Authorities are continuing their search this week for a Baldwin High School student who has been missing for five days — since she was last seen leaving school around dismissal time on Wednesday.
Catherine Berger was last spotted walking south on Grand Avenue in Baldwin, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. The 17-year-old is described as having a slight build, straight brown hair, brown eyes and a light complexion. She is 5-foot-6 and weighs about 110 pounds.
The girl was wearing a blue and white jacket; a brown, black and tan camouflage sweater; jeans; and black boots when she was leaving school about 2:30 p.m. She was carrying a mint green backpack.
Officials believe the high school senior may be traveling to upstate New York, specifically to Glens Falls.
“We are feeling like we are at standstill now because there are no new updates,” Catherine’s aunt, Crystal Berger, told Greater Long Island.
Berger said the family does not have a “confirmed reason” to indicate her niece was abducted. If Catherine was indeed not taken by force, her aunt said that one of her most pressing concerns is that the girl may have “unwittingly involved herself in a situation that is much worse than anything” she was looking to get away from.
Berger has made an emotional plea on social media and in flyers posted across the community, urging the public to help locate her niece.
Berger noted to Greater Long Island that Catherine has ADHD and impulse control issues, which require medication.
“If you see her, please say something,” Berger said in her original Facebok post last week. “She is without her meds and we are very concerned for her well-being.”
Berger said Catherine had recently started volunteering at Lynbrook public library, and that the teen lives with her father and stepmother.
“Everyone is very very worried about Catherine,” Berger said. “I want to make sure that she knows people care about her … and that she can contact resources where she can be safe,
“We have no idea what she’s doing, who she’s with or if she’s safe,” she added.
Anyone with information about Catherine’s whereabouts is urged to contact local law enforcement or the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
