Manchester bombing: A mother’s anguished plea

Hours after the Manchester Arena bombing, Olivia Campbell, 15, was registered as missing person No. 13.

“We thought she would have just walked home by that point,” her mother Charlotte told CNN Tuesday.

Campbell has not heard from Olivia since Monday night. Her daughter called before a suspected suicide attacker detonated a bomb as throngs of teenagers were pouring out of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 people.

The suspected bomber died in the blast Monday night, which left the wounded and the dead scattered across the arena’s bloodied entrance and sent screaming girls running for cover, according to police.

“We’re going to (search) … and we’ll do it every single day until we find that little girl,” Olivia’s stepfather Paul Hodgson said in an interview, his voice breaking. “Whatever it takes.”

Olivia had gone to the concert with her friend Adam to celebrate his birthday. Her stepfather said Olivia liked to sing herself. She loved music.

“It was like a dream come true to her,” Hodgson said of the concert.

Olivia had called her mother to say how happy she was to be at the arena. She was waiting for Ariana Grande to come on.

“She thanked me and said she loved me and that was the last I heard from her,” said Campbell, close to tears.

When she learned about the attack, Campbell said, she notified the police, called local hospitals and, with the help of a friend, sent out descriptions of Olivia on Facebook and Twitter.

“I’m going to find her,” Hodgson said. “I’m going to bring her home.”

Campbell and Hodgson said they will continue sharing Olivia’s photos in hopes that someone has seen her.

“If one person sees it and that one person sees her, we can get her back,” he said. “That’s all we ask. We don’t want much …. At this present moment, we need our Oli back.”

“I love her so much,” Campbell said, in tears. “I want her home. I need her home. She is my baby. I miss her so much. If she is out there, just phone, just phone. I’ll be there. I don’t care where she is. I’ll be there.”

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