Panama City man arrested in connection with missing teenager

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – A Panama City man is in the Bay County jail, arrested in connection with a teenage girl who’s been missing for 3 months.

Panama City Beach Police are charging 38-year-old Isa Abdullah Muhammad, also known as Christopher Beamon, with interference with child custody and providing law enforcement with false information.

Investigators say Muhammad purposely lied to police officers about the disappearance of 17-year-old Jameela Strickland.

”He chose to lie to us repeatedly over and over again. It became interference. It wasn’t at first because he did have consent to have the child for those years, but once the parents, biological parents came back and said, OK, that’s done, now we’re taking our children back with us, he had to accept that,” Panama City Beach Police Investigator Tiffany McCullough said.

Muhammad was acting as a temporary caregiver for Strickland in February, when her parents arrived and said they’d be taking her back. Around 11:00 pm February 10th, security cameras caught Strickland leaving Dave and Busters, and disappearing.

Investigators believe Muhammad arranged for someone to pick up Strickland and drive her to Adel, Georgia.

Thursday, May 9, someone called Crimestoppers and reported that Strickland was in Georgia.

Panama City Beach Police and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office have located Strickland and she’s been returned to her parents.

The girl was staying with Muhammad in Panama City because of an unstable family life at home. It’s still unclear who she was staying with in Georgia for the last 3 months.

Police say there was at least one co-conspirator, there could be more arrests.

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