Parents of missing girls plead for their safe return

14-year-old Le’Airra Ivery and 15-year-old Jackeline Caraballo ran away from a residential treatment facility in Brooklyn on September 29.

The girls were spotted in Troy by a local pastor who knows Le’Airra, who is from Niskayuna.

The case has now been turned over to the NYPD Missing Persons Unit. The girls’ parents are beside themselves with worry.

Jennifer and Jermaine Ivery are Le’Airra’s parents.

“We are floored,” said Jennifer Ivery, Le’Airra’s mother. “We are floored. We have been searching, we have been driving around looking to see if we can see something. We need our daughter home.”

“If you see a child, these two children that are out there, and something looks odd, something doesn’t look quite right, follow your gut, follow your intuition and reach out to authorities and say something, because saying something could bring her home to us.”

Not knowing is taking a toll on Jackeline’s mother.

“I don’t know if she’s– what’s happening, where she’s at, if she’s eating, if she’s not eating– what’s going on, if anybody’s using her, if anybody’s taking advantage of her,” said Vanessa Caraballo.

Authorities fear the girls may be in contact with a known exploiter.

“It means somebody that uses children– these are children– to further their own needs, whether it’s financial or personal, so anything from drugs, alcohol, sex, gangs, all of that, and it can be any, all or some of those,” said Child Center of New York CEO Traci Donnelly. “They’re at the hands of a predator, that’s our fear.”

“It’s been almost two weeks now and I miss her, her brother misses her, her sister’s always calling for her,” said Caraballo.

“We love you and we need you home,” said Ivery.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or local police.