Search Continues for Missing Girls
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Montgomery County Police continue to search for two missing teenage girls. Rachel Crites, 18, of Gaithersburg, and Rachel Smith, 16, of Potomac, have been missing since Jan. 19.
"At this stage of the investigation we do not have any evidence to show that these girls have met with foul play," said Lucille Bauer, spokesperson for the Montgomery County Police. "However, the longer that these two girls remain on their own the greater the possibility is that they can come into harm’s way,"
The case has drawn national attention and tips and leads from throughout the country, Bauer said. Police are following up on every lead they receive, Bauer said, but are focusing their efforts in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including Baltimore, and Hagerstown, Md., and Charlestown and Martinsburg, W. Va.
The last contact that the girls had with their parents was on Jan. 19 when they called to say they were going to a movie in Georgetown. They have not spoken with their parents since, and police have not been able to contact the girls either, said Bauer.
"It is very important to us that the girls contact their parents or police or the Center for Missing and Exploited Children to let us know that they are safe," Bauer said. Bauer said that anyone who might know the condition or the whereabouts of the two girls that had not disclosed that information to authorities "would really be doing a disservice to these girls."
It is unknown how the girls, who made no significant withdrawals from their bank accounts preceding their disappearance, are supporting themselves financially.
Crites graduated from Thomas Wootton High School last year, and Smith is currently a student at the school.
According to police, Rachel Samantha Smith is a 5-foot-1 white female, weighs 118 pounds, and has green eyes and medium/collar-length brown hair. Rachel Lacy Crites is a 5-foot-4 white female, weighs 110 pounds, and has brown eyes and brown medium/collar-length hair.
The two girls were driving a dark blue Subaru Outback station wagon with Maryland license plate number MBJ-485. The vehicle had a cargo box attached to the roof.
Detectives are asking anyone with information about the girls to call the non-emergency number for the Montgomery County Police at 301-279-8000, or the Family Crimes Division at 240-773-5400.