Organization puts spotlight on Franklin County girls missing 3 years
It’s been more than three years since Hanna Lee, 7, and Skye Rex, 5, disappeared from their home in Waynesboro.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has worked in recent months to bring renewed attention to the case. The organization highlighted the three-year anniversary of the girls’ suspected abduction on March 17, and in September teamed up with the TV show, “On Patrol: Live,” to tell the missing sisters’ story to a national audience.
Hanna and Skye’s non-custodial mother, Lashada Lee, is suspected of leaving her Franklin County home with the girls after their father, John Rex, was awarded full custody on March 17, 2020.
The custody battle took three years. After consults with best-interest lawyers representing both girls and a court-appointed psychiatrist, a family court judge in Maryland determined that Rex would receive immediate custody, the Public Opinion previously reported. When he went to pick up his daughters from Lee’s home, they were gone.
"I've proven through the last three years that the best place, the most stable household, for my children is with me," Rex told the Public Opinion in 2021. "Unfortunately, their mother could not accept the results and decided that she was going to continue to try to assert control and take things into her own hands, without any regard to judges' decisions, without any regard to the law and the legal system."
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Waynesboro Police charged Lee with two felony counts of custodial interference, according to court records.
Investigators say Lee is believed to be living in the Washington, D.C., and Maryland area with the girls. Waynesboro Police have been on the case, along with the U.S. Marshals and authorities in the region where the mother is believed to be hiding with the help of family members.
“While we ask people to pay close attention to the new images of the girls, I want to remind everyone to focus on their mom,” said Angeline Hartmann, Communications Director at NCMEC. “Lashada Lee is likely hiding in plain sight and may be spotted out and about, with or without the girls.”
Family abductions are the second-most common type of missing child cases (endangered runaways are listed as the first) that are reported to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Such cases are reported at a rate 20 times higher than non-family abductions, otherwise known as “stranger abductions.”
In 2021, more than 80% of the family-abduction victims reported to the NCMEC were recovered.
Case featured on other TV show: Missing Waynesboro girls to be featured on Discovery's show 'In Pursuit With John Walsh'
Forensic artists at the NCMEC create age-progressed photos for children who have been missing at least two years.
Age-progressed photos showing what Hanna and Skye may look like at ages 9 and 7 were shown for the first time on “On Patrol: Live” in September. They are now ages 10 and 8.
Dan Abrams, the show’s host, encouraged viewers to share any tips.
“These age progression photos are so helpful in giving people a sense of what these girls may look like now,” he said on the show, according to the NCMEC.
If you have any information about the whereabouts of Hanna Lee, Skye Rex or Lashada Rex, call the Waynesboro Police Department at 717-762-2131 or the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST.
Amber South can be reached asouth@publicopinionnews.com
This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Missing Waynesboro girls in spotlight 3 years after disappearance
