A Wisconsin mother and her two young daughters have been missing for more than a week, prompting authorities to issue an AMBER Alert.
WTMJ-TV reports that 26-year-old Amarah Banks, 5-year-old Zaniya Ivery and 4-year-old Cameria Banks were last seen Saturday, February 8, around 1 a.m. in Milwaukee.
The three went missing hours after a funeral for Banks’ 1-year-old son, Arzel, who reportedly died from natural causes, according to Banks’ mother, Valeria Spinner-Banks.
“This is horrible,” Spinner-Banks, told WITI-TV. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
Court records show prosecutors charged the girls’ father, 25-year-old Arzel Ivery, with aggravated battery on Saturday, but police have not released any details about what role, if any, he may have played in missing persons case.
Now, the three have been added to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database.
“I worry about the girls,” Spinner-Banks told WTMJ-TV. “Have they been fed? Are they cold? Are they hungry? Are their needs being met?”
The missing children, Zaniya and Cameria, are both described as about 2 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing about 50 pounds. They have black hair and brown eyes. When she was last seen, Cameria was wearing Nike Air Force One shoes, a blue coat with stars, white pants and a “Lion King”-themed shirt with her brother’s face on it that read “RIP January 24, 2020.”
Amarah banks is about 5 feet tall and 130 pounds. She has brown eyes and black hair.
Spinner-Banks said her daughter would not normally disappear like this and is usually a consistent person. She said she feels like she’s in a bad dream.
“If she’s out there, she would have called,” Spinner-Banks told WTMJ-TV. “She would have called us and said; ‘OK, I’m okay, guys. I don’t think she would have left without telling us.”
Spinner-Banks added: “I’m praying and hoping that she is all right and the kids are all right.”
To report information about the missing family, call the Milwaukee Police Department at 414-935-7405.
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