Just days after now-18-year-old Daphne Westbrook was located in Samson, Ala., Tennessee's Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office said Friday morning that law enforcement agents are still searching for her father, John Westbrook.
Westbrook was reported missing in October 2019 after she never returned home from a weekend with her father. Nearly a year and a half later, John Westbrook was indicted and charged with aggravated kidnapping – but investigators had to find him first, the district attorney’s office announced at the time.
Investigators described Daphne Westbrook's father at the time as an "IT expert" who specializes in blockchain technology, security and Bitcoin.
"He is communicating in a way that’s almost impossible to trace, which makes it extremely difficult for investigators to generate significant leads in this case," the office said. Police believed at the time that he was making money doing computer work for small businesses.
In March, Hamilton County District Attorney Neil Pinkston told Chatanooga-based news station WRCB-TV that Daphne Westbrook was "constantly being given drugs and alcohol that keeps her in an altered state."
Daphne is 5’3”, 110 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes.
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) March 10, 2021
She was last seen in Chattanooga in October 2019, and did not return from a weekend visit with her non-custodial father, John Westbrook.
(2/9)#TNAMBERAlert pic.twitter.com/iE6eLlRtAy
Details surrounding how she was located were not immediately provided.
