Police issue alert for girl, 11, missing at Gold Coast
Police have issued an amber alert in the search for missing 11-year-old Gold Coast girl, Laine-Ella Hyland.
The girl had previously been the subject of a missing-persons appeal after she was seen leaving her Main Beach home at 8.30pm on Tuesday, August 18.
11-year-old Gold Coast girl, Laine-Ella Hyland.Credit:Queensland Police Service
Laine-Ella was seen in Water Street in Southport on Thursday, August 24, and has not been seen or heard from since.
Speaking to media on Thursday afternoon, Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said the girl had a "complex history" which had led to the delay in issuing the alert.
"What's happened in the last few days has raised that concern to another level," he said.
Police were still looking at a potential abduction and also some "complex" people, including juveniles and other parents, actively looking to keep her away from home.
Detective Superintendent Smith said the girl had left the home she lived in after a disagreement with her mother, adding that police believed some people who had been spoken to about the matter recently may have not been "telling us the whole truth".
"Why anyone would do that when we are talking about the safety of an 11-year-old is beyond me," he said.
The girl is understood to be friends with the children who live at the address where she was last seen.
Asked if they believed she could have been sleeping rough, Detective Superintendent Smith said he did not think so.
"She's got no access to money, no accesss to a phone - how is she eating?" he said.
"Somebody's got to know something. Somebody needs to stand up, call police, call Crime Stoppers."
The girl is described as Caucasian, about 150-centimetres tall, of slim build with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes.
She was last seen wearing a grey coloured hoodie and black shorts.
Anyone with information is urged to call 13 15 64 or triple-zero in an emergency.