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Reports of missing children in Spruce Pine are false, county says [1]

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Date: 2024-10-15  

Reports of more than 160 missing children in Spruce Pine are not true. In fact, there is only one person who first responders have not managed to locate since Tropical Storm Helene, according to the Mitchell County Manager Allen Cook.

Cook told USA Today on Oct. 14 that Mitchell County received calls to find more than 1,000 people after the storm, and only one of them is still unaccounted for, Cook said.

Viral posts on social media claimed there were dozens of "school age children" missing in Spruce Pine. In one post, a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote that 163 children were missing, and even more children under the age of 4 were missing.

"There is no truth to that," Cook said. "Mitchell County has 15,000 residents, we are a very tight knit county. We all know in our mountains who is missing and who is not."

He said the misinformation he's seen online about his county is not supported by evidence.

"I think that misinformation tries to say, 'They're governmental organizations and they're coming in to step on folks' rights'," Cook said. "I have not seen that. I've seen some folks that have a heart of gold coming up here, and they're systematically helping provide firm data on well checks on our citizens, making sure they're alright."

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[1] Url: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2024/10/15/reports-of-missing-children-in-spruce-pine-are-false-county-says/75670783007/

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