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Misrach Ewunetie: Search for Princeton student who vanished from New Jersey campus six days ago

Misrach Ewunetie was sharing her location with a family member before her phone was switched off around 3.37am on 14 October

Andrea Blanco
Thursday 20 October 2022 16:50 BST
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Search continues for missing Princeton student

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The search continues for a Princeton Junior student who went missing over the weekend.

Misrach Ewunetie, 20, was last seen around 3am on 14 October after she returned to her dorm from volunteering at an on-campus eating club. Her phone last pinged around 3.27am at a location seven minutes away driving from the prestigious university’s New Jersey campus, The Sun first reported.

Universe Ewunetie, Ms Ewunetie’s brother, told the outlet that she was sharing her location with a family member before her phone was turned off near what seems to be a housing complex in ens Neck. Authorities used K-9 units to investigate the building but were unable to obtain warrants to search the apartments, Mr Ewunetie said.

“Her roommates said they saw her at 3am,” Mr Ewunetie said in a separate interview with NBC News. “Then another roommate of hers said she didn’t see her after 4, and then after that that no one has seen her.”

Mr Ewunetie, whose family is originally from Ethiopia, said his sister failed to show up to a citizenship appointment on Saturday, prompting fears among family members. Princeton’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) was contacted by relatives on Sunday and a “Tiger alarm” was issued on Monday, the university said in a statement.

Ms Ewunetie is a junior student at Princeton. She received a full scholarship after graduating high school as a valedictorian.

“She’s loved and cared for, and we’re missing her. We’re looking for her,” her brother told NBC News said. “She’s a very smart, empathetic person who cares for people. A reserved person.

“She’s dearly loved by her family and everybody that has known her and that has ever come to her. People that are from her middle school to high school, from people that even interviewed her. She was valedictorian. She’s a very smart girl.”

“I hope she comes home safe to us,” he added.

Ms Ewunetie’s family requested that Princeton’s DPS conducted a well-being check on her after she failed to communicate with them for days. The department is now working along with the prosecutor’s office and local and state police in the investigation.

She has brown eyes, brown hair and a light complexion. Ms Ewunetie is described as 5’4” and weighs 130 pounds.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact DPS at (609) 258-1000.

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