Georgia police are on high alert as they searched for a teacher who went missing following a “suspicious” phone call Friday, numerous sources reported.
Tina Prince, 46, was eating dinner with her family at a Mexican restaurant in central Sandersville when she received a “suspicious” phone call, family members told police, according to WSB-TV.
MISSING: First-grade teacher Tina Prince left a dinner with her family Friday night to take a call. She never returned. https://t.co/Y0GYSWp6ME
— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) May 31, 2021
Sandersville is located roughly 60 miles east of Macon, Georgia. Prince is a teacher at Ridge Road Primary School, according to WCNC.
Prince reportedly took the call outside of the restaurant, went back inside to tell her family goodbye, and then left. She was last seen by one of her daughters at the restaurant before vanishing, according to WGXA.
Investigators said Prince met with a male friend before she was reported missing, according to WGXA. They also expressed concern for her safety.
Police believe the phone call was from a male acquaintance, and that Prince met up with the male in a Walmart parking lot Friday night. On Sunday morning, police found Prince’s 2018 Kia Forte in the Walmart parking lot, out of view of cameras, according to WGXA.
The sheriff’s department visited Prince’s house Saturday, according to WCNC. Prince’s family used a phone tracking app, which pinged her to Macon the night she went missing. WCNC reported Sunday that police plan to contact the phone service provider Prince uses to try and track her phone.
Although investigators haven’t dismissed the possibility that Prince left by her own volition, they don’t believe that’s probable. Her family says Prince wouldn’t go days without contacting her family, and this behavior was uncharacteristic of her, according to WGXA.
“This is a very odd and very unusual occurrence here,” said Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran said, according to WRDW. The sheriff’s office told WRDW that Prince’s disappearance is one of the strangest missing persons cases they’ve investigated, and it was like tracking down a ghost.
“This is very rare. This is probably the second major missing person case I’ve dealt with in the past 10 years,” Cochran added.
Prince is described as 5’5” and weighs 130 pounds. She has auburn-colored hair and blue eyes.
