Supporters working to keep the public’s attention focused on the search for a missing Conway teenager have increased the reward to $25,000 and planted a tree in her honor.
Tanvi Marupally, who turned 15 last week, has been missing since Jan. 17 when she was last seen walking on Davis Street after she left Conway Junior High School.
On Sunday, about 100 people joined Tanvi’s parents, both wearing T-shirts with her picture, to plant an AU-rosa plum tree in the community garden behind the Faulkner County Library in Conway.
There’s been no confirmed sighting of Tanvi since Jan. 17 after she left school, where she gave an impressive speech that’s been posted online and that spoke of her love for her family.
Jenny Wallace of Conway has coordinated much of the public’s effort to find the teenagers. And that’s ranged from sharing leaflets to raising money for billboards and getting news and social media coverage.
Tanvi was at first described as a runaway, but Wallace said, “I don’t think we know” exactly what happened. “We do know she was upset about the possibility of having to move back to India, but there’s no evidence at all of a plan to run away.
“There were a lot of layoffs at her father’s job, so they feared they would have to go back [to India], but his job seems to be secure and her mom has received a work visa now so even if her dad lost his job, she can still stay,” Wallace explained.
“They are absolutely devastated,” Wallace said.
Conway Police Department spokeswoman Lacey Kanipe, said police are still “investigating all leads and continuing to follow-up on any tips that we receive from the public.”
“We have received several tips at this point during our investigation, but there have been no confirmed sightings of Tanvi,” Kanipe said in an email.
Unlike so many teens, Tanvi did not have a cellphone — a problem in this case. “Tanvi had no electronic device that would allow us to track and/or ping her location when she left school” that day, Kanipe said.
On whether police are still convinced Tanvi is a runaway, Kanipe said, “What we know is she walked away from school on January 17 … and did not get on the bus to go home from school. She is considered missing and endangered at this point in our investigation.”
Kanipe said Tanvi’s picture has been circulated across many states due to community outreach, social media, and agencies like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
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