Tanvi Marupally Found Safe After 2 Months Thanks to NCMEC Tip
UPDATE:
We're so happy to share the news that Tanvi Marupally has been found safe. Thanks to an alert citizen who called us at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the 15-year-old was found yesterday in Tampa, Florida, about 1,000 miles away from her home in Conway, Arkansas.
During a press conference held today by Conway Police, law enforcement announced that after Tanvi left the area of her bus stop on Jan. 17, 2023, she continued walking for several miles through the night before catching a train to Kansas City, Missouri. Once there, police say Tanvi remained in the area for around two months before taking a bus to Tampa, Florida.
Once in Tampa, law enforcement officials say Tanvi began going to a local library. It was there, that a Tampa citizen recognized Tanvi from NCMEC’s website. The alert citizen took a photograph of what they saw and reported it directly to NCMEC.
The girl in the photo was Tanvi Marupally and last night she was reunited with her family in Conway, Arkansas.
“This was an amazing amount of work, by an amazing group of people,” said William Tapley, Chief of Police for the Conway Police Department. “We are very happy to say that she is exactly where she should be today.”
Original Blog
Emma Henderson Vaughan
3-09-2023
It’s been nearly two months since 14-year-old Tanvi Marupally vanished from Conway, Arkansas, a suburban town just 30 minutes northwest of Little Rock.
The morning of Jan. 17, 2023, began like most others for Tanvi and her family. According to her mom, after arriving at school that morning, Tanvi attended all her classes and left the building at the end of the day. It was after that, however, when the seemingly normal day would take a turn.
That afternoon, Tanvi didn’t return home. Police discovered that although she was in the area around her bus stop after school, she kept walking instead of going home. Something her family says is extremely unlike her.
Tanvi’s mom, Sridevi Eadara, told NCMEC that Tanvi is a good student and that she loves being with her family. She described her as smart, kind and always willing to help others.
The evening before Tanvi went missing, her family continued an ongoing discussion on the possibility of moving back to India. They're unsure if the discussion made Tanvi upset or if another factor could have played a role in her disappearance.
But nearly two months later and with no explanation of what happened, it’s as if Tanvi vanished that January day. Today, her family, law enforcement and NCMEC are looking for any clues as to what may have happened to her.
To increase awareness about Tanvi and her disappearance, NCMEC worked alongside the television show, On Patrol: Live, bringing the case to a nationwide audience, just three weeks after Tanvi went missing. The segment, which was part of NCMEC’s ongoing partnership with the show, aired Feb. 10 on the REELZ network.
And NCMEC is taking steps to make sure Tanvi stays in the public eye. Beginning next week, her photo and information will be featured on Gas Station Television Pumps (GSTV) throughout Arkansas and the surrounding states – Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri. Thanks to NCMEC’s partnership with GSTV, Tanvi and other cases of missing children get exposure like never before.
Tanvi’s local community in Arkansas has also come together in the search for her, supporting her family, assisting in community searches, and spreading the word in hopes it will bring Tanvi home.
If you have any information on Tanvi or her disappearance, please contact the Conway Police Department at 1-501-450-6120 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.
View Tanvi’s missing poster here: https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/1471129/1/screen