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A teenager missing for six weeks has been linked to a home with known gang connections in Auckland from which two terrified girls fled for help this month.
The Haverstock Rd home in Sandringham is believed to be occupied by King Cobra gang affiliates and 13 people were arrested there in January for drug-related offences.
Counties Manukau police say they are following up on sightings of Papakura teenager Alyssa Kolio, 16, who has not been seen by her family since she was dropped off at McAuley High School in Otahuhu on November 2.
While police say they are doing everything they can to find Alyssa, her mother Amelia Kolio believes her daughter may have become tied up in drugs and is no longer in control of her decision-making.
Mrs Kolio has left her sales job and has been trying to find her daughter in the hope she might return home by Christmas. She has distributed about 500 brochures with photographs of her daughter around South Auckland in the hope someone will come forward with information.
Although she has received some distressing hoax text messages and calls, she says she has also had some promising leads from people who believe they have seen Alyssa.
Mrs Kolio told the Herald her inquiries led her to Haverstock Rd last weekend, after she was told her daughter had "definitely" been seen there looking "quiet and withdrawn" among a group of older men.
When she visited the home at the weekend, she had no idea the house had been the subject of stories in the Herald revealing neighbourhood concerns after two teenage girls - one wearing a towel - ran from the home reporting their car had been stolen by "gangsters" on December 2.
Police have defended their actions after the incident amid scrutiny from neighbourhood support members who were upset it took more than an hour for officers to arrive.
After viewing a photograph, the taxi driver who was flagged down by the girls said he "definitely" had not given Alyssa a ride from the home. The girls he picked up and took to an unknown street in Papatoetoe were older, he said.
However, Mrs Kolio remains determined to find her daughter, who she said had been performing well at school and usually kept in touch with her family.
She said it was especially upsetting that Alyssa never returned to celebrate her 16th birthday on November 21 and she hoped anyone who had seen her would come forward.
Alyssa's bedroom remains full of her belongings and clothes. She left home wearing just her school uniform. A book resting on her drawers has a list of goals, in which she states she wants to learn to swim, play rugby and join the debating team.
Her 16th birthday present sits - unopened - in the family's lounge and all they can do is hope she one day returns home to open it, or that someone contacts them with her whereabouts.
* Police have asked anyone who has information on Alyssa to call their nearest police station.
