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COLUMBIA, S.C. - The search continues for a Ridge View High School cheerleader who went missing Saturday from her Northeast Richland home.
Fifteen-year-old Gabrielle Swainson hasn’t been seen since her mother went to the office early, around 3 a.m. Saturday, Richland County deputies say.
While investigators say there were no signs of foul play, they say her disappearance does not bear similarities with a typical runaway teen.
Gabrielle’s mother, Elvia Swainson, said she woke her sleeping daughter just before she left, gave the girl her phone and told her she would be back. Her daughter rolled over and went back to sleep, her mother said.
Elvia Swainson said she was surprised to find her daughter’s bed empty when she got back to her home at 221 Tamara Way around 7:30 a.m.
“I panicked,” she said. “My first thought was someone came in here and took my child, she’s not normally up this early.”
The mother was just as alarmed by things that weren’t taken from the home as she was by her daughter’s disappearance.
No clothes were packed and Gabrielle’s purse and cellphone charger were both still in the house, her mother said. The only other thing missing was the 15-year-old’s cellphone, which now goes straight to voicemail whenever Elvia Swainson dials the number.
Gabrielle has never run away, her mother said, and she didn’t think she had any reason to Saturday. The teen had just made Ridge View High’s junior-varsity cheerleading team, and she was excited to start her sophomore year of classes Thursday.
“I just want my daughter back,” she said.
Now, Elvia Swainson has hired a private investigator and called on her church, family and friends to help find her only child.
They all met Tuesday afternoon at the Sandhills branch of the Richland County Public Library and canvassed surrounding neighborhoods, posting and handing out fliers bearing her daughter’s photo and description.
Gabrielle is described as a black female, about 5-feet-2-inches tall with black hair. She was last seen wearing pink and black pajamas.
