Missing mother's car found in Ypsilanti; search continues for woman, daughter

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UPDATE THURSDAY, MAY 12: An Amber Alert has been issued for the 7-year-old girl. She and her mother are believed to be traveling with a registered sex offender. You can continue reading the update here...
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The search continues for a woman and her daughter who have been missing from Livingston County since early Monday morning.

Amanda Hayward's car, a 2001 Chevrolet Prizm, was found in Ypsilanti at the Budget Stadium Towing car lot. Amanda Hayward is from Brighton. She left home with her 7-year-old daughter, Sapphire, around 3 a.m. Monday.

The next day, police found her purse on the side of the road in Hamburg Township. The cash and credit cards were still inside. There was no sign of her or 7-year-old Sapphire Palmer.

FOX 2 spoke with Amanda's father, Darrell Hayward, who said she's left home before but never for this long and never with no way to contact her.

"Afraid and terrified," he said. "I know Sapphire has no idea what's going on. I wonder what's going through her little mind."

He said his daughter was acting erratic. He said that before she left, she took a bunch of electronics and put them in her bathtub and ran water over them.

"My daughter was putting electronics in the tub thinking the cameras were watching them," he said. "She thinks somebody is watching her or something. She thinks the Internet is hacked or something."

Police say Amanda was last seen leaving her home in the area of Chilson Road and Bishop Lake Road at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, May 10. Her father argues that she went missing May 9. Her purse was phone Tuesday morning. Sapphire was not at school on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Amanda is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. She is 30 years old and has long strawberry blond hair and blue eyes.

Her daughter, Sapphire Palmer, has long red hair and green eyes, and is 4 feet tall and weighs 55 pounds. She was last seen wearing a purple night gown. Police say anyone who sees either person or the car they were in, should call 911.

All other inquiries regarding this case can be made by calling the Hamburg Township Police Department at (810) 231-9391.