Police in Virginia are calling the disappearance of a 20-year-old woman “suspicious” who has been missing for one week.
The Lynchburg Police Department said in a Monday press release that 20-year-old Avriel Hooks was last seen by her family at around 8 p.m. on August 22.
Officials say that Hooks’ “lack of communication with her family and abnormal absence makes her disappearance suspicious.”
They added in the press release that the disappearance is currently being handled as a missing persons case and officials are in constant contact with her family.
10 ARRESTED IN ‘DISTURBING AND A HEINOUS’ KIDNAPPING AND MURDER: ‘MORE ARRESTS’ COMING
The family of Hooks reported her missing on Aug. 23.
Police detectives searched an area frequented by Hooks on Sunday with the assistance of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, but nothing has been found.
Ashley Pittman, her mother, told WSET she received a text from Hooks at around 6 a.m. on the day she was reported missing, but doesn’t think her daughter actually was the one who sent it.
“The text message didn’t seem like the way she would text. It sounded off,” Hooks said.
ARIZONA DEPUTIES RESCUE KIDNAPPED WOMAN AFTER SHE GAVE ‘HELP. CALL 911’ NOTE TO GAS STATION CUSTOMER
The text message coming from Hook’s phone said she needed some “me time” and was at a friend’s house.
Her parents say that isn’t their daughter’s way of talking, and are worried.
“Just find her,” Pittman told the news outlet.
Hooks was last seen wearing black leggings, a black tank top, and pink nail polish, police said, adding that she’s 5’5″.
A prayer service is being planned by Hook’s family on Tuesday night.
People with information about her disappearance are asked to call Lynchburg Police Detective C. Davis at 434-455-6166 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900.
