ROGERSVILLE, TN (WJHL) – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now issuing an AMBER alert for a missing 9-year-old Rogersville girl. Thursday morning, the alert was escalated from an endangered child alert after authorities issued a warrant for kidnapping.
A spokesman for the Rogersville Police Department confirmed that the man who picked up his niece from school yesterday, prompting an AMBER Alert, was approved to do so.
Gary Simpson, 57, and his 9-year-old niece, Carlie Marie Trent, are the subjects of what started as an endangered child alert late Wednesday night but was upgraded to an AMBER Alert by Thursday morning.
According to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Simpson showed up at her school in Rogersville Wednesday at 1:30 and picked her up, claiming that her father had been in a bad car wreck. The two have not been seen since that time. Simpson has no custodial rights to Carlie.
The spokesperson said Simpson and Trent could be anywhere and officers are running down every lead.
Carlie is 4’8″ tall, weighs 75lbs with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black and gray tank top shirt with blue jeans.
The two were last seen in a white 2002 Dodge Conversion van with a license tag number of 173GPS. The van has a dark stripe down the middle with light gold running boards. Paint is chipping off the hood.
Simpson is Trent’s uncle by marriage. He is facing a charge of kidnapping.
Anyone who has information is asked to call the Rogersville Police Department at 423-272-7555 or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
