Marissa Carmichael's family are left devastated by her disappearance. It has now marked one month since her disappearance from an ExxonMobil gas station at the 800 block of E. Market Street on January 14.
Marissa, missing mother with her five children.Photo bySara Carmichael
Carmichael, who is a 5'4 approximately 260 lbs female disappeared early in the morning around 3:40am after making a distressed call to 911, according to police.
In a statement released by the police on Tuesday night, they revealed that they had looked over surveillance footage showing Carmichael getting into a man's car at the Exxon gas station, where she was last seen not long after making a 911 call.
The driver of that car, who is presently being regarded a witness in this case, has been identified by the police and has been questioned.
Marissa (right) with her mother (left) and sister Emma (middle).Photo bySara Carmichael
According to an ABC News call tape, Carmichael reported to the dispatcher that she was left stranded when a man drove off with her cell phone when she dialed 911 from the Exxon gas station. Carmichael called the police and begged for assistance in getting a ride home.
Marissa's mother, Sara Carmichael, told ABC News that the family is "devastated" and feels that her daughter is being "held against her will." Sara filed a missing person's report.
Marissa Carmichael with her five children.Photo bySara Carmichael
In a statement released on February 6, police asked the public to provide any information regarding Marissa Carmichael's whereabouts. They also stated that they had received "limited leads" in this case and were growing "increasingly concerned for her welfare." Police declined to comment on whether they thought foul play was involved, stating that it was an ongoing matter.
Carmichael called Guilford Metro 911 at 3:40 a.m. on January 14 from the Exxon, claiming that a man had stolen her phone and abandoned her there. She asked the dispatcher to assist her in finding a way home, according to the police.
According to police, Guilford Metro dispatched the police department at 4:19 AM, an officer showed up at 4:21 AM. Carmichael was already gone by then.
After reporting her daughter missing on the afternoon of January 14, Sara Carmichael voiced her dissatisfaction with the police's reaction time, claiming that she was informed the police needed to wait 48 hours before classifying her daughter as missing.
"[Police] didn't even start doing anything until the middle of that week. By then I had already been to the Airbnb. I had already been to the Exxon [to conduct] on my own investigation. Now they're taking it serious, but those first few days are critical," Sara Carmichael said.
Marissa Carmichael, an avid social media user, has not been active on her accounts and her phone has been turned off, and goes straight to voicemail.
According to Sara Carmichael, the family has created a GoFundMe page in the hopes of raising the money needed to employ a private detective.
Sara Carmichael claimed that she also became increasingly worried about her daughter's location after realizing at approximately five in the morning that she had missed calls from an unknown number and believed Marissa might have been attempting to get in touch with her. But when she called the number, she claimed to have had a worrying text exchange with someone who was trying to convince her that Marissa was okay.
"He told me Marissa's asleep. And then I said 'Let me speak to her.' And then he said well, 'she walked up to the store.' And then he just kept, you know, any reason to not get her on the phone. So I said well what's the address that I can come or send somebody to get her, and the address that he sent me was a Sheetz store and she was not at no Sheetz, she was nowhere to be found." Sara Carmichael said.
Marissa Carmichael, missing woman.Photo byGreensboro Police Department
According to authorities, Carmichael is a 260-pound biracial female who is 5'4" tall and has long braids that alternate between blonde and black hair. When she was last seen, she was wearing a white Tweety Bird T-shirt, blue jeans, and yellow sneakers. She also had a heart tattoo on her face and a butterfly near her eye.
Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is urged by the police to contact Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Local News
