***Update: Ella Was Found in Michigan Feb 1, 2024- Previously, Ella Jones had Gone Missing January 5, 2024

Watch Your Teens On Apps Like Discord, Chat Random, Monkey, Younow, Chat Roulette, Tiny Chat & Text Now.

2-4-2024, I heard back from Sarah, they are doing good and she is getting sleep again. I had emailed her checking up on them and asked if she had anything else for parents to lookout for, and here's what she said:
"I would add TikTok, snap chat and instagram. Use the parental settings for the app stores and the phones themselves. School computers have mostly open access and children can use Alexa devices to make calls to unsaved contacts with supported Alexa devices. I suggest turning off Alexa enabled verbal deletion on voice history. Remember you also have parental settings and access control through your internet provider as well.
Ella had limited and restricted access to electronics and parental settings on her phone through Apple. She was not supposed to have accounts on those platforms without them being shared with me. Children can and will bypass all those steps if they choose." Sarah Jones

2-1-2024, According to Kpug Ella Was Found in Michigan. "Detectives learned that someone ordered a rideshare to take Jones from her home the night of January 6th to an address in southern Michigan."
"Investigators with the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan found Jones at a residence in the town of South Haven. Deputies arrested a 30-year-old man at the home who has not been identified."
"He faces a total of four charges between Michigan and Washington, including kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct."(5) Also for failing to register as a sex effender and contributing to the deliquency of a minor.(6) ***Thank you for your awesome work and coordination Mt Vernon & South Haven Sheriffs Depts!

Mount Vernon, WA - Ella Jones has not been seen or heard from since the evening of January 5, 2024. On that Friday evening, Sarah Merrill, a single mother of 2, had finished dinner and watching tv with her kids, after an exhausting day at work, and was ready to call it a night. Her daughter Ella would visit her at her bedside before heading to bed herself. Everything was normal and nothing out of the ordinary. However, that was the last time Sarah saw her daughter Ella. On Saturday morning, she would realize what every parent dreads! This is very unnerving to me, as it hits close to home, because someone close to me knows Sarah Jones.

Earlier Sarah had taken Ella's phone away because she had found out through Ella's concerned friends that she had been chatting on Discord with an elderly man in his 20's or 30's. It is believed she was picked up by this man in the late hours that night. They had originally met on an app called Omegle "talk to strangers", video, text and chat promoted by tiktok, which was shut down Nov. 2023 after a $22 M lawsuit & 50 other complaints(1). In it's place, the man apparently got her to start chatting on the app called Discord according to her friends. Sarah says most of her access was through her school computer and had asked the school to limit her use(3).

A Possible Description Of The Suspect

According to students that saw the perpetrator on video snapchat and discord (the descriptions between 2 girls that don't know each other). He had the following facial features and demeaner:
(1) Heavier set face
(2) Chin strap beard
(3) Hair: Short puffy, dark brown - almost black
(4) Race is not clear: white, Latin or Middle Eastern?
(5) Jewelry, like a gold chain, fancy watch like a Rolex and was vaping. (See embedded Nancy video interview or Source # (3) Below

Ella Jones (Source: Sarah Jones)

The Notorious I-5: A Human Trafficking Corridor From Vancouver, BC Through The USA To Tijuana, MX.

Sarah doesn't even want to think about her daughter being linked to the notorious "West Coast Track" or the sordid reputation of I-5. I was surprised to find out that i-5 is not only a human trafficking corridor, but also the most renowned one in the USA, according to the FBI. And it stretches 3 countries, from Tijuana, Mexico, through big cities like Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and thousands of small towns like Mount Vernon and our Bellingham on it's way to Vancouver, BC. It's a lucrative $150 Billion annual industry consisting of mostly female victims (65%) transported for sex and / or labor like domestic work, food service and even construction.(2)

Organizations That Help

"Organizations like the I-5 Freedom Network, Polaris, CastLA and others work to spread awareness and connect potential victims to resources. Politicians and law enforcement are already well aware of the road's sordid reputation."(2)

GoFundMe Help

Sarah's family has setup a GoFundMe, if you want to help as they plan to hire a private investigator.
Report any information to: 360-428-3211 Case # 24-M00309or 1-800-the lost NCIC # M717709077. #FINDELLAJONES
You could contact Ella's family directly at findellajones@gmail.com

Sources

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/nov/15/omegle-closing-random-video-chat#:~:text=Last%20week%2C%2014%20years%20after,pairing%20her%20with%20a%20predator.
(2) https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/126090/highway-sex-human-trafficking-road-california-Oregon
(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHgRCYDdBbo
(4) https://www.gofundme.com/f/personal-investigator-for-the-search-of-ella-jones
(5) https://kpug1170.com/news/297792-update-missing-mount-vernon-teen-found-in-michigan/
(6) https://www.newsbreak.com/south-haven-mi/3321237080092-missing-washington-state-teen-found-in-michigan
Pictures of Ella Jones, emailed from her mother Sarah Jones

By Chief Editor Angelo-Lk-Whatcom-Rider-Writer, Published 2/1/2024
About The writer: I've lived in Bellingham since February, 2011, and love the beautiful trees & greenery producing all that oxygen, and of course, the lake, bay, hills and mountains too. I've also been in the lovely Anacortes area for part of that time, going back and forth, since moving here.
Educational/Professional Background: Economics & Political Science Degrees at UCF. Attended Graduate School of Economics at FSU, and have worked for the FL Labor Dept as well as consulted for the FL Labor Dept on behalf of the US Labor Dept. I've been happily working in my own businesses since 1993.