Handout)
Police say the man seen on the video has been cooperating with them and so has Moore’s stepfather, who is currently involved in a domestic violence case against her mother.
After the first stop, it appears Moore went to nearby Poppie’s deli. Gainer talked to the manager who spoke with her that day.
“She told him that she lost her EBT card,” the manager’s daughter said, translating. “He told her you can come around 2 p.m. and we can check the camera for you, but she never came.”
On Wednesday, concerned community members blocked traffic at the intersection near Poppie’s.
“Currently, we are informing the city and trying to get the city to be outraged to ensure that we bring her back home safe, sound and unharmed,” one person said.
During their update Wednesday, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and other agencies said they initially looked at the disappearance as a potential runaway.
“We are investigating and looking at all avenues with regards to this case. We are treating it and looking at every lead that could possibly come in,” said Mitchell McGuire, the Essex County prosecutor’s chief investigator.
On Tuesday night, Jashyah Moore’s family and neighbors formed their own search party. Her mother, Jamie Moore, insists she didn’t run away.
“She’s depending on me to find her,” Jamie Moore said.
Law enforcement also searched a nearby park and body of water, but turned up nothing.
Authorities continue to shine a light on the search.
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Ted Stephens announced his office will be taking the lead in the investigation.
“It is vitally important that we keep up the maximum effort to find Jashyah Moore. As I said, although she is one of many thousands of people who go missing annually, this occurrence is particularly troubling,” Stephens told reporters. “Our society cannot ignore the fact that a 14-year-old girl, otherwise normal in all respects as far as we can tell, would disappear without a trace on a sunny day on a central thoroughfare in Essex County. This case cries out and demands our attention.”
Stephens also said investigators are launching a social media campaign to ask the public for help in the case.
“This case will most likely be solved by the information provided by some other concerned citizen,” he said. “Somewhere in the members of this community, they are going to be essential to moving this along.”
MORE NEWS: Jashyah Moore, 14, Missing For More Than 3 Weeks In East Orange, N.J.
The FBI, New Jersey State Police and East Orange Police Department are working together to find the teen. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 877-847-7432 or 973-266-5041. Tips can be made anonymously.