The Buckingham

In the fall of 2010, then 14-year-old Jakadrien went missing.  According to her grandmother, Lorene Turner, she ran away from home after the hardships of losing her grandfather and her parents’ divorce earlier that year.  Ever since then Lorene has been searching relentlessly for her granddaughter.

The persistent grandmother of the missing teen says she would get home and stay up late into the morning hours searching Facebook and other leads on the internet as to her granddaughter’s whereabouts.  Her determination and strength came from her faith that God was leading her to Jakadrien’s location.

After what seemed an eternity of searching, and with the help of Dallas police, Lorene finally found her granddaughter in Colombia.  It turns out the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported her in April of 2011.

The girl had ended up in Houston upon running away from home, where she was arrested for theft.  When interrogated she gave a false name that turned out to be the name of a 22-year-old illegal Colombian immigrant with warrants out for her arrest.  The ICE took her fingerprints but never double checked for her real identity.

Believing the girl was who she said she was they deported her to Colombia where she has been working as a maid in a large home cleaning all day.  Lorene Turner says she was able to track down her granddaughter through the girl’s Facebook messages throughout the year.

A request from the U.S. Federal authorities to the Colombian police to pick the girl up was made a month ago, and they did just that, but they haven’t released her to her family in the United States yet.  Investigations on how the mistake was made are being conducted as fast as possible in the hopes of getting the young girl home to her grandmother safely.