The New Jersey mother whose teenage daughter vanished for nearly a month — before she was found safe in New York City — had allegedly abused the girl for years, prompting her to run away, prosecutors said.
Jamie Moore, 40, was slapped with child endangerment charges Friday in connection with the disappearance of 14-year-old Jashyah Moore.
The mom initially told cops her daughter had run away after visiting a deli in East Orange on Oct. 14, but later claimed to media outlets that Jashyah had been “abducted” — as she bashed authorities for not doing enough to find the girl.
An extensive search was launched for Jashyah, with volunteers putting up flyers in the community and a reward of $20,000 offered for information about her whereabouts.
Court documents filed in Essex County Court, however, allege that Moore had long subjected her daughter to extreme abuse: spraying bleach in her eyes and stabbing her in the shoulder, “causing a laceration that is still visible,” according to reports.
Moore allegedly hit the girl with various objects, including a frying pan, and once struck Jashyah and put her knees on her neck and back, “causing her to struggle to breathe.”
The teen was forced to cook for herself and her toddler brother, or face going hungry, the criminal complaint states.
The court papers allege that Moore would send Jashyah out panhandling in the streets, and the girl faced additional abuse if she came home without enough money, according to NBC 4 New York.
Moore is also accused of “educational neglect” for allegedly barring her daughter from attending virtual classes last year, and not enrolling her in school this year.
On the day she ran away, authorities say Jashyah came home from the deli with groceries — but was berated by her mom for losing the family’s food benefits card, and told to go back out to find it.
But Jashyah “stated that she left and knew she could not go back home because her mom would beat her and leave her all bruised up,” the complaint alleges.
Instead, she took off, spending much of the 29 days she was unaccounted for in the Garden State, before wounding up at a shelter in Brooklyn and ultimately being found by police in Harlem on Thursday.
Investigators said the teen cut her hair to avoid being recognized and even denied who she was to officers. She and her 3-year-old brother have since been placed with child protective services.
Moore is being held in the Essex County Correctional Facility and has a court appearance set for Wednesday.