Woman wanted by RI police may have gone missing from Ohio as a teen

WARWICK, R.I. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- It's a surprise twist in the search for one of New England's most wanted. Police in Rhode Island say a woman caught on surveillance video is a suspect in several thefts in Warwick. But FBI agents believe she may be a 21-year-old Ohio woman was has not been seen since she was 14 years old.

Ashley Summers disappeared from Ohio when she was just 14 years old. When her grandmother saw the picture, she had a gut feeling it was her missing granddaughter.
 
A post on Rhode Island's Most wanted website is bringing an Ohio family some hope that a teen who went missing seven years ago may be ok, but in trouble.

"I have a gut feeling that it could very well possibly be her," said Linda Summers, Ashley's grandmother.
 
The photo obtained by the Warwick Police Department shows two suspects wanted in connection with credit card theft.

Linda Summers recently came across the photos, and says the woman bares a striking resemblance to her granddaughter Ashley.

A photo rendering depicts what she would look like now, at 21 years old.
 
"Even though the circumstances aren't the best, it was exciting to have a picture of someone that may be her," Summers said.
 
Warwick's police chief agrees there is a strong resemblance, but he wont say for sure that the photo is Ashley.
 
"We believe that this person that we have depicted in our picture from the bank certainly bears a strong resemblance to the missing female; however, we are not prepared to say that they are one in the same," said Warwick Police Chief Col. Stephen McCartney.
 
Warwick police are working with the FBI to get more information.
 
Police say there have not been any other known sightings of the wanted duo since October.

"The trail of where these people are right now is really turned up a little bit cold," McCartney said.
 
Summers explains that Ashley initially ran away when she was 14, though now there is reason to believe she could be in danger.

"If the suspect is Ashley, I would encourage her to turn herself in, that she has family here in Ohio that loves her and really wants her home," Linda Summers said.

Warwick police and the FBI emphasize they don't know for sure if the picture is Ashley Summers.

Tonight, they're focused on figuring out who the couple in the surveillance picture is.

Cox Media Group