“Please come home or contact us,” family pleads of missing Burney teen

December 16, 2020 Trevor Montgomery

Sarah Lindgren-Akana of NorCal Missing and Murdered Indigenous People contributed to this report.

BURNEY, Calif. — When 16-year-old Angelo Graves’ family prepared for bed last Friday evening and said goodnight to their son they had no idea he had plans to run away from home. However, once his family was asleep, that’s exactly what the teen did; slipping out of his Burney residence through his bedroom window.

Angelo’s family suspects he may have left due to being angry and depressed because his family was about to go into a precautionary quarantine because of a family member’s potential contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.

COVID-19 concerns have been on the rise in the small, Shasta County mountain community of just 3,200 residents after three children tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Subsequent, extensive contact tracing and symptom screening caused about 100 students – including the entire kindergarten class – to be sent home to quarantine. Positive tests have also been reported at the high school, as well as both local mills; Sierra Pacific Industries and Shasta Green.

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“Like a lot of teens right now, Angelo is struggling with the pandemic and having to shelter in place,” Sarah Lindgren-Akana, of NorCal Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, said in a Dec. 14 social media release.

“Sometime around 9:36 p.m., surveillance video shows Angelo leaving the family’s home with a backpack on,” Lindgren-Akana described; adding that the teen is a Pit River Tribal member.

Angelo stands about 5’4” or 5’5’, and weighs about 140 pounds. He has brown eyes and brown wavy hair that hangs just below his shoulders. He usually wears a ball cap like the one pictured above and is known to frequent skate parks.

Since that evening, Angelo has not been active on his Snapchat or Instagram accounts and has not responded to texts or calls even though his family believes he has his phone with him.

Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, Angelo had been attending school regularly in person and was set to graduate early, according to Ken and Carmelia Graves, who reached out to SCNS in the hopes of spreading the word about their son, who they are desperate to hear from or get information about.

The high school junior had expressed to his mother his desire to move to San Diego after his upcoming graduation. However, to his frustration, the now months-long public health crisis has changed all the young man’s plans.

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Angelo has family in the City of Redding, which is approximately 56 miles from his home, and may know someone that could have driven him there or to the San Diego area and deputies are said to be tracking that lead down, according to Lindgren-Akana.

“Son, please come home or call us,” Carmelia asked SCNS to relay to Angelo. “We all love you and miss you so much! We just need to know that you are ok and we just want you to be home with us,” Carmelia continued; adding the family is willing to pick him up from wherever he is.

“We all love and miss him deeply,” Ken said; echoing his wife’s sentiment. “We just want him to come home, or if he’s not ready to come home to at least reach out to us to let us know he is ok.”

Anyone with information about where Angelo is staying who may have recently seen him is strongly encouraged to contact Ken or Carmelia directly or the Shasta County Sheriff Department at (530) 245-6540. Callers can refer to incident file number 20S039176 and can remain anonymous.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.