Concern for missing Hamilton girl

Update: Police say a missing 16-year-old girl from Hamilton has left the country with her uncle.

Amanda Memmolo hasn’t been seen since July 18. Hamilton police have now learned that she is in Mexico but it’s unclear how she got there.

Amanda had been living on the Hamilton Mountain with her father Pat, his parents, and his 52-year-old brother, Bruno. A month ago she and her uncle Bruno went missing.

Jenn Spafford, a friend of the family says Bruno often took his niece to vacation at Turkey Point.

“Bruno took her once, came back, again, came back, the third time, that’s when everything went disarray. Pat was sleeping, he woke up, they were gone. They left their id and their cell phones behind.”

That was a red flag she says, because Amanda loved to be on her phone. She says the 16 year old functions more like a 12-year-old and suffers from epilepsy. She believes the disappearance is linked to Bruno’s association with a Brantford religious group.

Amanda’s father says he believes many of the tenets, but is not involved in the group. He just learned from police that his brother and Amanda left the country yesterday and are now in Mexico. He says he’s no longer worried but police will follow up anyway. Amanda is 16 years old so she can make decisions for herself, police want to talk to her to make sure she’s safe. Police have also reached out to the religious group in Brantford, but are not certain Amanda’s disappearance is connected.