My Wife's Niece is Missing!

David Wahlquist drives along North Broadway almost every morning to drop off his son and daughter at Escondido High School. It's the same route 14-year-old Amber Dubois used.

"I see her almost every day walking to school, so I recognize her by sight," Wahlquist said.

On Feb. 13, David remembers seeing Amber walking two blocks from the school around 7:10 a.m. - a full 20 minutes before the first bell.

"In fact, I remember thinking oh, she's a little bit early," he said.

The total distance of the route Amber takes from her home to the location of the school is less than a mile, north on Paradise Street, West on Vista Avenue and finally South on Broadway walking toward the school. It was here where two parents in different cars reported seeing Amber walking on the west side of the street.

"She was kind of jogging when I saw her and I thought she just looked like she was in a hurry," Wahlquist said.

The location is right next to a driveway that leads past a school bus maintenance yard and down to the school's livestock farmyard. Amber was excited about getting a new lamb as part of the Future Farmers of America program.

Multiple surveillance cameras monitor the farmyard, and the principal says that students, volunteers and teachers frequently stop by before school. Police have looked at that surveillance tape, but so far, nothing.

"There is that possibility that she went in that direction. Reports are she was seen around that driveway. It's a possibility, but it's not showing up on the video," Escondido Police Lt. Craig Carter said.

Police say the surveillance tape is grainy, making it difficult to positively identify any student.

Another possible lead - Amber may have been walking with an unidentified male student about six feet tall with a dark complexion.

"We think that there's a piece of that puzzle that the kids can offer us that we're not getting, so we're really encouraging the kids at Escondido High School and the kids in front of the high school to give us a call with whatever they think might be pertinent," Lt. Carter said.

One classmate told police he may have seen Amber on Grand Avenue near Palomar Hospital. There was another sighting near Rincon Avenue and Conway, but those sightings are unconfirmed, and it's been 17 days since Amber disappeared.

"It's hard to think what it would be like to know where your daughter is," Wahlquist said.

The witnesses say there were a lot of students walking to school on North Broadway that morning. If you were there and you remember seeing Amber, call Escondido police. You can remain anonymous.