HAVE RUN AWAY
IN THE PAST

By JOE SEELIG

AVON PARK — The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office asked Thursday that anyone with information about the location of two missing Avon Park children contact detective Pete Barone at 863-402-7250 or 863-381-2070.
Detectives are looking for Mary Linderberry, 14, a white female, listed as 5-feet 4-inches tall, weighing 110 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. The second girl is Elesia Lynn, 15, a black female, 5-feet 4-inches tall, 104 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Both girls have been missing from Avon Park since Jan. 20 and are headed to an unknown destination, according to reports.
Sheriff’s Lt. John Chess said Thursday that he’s not sure if the two girls are still together. The case does not fit the criteria for an Amber Alert.
“They’ve run away before; this is not the first time they’ve done this,” said Chess.
The girls reportedly ran away from a foster home in the Highlands County area, but may still be in Florida. The girls were living in a managed environment for their own safety before they ran away, Chess said.
Mary Linderberry’s father, Douglas Linderberry, told Highlands Today Wednesday that he has not heard from his daughter since she ran away this time.
Linderberry said he is afraid his daughter may be headed to Edwardsville, Penn., where he lives. He said he felt if she is back with her mother, she could be in danger.
Chess said if they hitched a ride it’s possible they could be in Pennsylvania in a couple of days.
Linderberry’s 14-year-old daughter was put in foster care after she was taken from her mother by Gulf Coast Community Care Child Protective Services in 2006, Linderberry said. 
He had not been able to locate his daughter for a few years because her mother left town during a custody battle in New York, he said during an interview with Highlands Today on Wednesday.
He claims to have had visitation rights, and said his ex-wife had been prohibited from leaving the state of New York, but she left anyway and stopped all communication with him, moving to Auburndale.
Since then he moved to Pennsylvania.
Linderberry said he is not certain his daughter ran away, and he believes investigators should be doing more to find her because she is only 14 years old.
“I just want her found,” he said.
He said the Department of Children and Families is not doing enough to protect his daughter. She had run away and was found at an Auburndale Wal-Mart, Linderberry said. He was never notified she was gone. He found out nine days later when his daughter contacted him.
She was supposed to come for a visit at Christmas, but Children and Families put a damper on those plans, Linderberry told Highlands Today.
“They told me it was none of my business she ran away,” he said. “Social services told me in November of 2006 they were going to place my daughter without letting her come for Christmas.”
He said he rents a two bedroom home with his wife of six years, works steady and has room for his daughter, but all his attempts to gain custody have been met with stiff resistance.
Linderberry asked for anyone with information about his daughter to call him at 570-283-2846.