After a year of searching for the now 18-year-old missing Highland Home teenager, Myra Alissia Freeman, authorities continue to look for legitimate leads.

“I couldn’t even tell you the hours that we have spent on this case. Everybody that could possibly be notified on missing children like this is helping us with it,” said Crenshaw County Sheriff Mickey Powell. 

“She has been put out there nationwide. We have done absolutely everything we can do, and we will continue. There’s been multiple possible sightings here in Alabama, and we’ve had calls from eight or 10 other states. We haven’t given up hope.”

Freeman went missing around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, from her home in Highland Home (Magnolia Shores).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Crenshaw County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference in April at the Crenshaw County Courthouse in Luverne to announce that an added reward of $10,000 is being offered for information identifying Freeman’s whereabouts. According to Powell, the total amount of the reward now stands at $13,500.

“The FBI generally gets involved in any matter of a kidnapping of anyone under 18 years old,” said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Kirby.

“At this point, we have no idea where she is. Obviously, there is the possibility she may have crossed state lines, and for us that brings the ability to assist the Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation because we have 56 field officers nation-wide. We can send leads everywhere and have someone at a location in a very short time.”

Vickie Metcalf, mother of Freeman, still holds onto the hope that her child will come home, and she urges the community to report any potential sightings.

“She said she was going to take out the garbage from her room because she had cleaned her room up Sunday. I was in there cooking when she came through the kitchen and she never did come back inside,” Metcalf said.

“There were a lot of tips that came in of people thinking they saw her, but none have been confirmed.”

News of Freeman’s disappearance has not only made local and state headlines, but also was recently picked up and aired nationally on Nancy Grace’s show on HLN in July.

“There haven’t been any updates so far. We were hoping that being on the Nancy Grace show would get something done. As far as I know, they haven’t received anything,” Metcalf said.

“We’ve contacted organizations in different states and police departments in different states to make sure people are looking for her.”

In an interview conducted by guest host Jean Casarez, Metcalf described her daughter’s appearance and told of when they discovered Freeman’s computer had been cleared of all information.

“We learned that she had apparently wiped her computer or cleaned it; I’m not sure what was done to it, but some things had been deleted,” Metcalf said.

“She doesn’t really have any marks that stand out, like a birthmark or anything like that. She just has one of those faces, you know; you just know her when you see her. And her eyes stand out, how blue they are.”

Neither department has any new information regarding Freeman’s whereabouts or current appearance, and according to Powell, this is the first Crenshaw County missing child case to span this length of time.

“We love her and we miss her very much; we won’t stop and we won’t give up,” Metcalf said.

Anyone with information on Freeman’s whereabouts is asked to call the Crenshaw County Sheriff’s Office at (334) 335-6568, Freeman’s parents, Chris and Vickie Metcalf, at (334) 537-4004 or the FBI at (251) 438-3674.