Hampstead teen still missing

Authorities are still looking for a 17-year-old Hampstead girl who went missing on New Year’s Eve.

Family members say Ashley Marie Ryan, a senior at Topsail High School, went to the movies with friends at Mayfaire cinema and walked out the back door of the theatre.

They say she then went to a pawn shop to trade in an iPod she got for Christmas.
She used the money to buy a bus ticket to Kissimmee, Florida, just outside of Orlando. A spokesperson for the Wilmington Police Department said Ryan is most likely a runaway.

Her parents have gone down to Florida to try to find her. In the meantime, family members here are devastated.

“Ashley is seventeen. She’s naive. She’s a sweet little girl and we just want our kid back,” said Pamela Richardson, Ashley’s Aunt. “She’s just a kid. She’s just a little girl. And we want her home. We want to get her where we can help her.”

Anyone with information on Ashley’s whereabouts should contact the Wilmington Police Department at 343-3600.