Miami

Parents Plead for Help to Find Missing Teen

A South Florida family is making a plea to public for help to find their daughter who hasn't been seen for more than two weeks.

"I'm just scared she's locked up somewhere," said Sunny Nan.

Nan is scared to death for her 14-year-old step daughter. Ivy Hefferman was last heard from on May 22, the first day of Urban Beach Weekend.

"She wanted to go to Ocean Drive. I said 'I'm home and I cannot allow you to be out later than you should be. You should ask your dad,'" Nan said.

"She wanted to extend the curfew 'til later. I was OK as long as there was no drinking... no smoking weed," said the teen's father, Shayne Hefferman.

Hefferman admits that's been a problem with his daughter. He said she likes to party and she's taken off in the past.

"But the longest was two days," Nan said.

Regardless, Ivy's curfew was extended that Friday night from 10:00 to 10:45 p.m.

"By 11 she wasn't home and we started to get worried," Nan said.

And so nearly three weeks has passed. She missed her 8th grade graduation and her prom, for which she already had a dress.

But there are encouraging signs that Ivy is still on Miami Beach.

She was last spotted two days ago on Collins Avenue at 21st Street, but it's the element she might be hanging out with that is causing alarm.

"She's been hanging out with the homeless people in the area. They've been giving her drinks and drugs and letting her stay in abandoned buildings," Nan said.

"She made a list to run away. She wanted to go to Los Angeles... she wanted to be in the music industry," Hefferman said.

Ivy has been Spotted off and on over the past few weeks on a skateboard wearing all black. She has managed to keep a low enough profile.

Police appear to have a few leads, but in the end, she is still missing.

"Any 14-year-old doesn't need to be out on the streets on their own. They need to be home with their family," said Officer Ernesto Rodriguez of the Miami Beach Police Department.

Ivy's parents are hoping she is found soon.

"You think all the worst things that can happen to the kid," said Nan.

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