Missing New York teen believed to have fled to London after chatting with older British man, NYPD and Met police investigating
QUEENS, NEW YORK: The New York Police Department (NYPD) is working with British authorities to locate a teenager who ran away from her home to reportedly meet an older man in the United Kingdom.
According to NYPD, 16-year-old Victoria Grabowski was last seen on Saturday, August 24, at 10 pm at her Queens residence. She was described as five feet three inches tall, 110 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair.
"She left JFK on Saturday morning and reached the UK on Monday morning," an NYPD spokesman said, Daily Mail reported. "We're working in conjunction with UK police, but unless she contacts us, we're not going to know too much more."
The teenager is believed to have stolen a credit card and used it to buy a flight to London since she went missing. However, some of reports suggest that she might have got her hands on some cash to pay for the travel. Since she is a Polish citizen, the authorities believe that she used her Polish passport to board the flight.
Her uncle Arkadiusz Grabowski told QNS on Tuesday that her family discovered that she had been texting an unidentified British older man on a group chat. He said that although it was not clear how old the individuals were in the chat group, the missing girl's parents figured that an older man was involved from a picture in the text thread.
“The texts show that she got fascinated with London and wanted to move there,” said Arkadiusz. Victoria's family has hired a private investigator to assist in the case.
The Metropolitan Police (Met) has confirmed that they were trying to locate the missing teen and had been contacted by the National Crime Agency.
"The Met was contacted by the National Crime Agency regarding a 16-year-old US citizen who is believed to have traveled to the UK via Heathrow Airport on Saturday, 24 August," a Met spokesperson said. "She is being treated as a missing person and inquiries to find her are ongoing. Officers have liaised with her family and will be speaking with the NYPD."
Anyone with additional information regarding Grabowski’s whereabouts was requested to call Detective Jae Moon of the 104th Precinct Detective Squad at 718-386-2723.