Flatwoods Park Focus Of Search For Missing Teen

TAMPA, FL — As the search for a 17-year-old girl who has been missing since late last month continues, law enforcement agencies from across the region plan to converge on Flatwoods Park Thursday morning.

According to the Tampa Police Department, officers from that agency, the Hillsborough and Pasco county sheriff’s offices, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission intend to meet at the park’s Morris Bridge Road entrance ranger station at 9 a.m. April 6.

“Hailey is known to spend time in Flatwoods Park,” Tampa police wrote in a Wednesday night email announcing the joint effort. “Officers are using all avenues possible in the effort to find Hailey, including air service, canine, horses, off-road vehicles, and officers on foot searching the park from every vantage point.”

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Hailey was last seen on March 28. Tampa Police say she requires medication and is very much considered endangered. She was last seen in the New Tampa area and is known to also frequent Wiregrass.

“Another day, and no real leads,” Hailey’s mother, Lisa Acierno, posted on the Find Hailey Acierno Facebook page Monday, April 3. The page was created last week to rally the community to help in the search. While no solid leads have come in, the “amount of support is humbling,” Lisa said.

Anyone with information about Hailey’s whereabouts is asked to call the Tampa Police Department at 813-231-6130.

To find out more about ongoing search efforts, visit the Find Haley Acierno Facebook page.

Flatwoods Park is a 5,400-acre tract of land overseen by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The park has entrances on Morris Bridge Road and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

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Photo courtesy of the Tampa Police Department