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She left her home in Escondido, California, around 7 a.m. for school with a check in hand, a down payment on a baby lamb that she was going to raise and care for as part of her Future Farmers of America class.

It was a day that she’d been looking forward to for more than a year, her family says. But she never made it to school and hasn’t been heard from since, prompting authorities to launch a massive search for the missing teen.

„She would not have given up that lamb for anything,” her mother, Carrie McGonigle, said. „She’s a wholesome kid. She doesn’t run amok like most teenagers. She did not run away, I guarantee it.”

Her cell phone was turned on once for about 20 seconds the day after she disappeared and has not been turned on since then, Escondido Police spokesman Lt. Bob Benton said.

Her mother and her live-in boyfriend voluntarily submitted to polygraph tests and passed, Benton said. Amber’s father, who lives in Orange County, California, and other relatives have been interviewed, he added.

A classmate reported seeing Amber a week ago on Sunday, walking with an unidentified person about half a mile from her home, Benton said.

„We don’t know the circumstances of her disappearance or the person she was walking with, but being 14 years old and missing as long as she has without ever having gone missing before is very suspicious,” Benton said.

The FBI is assisting the Escondido Police in the investigation, said Special Agent Darrell Foxworth from the agency’s San Diego office.

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