Shoreacres mourns lost girl few knew

Shoreacres is a quiet, small community of about 1,500 people located on north Galveston Bay. On Tuesday, more than 100 townspeople gathered around a makeshift memorial to remember a teenager that few knew.

Although Harris County medical examiners have yet to make a formal identification, a body believed to be that of Abigail English was found Saturday in a wooded area near Baywood and Westview, only about 200 yards from her grandmother’s home where she had been living since November 2015.

She was a girl who seemingly fell between the cracks. Abigail had been living in foster care in California for 13 years after her parents lost custody because of drug use.

On Tuesday, Abigail would have turned 16.

“We’re here to celebrate her life,” local minister Don Lanier said before the gathering crowd sang “Happy Birthday.”

Because she had spent most of her life in California foster care, Lanier reached out to one of Abigail’s friends there for some thoughts about her.

“It’s a sad thing that we live in a world where we don’t know our neighbors,” Lanier said.

She was a “shy, sweet girl,” Lanier said, and lived to shop at thrift stores and eat Chinese food. But she wasn’t happy living in California.

“She wanted to be back here — with her family,” Lanier said.

Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch agreed that her longing to return to Texas was a catalyst for whatever problems Abigail might have had with her California foster families. There were no reports of any kind of abusive situation there, he said.

Abigail’s case reminded Miller of his own daughter, Laura, who was 16 when she was abducted and killed in 1984.

Because the family lacked the financial resources, Miller stepped in — arranging with California officials for joint custody of the remains with Abigail’s mother and her burial near his own daughter.

“The only thing little Abby wanted in life was her family,” Miller said.