GAINESVILLE, Ga. — As the search for a missing 12-year-old girl grows, so does her father's desperation.
The Hall County Sheriff's Office said Maria Gomez-Perez was last seen at her home off on Westside Drive off Pearl Nix Parkway around 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 29. It's been a week since her family had any communication with her. Gomez-Perez is described as standing 5-foot-3 inches tall and weighing between 100 and 110 pounds. She has brown eyes and long black hair and is thought to have been wearing a bright blue shirt when she was last seen.
Her father spoke to 11Alive in Spanish at his home Wednesday evening, saying he just wanted his daughter to come back home.
"Por favor, vuelve a casa. Te estamos esperando. Yo no puedo vivir sin ti lastimosamente," Andres said.
Begging for his daughter to come home, he was overwhelmed with emotion. In his message to his daughter he said he can't live without her.
Signs and flyers with her photo are on almost every corner in Gainesville. Many were handed out by Ambitions Car Club and hundreds in the community. They're helping facilitate the search for the 12-year-old, and as the days pass, it's become personal.
"We initially thought we were going to come out here and hand out flyers. We should knock on doors, let's go talk to people, let's go see if anybody knows about her, where she might be," Jesse Perez, the Vice President of the club, said.
While Hall County Sheriff's deputies continue their search they say they're extremely concerned about Maria's well-being and need the community to submit tips. As the work to find her grows, the message from dad and the hundreds looking is the same – they miss her, need to hear from her and want this 12-year-old home.
"Your family misses you; your dad wants to see you. If there's a way to contact somebody, don't be afraid to make that happen; every minute counts," Perez said.
There has been some concern in the community that there is not enough being done to find Maria. The sheriff's office addressed those concerns saying they are doing everything they can and searching around the clock.
Deputies requested a Levi's Call, Georgia's version of an Amber Alert, but it was denied by the GBI because Maria's case didn't meet three of the five criteria needed to issue an alert.
Anyone who has information on where Gomez-Perez could be is asked to call authorities at 911 or 770-536-8812.
We will bring you the latest and more information on the search as it unfolds. If you'd like to support the efforts to search for her, you can here.