Where is Celina Cass? Desperate search for missing 11-year-old girl

Police are desperately searching for an 11-year-old girl who disappeared from her bedroom almost two days ago.

Celina Cass was last seen playing on her computer at about 9pm on Sunday. When her parents went to wake her up the next moing, she had vanished.

Her disappearance has shaken the small town of Stewartstown, New Hampshire, just a mile from the Canadian border, as police crews search the Connecticut River for any sign of the little girl.

There was no indication Celina had run away or was kidnapped, and there were no signs of a struggle.

Her stepfather, Wendell Noyers, described the 11-year-old as a quiet girl who would never have left home by herself.

He declined to comment further, saying I'm not really at liberty to say anything.'

Today the FBI joined the search, and agents are believed to be trawling through Celina's phone and computer records.

While yesterday's extensive land search has been scaled back, police are now trawling the Connecticut River using two boats.

Yesterday they lowered the waterway so helicopters could scour it from the air, while officers desperately searching an area within a half-mile radius of her home.

Friends and neighours held a vigil for Celina last night as they desperately prayed for her safe retu.

Celina lives with her mother, Louisa Noyes, who works part-time at a shop in the next town, an elder sister and her stepfather. Her father is very ill in hospital. friends said.

Shannon Towles, who owns a mini-mart on Route 3, said her disappearance had shaken the town, which has just 800 residents.

She said: 'It's creepy. Things like this don't happen here. I know that's kind of a tired phrase. I'm an overprotective mom as it is. Now it's going to be way worse.'

Mrs Towles said Celina wasn't the type of girl to hitchhike or run away. She said: 'She's just a little girl and she's a nice little girl.'

Celina attends Stewartstown Community School, where she is one of just 85 pupils.

The district superintendent described her as popular and well-liked, and said six counsellors were on hand to help students cope with her disappearance.

Hunt: Residents post flyers on trees in Stewartstown to help find Celina Cass, who disappeared from her home on Monday evening

Shaken: Celina is one of just 85 pupils at the town's school. Counsellors are on hand to help students cope with her disappearance

Mrs Towles said her daughter, Echo, had asked her whether she thought Celina was still alive.

She said: 'How do I answer that question? And do I want to? I don't want to think about it, but I pray every second that she is.'

Friends and neighbours have spent the last two days posting flyers showing her smiling face on every available lamppost and tree trunk.

Last night police said Celina's disappearance did not yet meet the criteria for an Amber Alert, and was not yet considered suspicion.

Popular: Celina with two friends in a photograph she posted on her Facebook page. Police have been searching for her since Tuesday moing

Lieutenant Douglas Gralenski, a state Fish and Game Department official helping to search the river, said: 'Honestly, we don't know where else we can look. There's so much that's unknown.'

He said: 'It's not a deep river. You'd be hard-pressed to find six to eight feet in most of it in that area. When we had it drawn down, it was exceptionally low.'

The investigation has now been passed on to the New Hampshire Attoey General's Office.