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Delco police: Missing mom might be foul-play victim

Nicole DeGuio will do anything to find her missing sister. She has even knocked on a pimp's door in a dicey Philadelphia neighborhood and handed out condoms to prostitutes in hopes they would be able to give her information.

Amanda DeGuio, 25, mother of two girls.
Amanda DeGuio, 25, mother of two girls.Read more

Nicole DeGuio will do anything to find her missing sister.

She has even knocked on a pimp's door in a dicey Philadelphia neighborhood and handed out condoms to prostitutes in hopes they would be able to give her information.

Police, however, fear that her sister, Amanda DeGuio, a Drexel Hill mother of 3- and 5-year-old girls, was likely the victim of foul play. She was last seen by family members in June 2014.

"Amanda should have been heard from," Michael Chitwood, superintendent of the Upper Darby Township police, said Thursday at a news conference.

"We are not going to give up hope and faith until we find her," said Amanda's sister, Nicole DeGuio, 26, a paralegal, clutching a prayer card.

According to police and family members, the missing petite brunette had struggled with a prescription-drug habit she incurred after multiple surgeries for an infection after the birth of her first child. She later developed a heroin habit and they said she was also known to be involved in prostitution.

She had arrests for drug charges and for retail theft, according to court documents.

To her family, Amanda is a sister, daughter, mother and friend. They want to find her - or at least find out what happened to her.

"I need to bring her home," said Joanne DeGuio, Amanda's mother, holding back tears. "I need to have an answer for her children and her family. I need closure."

It wasn't unusual for Amanda to leave for a few days while her daughters were visiting their fathers, Nicole DeGuio said. What was unusual, was her not calling home.

In August, the family reported her missing to police after an unsuccessful search on their own. Her family was unaware Amanda DeGuio had a heroin habit until her disappearance. She had been in and out of rehab for pills, they said.

"We have no answers," said Joanne DeGuio. "We know she's in a bad place, and we miss her."

Amanda DeGuio, who now would be 25, also goes by the names Gianna or Arianna.

In one of their last conversations, her sister recalled, Amanda talked about how she wanted to "get clean," get a job, and get some dental work done. "She wanted to start dressing nicer."

DeGuio is described as 5-foot-2, about 115 pounds, and with long brown hair. She has diagonal surgical scars on her upper and lower abdomen and a variety of tattoos including an "Italian boot" on her torso and the initials "SC" on her finger.

Upper Darby Police ask anyone with information to contact 610-734-7693.