AMBER Alert issued for abducted Louisiana teen believed near Allen

Collin County residents are being urged to watch for a white 2008 Chevrolet Suburban with Texas plate VML6061 after 13-year-old Merlin Chirinos-Argueta was reported missing from Keithville, Louisiana, and was last believed to be near Allen. Officials say the teen may be with 18-year-old Daniel Mejia, also identified as Daniel Osan Vasquez Mejia.

The Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office said Merlin was reported missing May 7 from the 6200 block of Bain Boulevard in Keithville. Louisiana State Police said she was discovered missing from her residence around 6:30 a.m. that morning, and the request to issue an Endangered/Missing Child Advisory was received at about 11:23 a.m. The alert was elevated to an AMBER Alert because investigators believed the circumstances met the criteria for an abducted child at risk of serious harm.

The vehicle description is the detail North Texas drivers should remember today. Officials said the Suburban has a skull sticker on the rear driver’s-side back window and a mojo sticker on the passenger-side back window. Merlin is described as a Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes, about 5-foot-4 and 110 pounds. Anyone who spots the SUV, Merlin, or Daniel Mejia should call 911 immediately.

The alert has particular urgency in Allen because the city sits in Collin County, within the area where the warning can reach commuters, shoppers and families moving through North Texas roadways. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children listed Merlin as last believed to be near Allen, tying the Louisiana abduction directly to a local search area that could change quickly as the day unfolds.

Texas’ AMBER Alert system was built in the Dallas/Fort Worth area after the 1996 kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, a case that led to the nation’s first such alert network. Texas Department of Public Safety says the system is meant to rapidly notify the public when law enforcement has verified an abduction, believes the child faces serious danger and has enough descriptive information to help find the child or suspect. That is the situation now, and the most important local detail remains the same: a white Suburban with plate VML6061 may be in or near Allen.