Search for missing Norfolk 15-year-old continues: ‘Just don’t let her go’
Family members and volunteers scoured the Lafayette neighborhood Sunday morning, searching for any sign of 15-year-old Kadence Morrell, who has been missing for nearly two weeks.
Morrell was last seen Aug. 3 at her home in the 3100 block of Norway Place. Norfolk Police sent a release about her disappearance Aug. 8.
Kay Coleman, co-founder of Hear Their Voices, a Hampton Roads organization that works to help missing and exploited children, led the search party. Members passed out flyers throughout the neighborhood and enlisted a search dog. Coleman said it’s been difficult to draw attention to the case since Morrell is an older child.
“A lot of people would say ‘Oh, she probably ran away,’” Coleman said. “She hasn’t been heard from or logged in on anything on social media or any of her platforms. I don’t see it as just her running to hang out.”
Coleman said Morrell is quiet and usually wears a hoodie and COVID mask whenever she goes out.
Lisa Smith, Kadence’s grandmother, said she last spoke to her on the phone earlier this summer. Smith described Kadence as caring and selfless.
“When she was very young, they lived in an apartment complex in Virginia Beach and I would go on pick them up for the weekend,” said Smith, who lives in Chesapeake. “They would get up early every Saturday, her and her sister, bake cookies, and pass them out to all the elderly in their building.”
Smith has been handing out flyers in different neighborhoods every day and posting on social media about Kadence.
“This is my worst nightmare,” Smith said. “You see this all the time, and you feel for the family and what they’re going through, but you have no idea until it happens to you.”
Chris Koening, Kadence’s stepfather, works as a mason. With students still on summer break, he said it wasn’t unusual during the week to not see her for two or three days, which is why she wasn’t reported missing until Aug. 7.
Koenig said Morrell loves cosplay, anime and spending time with her friends from Virginia Beach.
He said he’s been looking for Kadence and passing out flyers every day, and that her disappearance has been especially difficult for her siblings and mother.
“We just want our baby home,” Koenig said, adding that Kadence’s mother did not want to comment.
Kadence is about 5-foot-7 and 110 pounds with brown eyes and black hair, according to Norfolk police. Family members are unsure of what she was wearing when last seen.
Norfolk police are still investigating along with the FBI. They ask ask anyone who has information about her whereabouts to call 911.
Smith said she’s been praying every day for Kadence to return — and she knows she’ll be found.
“If you see her, call the police,” Smith said. “Hold her. Don’t let her go, and call the police and have them come and get her back. Please. Just don’t let her go.”
Lauren Girgis, lauren.girgis@virginiamedia.com
