Days before her body was found not far from her home near Lake Lanier, Hannah Truelove sent out puzzling messages on Twitter.
Now police and family are struggling to determine whether those handful of tweets were the over-dramatizing of a teenage mind or precursors - if not clues - to her slaying. And some of her friends regret they didn’t take the messages more seriously.
At 2:03 p.m. on Aug. 12, the 16-year-old sent out a message saying she felt pursued by a stalker. But that was followed on her public account by a string of light-hearted messages.
At 7:23 p.m. on Aug. 18, she posted, “So scared right now” - a message, again, followed by the mundane musings of a high-school girl.
At 5:31 p.m. on Wednesday, the day before she disappeared, the Gainesville High Schooler tweeted, “I need to move out of these dang apartments.”
Hannah’s mother reported her missing from their apartment complex Thursday at about 10 p.m., and a person found the teen’s body Friday evening in the woods behind her apartment complex.
Hall County authorities told Channel 2 Action News that they believe she was killed by someone she knows.
On Monday, officials declared her death was a homicide. The cause of death has not been made public, and police have said little regarding the investigation.
Hannah’s father, Jeff Truelove, said his daughter showed no sign of impending danger when, about a week ago, he took her to the Commerce outlet mall to outfit her for school.
“She made no mention of anything to me. But maybe it was one of those things that kids tell to kids,” he said.
Hannah lived in the gated apartment complex with her mother, but her father, who lives in nearby Jackson County, said that if he had heard any worries, “she would be out here with me.”
Hannah’s neighbors said they saw the brown-haired, blue-eyed girl walking toward the picnic tables at Lake Lanier Club Apartments at 4 p.m Thursday, where she was often seen relaxing and sending tweets. But her last tweet came hours before at 1:32 p.m. It said, “ummm yes ma’am.”
Other neighbors placed her there as late as 7:30 p.m. Hannah’s body was found the next day about a quarter mile from those tables.
Jeff Truelove said he was in the midst of teaching his daughter to drive. He said she had two cats and a Yorkie dog, Jake, and wanted to become a veterinarian.
“She was a very loving girl,” her father said. “She was just daddy’s little girl.”
Several of Hannah’s friends at school said they saw some of the mysterious tweets, and didn’t know what to make of them.
“I didn’t take it seriously,” said Cristina Robles, a sophomore. Now, she said, “I think I could have helped and talked to her about it and taken it more seriously.”
Staff writer Alexis P. Stevens contributed to this article.
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