Most missing children lack media attention

Connecticut girl disappears in New York; media don't notice

Crystal Horrocks has been missing since June 22

HAMDEN, Connecticut (CNN) -- The constant media attention that has swirled around the case of missing intern Chandra Levy has been too much for one Connecticut family. Their child, Crystal Horrocks, a 16-year-old with brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair, disappeared without a trace in New York City on June 22.

Aside from a few local news reports, calls from reporters inquiring about their child have been scarce -- a far cry from the sometimes hour-by-hour developments on the Levy case in the national spotlight.

"You sort of resent it, because we're average people. We don't have the money to get the media attention that this young lady is getting," said Ann Horrocks, Crystal's grandmother, who raised her with the girl's grandfather, Harvey. They live in Hamden, Connecticut.

"Please don't take me wrong: My heart goes out to (the Levy) family because nobody understands what you go through. You feel hollow. You can't explain it to people. My heart and my prayers go out to her family, but it's a shame there's so much media attention being given to her and so little attention being given to the thousands of other kids missing."

Crystal's mother, Bobbi, said: "All kids are special." Added the grandmother: "One shouldn't be treated any differently than the others."

Nearly 2,400 people have been reported missing each day, most of them children, since Levy was last reported seen on April 30, according to statistics from the FBI's National Crime Information Center.

Some were kidnapped. Some ran away. Some were caught in bitter tug-of-war custody disputes, with one parent snatching the child and leaving without legal authority. Others, like Crystal and Levy, seemingly vanished.

Many missing people are found fairly quickly -- an estimated 90 percent of each year's cases are resolved by year's end. A tragic few remain mysteries for years.

For loved ones, it's a harrowing ordeal as the days go by with few promising leads.

"The only thing we ask for people to do is say prayers," said Crystal's grandmother. "Until she's brought home, we don't know what else to do."

On June 22, Crystal called her mother from Grand Central Station in New York around 1 p.m. She was to catch a bus from Port Authority and be home in a matter of hours.

"By the time she didn't get off the bus at 10 or 10:30 p.m., we knew there was something major wrong, because this is not like her," her grandmother said.

The family called police shortly before 11 p.m. that night, and police arrived soon afterward. They filled out a missing persons report and have since had "phenomenal" support from police. A local foundation also has been working with a vice squad in New York in trying to find out what happened to Crystal, her grandmother said.

The grandmother described Crystal as a "pretty girl" and "great kid." Her 5-foot-7 granddaughter was last seen carrying a purple mesh purse. Her brown hair is highlighted, her ears are pierced and she has braces on her teeth.

Crystal, who is on medication, had been undergoing treatment for depression after a close friend died and "that sent her in a down spiral." She had visited home on weekends while at treatment, and her trek home on June 22 to Hamden, just outside New Haven, was to be permanent after showing great progress, the grandmother said.

"The only thing we can think of is she did get abducted, because I don't think she would have done this for any other reason," she said, adding that Crystal is "definitely in need of her medication."

Her grandfather, Harvey, said, "We want her to know that she's not in trouble. She is coming home to stay."

The family is now clinging to hope through an "awful lot of prayers and an awful lot of people praying and hoping with us."

"One woman stopped in front of our house -- I never saw her before in my life -- and she said she had put in a prayer at church for us," the grandmother said. "I can't stress how much it means."

"We do love (Crystal) more than anything in the world. We want her to know that we are going to be here no matter what happens," she said.

-- From CNN National News Desk Editor Wayne Drash