Updated: March 7, 2025
OAK CREEK, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Oak Creek police report 13-year-old Lillian Asala has been found safe.
Published: March 6, 2025
OAK CREEK, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Oak Creek police are still searching for 13-year-old Lillian Asala, who went missing in the area on Saturday, March 1.
She reportedly told relatives she was heading to the Oak Creek Skate Park on E. Drexel Ave. in the afternoon but didn't come home after sunset.
Asala's father and grandmother told CBS 58 earlier this week that "it was completely out of Asala's character to not come home and not communicate with relatives."
A tracking app pinged her phone near the intersection of S. Pennsylvania Ave. and E. Forest Hill Ave., less than a mile from the park, but then the trail disappeared.
A bystander found Asala's phone back near the skate park on Sunday, March 2, which is now being investigated by officials.
However, Oak Creek police said at this point, they don't suspect foul play.
That didn't stop dozens of volunteers from heading out to Bender Park on Thursday morning for a pop-up search party to try and locate the teen.
"I went through the center of the woods, through grapevines that made me trip, mud, tall weeds, short grass, just any place that you would search for anybody," said volunteer Jodi Coon. "When it is in your community, you should reach out and be a part of each other and show that we're unity and have each other. That's why I'm out here."
Coon said she was inspired by the number of people who came out to help.
"It gives hope. It shows that you're not alone in this situation and the importance is it covers more ground. If we walk it side by side, along like that, we can kind of rest assured that we don't have to come back to a location that we once searched," Coon said. "Please Lord, protect her, find her for her family."
Police said Asala is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds, and has blonde hair and has braces.
She was last seen wearing a black winter coat, blue jeans. and blue and white Nike shoes.
If you have any information on her whereabouts, contact the Oak Creek Police Department at 414-762-8200.