Authorities in upstate New York are searching for a missing Pennsylvania college student who disappeared while on holiday break.
Jenni-Lyn Watson, a 20-year-old junior dance major from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., had gone home early for the Thanksgiving holiday. She was last seen on Friday at her family’s home in Liverpool, N.Y., near Syracuse. Watson left the home in the afternoon and has not been seen since, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office said.
“She was home on Friday morning and was seen by a family member, but by 12 [noon] she was gone,” Devin Ruic, a friend and classmate of Watson’s, told AOL News. “She left her keys at the house, but her cell phone is missing.”
Family members reported Watson missing when she failed to contact them by Friday night. They told police it was “uncharacteristic” of Watson to leave without notifying someone, the Erie-Times News reported.
Ruic said Watson’s cell phone, a Verizon LG enV3, has been turned on “intermittently” since her disappearance. According to WSYR-TV, authorities are basing their search areas on cell phone records.
A large-scale search is being conducted in a wooded area off of Waterhouse Road. Investigators previously searched an area near the Woodard Industrial Park, WSYR-TV reported.
The U.S. Marshals Service, along with members of the Cayuga and Oswego County Search and Rescue teams, are assisting in the search.
According to Ruic, Watson had been having problems with a man in the months leading up to her disappearance. “She told her friends he was treating her ‘stalker-ish,’ ” Ruic said.
Police say they have no suspects or people of interest in the case but have confirmed people are being interviewed, CNYCentral.com reported.
