NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – A missing student from Delgado has been found out-of-state. The NOPD says they have made contact with Shroq Aziz. She is in good health and no foul play was involved.
The 19-year-old was reported missing around 5:30 p.m. Monday when her parents said she didn’t return home after her classes.
WGNO News Reporter Darian Trotter has uncovered exclusive new details about why the young woman may have run off.
In short, Aziz has been found safe and sound out of state. It’s welcomed news on the Delgado Community College Campus.
“We’re all happy definitely,” student Brooke Destroche said.
The 19-year old student left her Arabi home around 7:30 Monday morning. Friends and loved ones became worried when she didn’t return after her evening class.
“Nobody could find her. We didn’t know if she was killed or what happened or anything,” Destroche said.
According to police, Shroq Aziz was seen on security camera footage getting into a black vehicle.
It turns out the driver was a female friend who gave her a ride to the airport.
Family members were kept in the dark. They found Shroq’s car parked in a lot near the Student Life Center.
“And we knew something was up because she’s not anywhere near it. She’s not on campus. So we didn’t know what was going on,” brother Ali Aziz said.
Sources close to the family tell WGNO news that Shroq was unhappy about plans for an arranged marriage.
Tuesday we asked her brother Ali Aziz about the possibility of her running off with a boyfriend.
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend, that’s one thing for sure. She has a fianc?. She’s getting engaged in the summer. So that was the plan,” he explained.
“I guess she’s just looking to start a life away from how her parents view her life is supposed to go,” student George Shifflett said.
Her father would only say that his daughter was uncomfortable with a “situation” at home.
Meanwhile, fellow students empathize with what Shroq may have been feeling.
“She just doesn’t want to go along with this arranged marriage. Her parents are pushing something on her that she doesn’t want,” Shifflett said.
“You don’t know who you’re marrying. You don’t know who you’re going to spend the rest of your life with,” Destoche said.
The first glimmer of home for loved ones came Wednesday afternoon, when the missing woman’s phone was tracked to an airport in Indianapolis.
Her father says she later caught a connecting flight to New York. He says Aziz is with an uncle in New York. She’s expected to return to New Orleans following a “cooling off period” that’s expected to last a few days.