Family desperate to find missing Riverdale woman last seen in Austin neighborhood day after Halloween
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The family and friends of a 22-year-old woman who has been missing for a week are desperately trying to find their loved one.
They handed out flyers to passing motorists of Devane Gross, the south suburban woman who was last seen leaving her stepmother's Austin home after spending Halloween with family a few blocks away.
"She was still here when I left," said Gross' aunt Krista. "Her and her granddad were talking at the table and she was asking her granddad to teach her how to play the guitar."
Relatives say Gross last answered a call from her mom around 8 a.m. when she failed to return to her Riverdale home.
"She answered. She said, 'Oh mom, I'm at the lakefront. I'm just clearing my head.' But she also got a call from her stepsister who could actually see she was there at the lake," Krista said.
Gross's family said her phone last pinged near the Shedd Aquarium but haven't heard from her since.
Gross had recently completed her Associate's Degree at Rainy River Community College in Minnesota, where she also played basketball. She wanted to go back to school and was trying to determine what her next steps would be.
"It's been seven whole days, and with each passing day the glimmer of hope it starts to diminish and diminish and diminish," said Gross's cousin Chenae Jones. "We're staying prayerful. We're asking for help from anyone who can afford to give it to us. If anybody has seen anything, heard anything, please say something. We just want her home."
Even though Gross went missing from Chicago, Riverdale Police Department are investigating since that is where she lives. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call RPD detectives.
