The KBI has issued an Amber Alert for Kelsey Stelting, 17, Independence, Kan.

Kansas and Oklahoma authorities issued an Amber Alert this morning for a 16-year-old girl who reportedly was abducted from her home in Independence.

Kelsey Stelting was last seen about 6:30 a.m. while getting ready for school, said her mother, Kelly Cox. The softball player was getting a bag of softball bats from the family car and did not return to the house, Cox said.

Police believe Kelsey was forced to enter a white van, whose make and model were not known. Police said the van was last seen going south on U.S. 75 toward Oklahoma, which is only about 15 miles from Independence.

Cox said when she went outside to see where Kelsey was, the doors to the family’s car were open, with the keys on the ground. Cox said she didn’t see or hear anything before she went outside.

“Shortly after that we called authorities,” Cox said in a telephone interview. “We knew something was wrong right away.”

The family had not heard from the girl as of 2 p.m. Tuesday, she said. The family was offering a $50,000 reward for the girl’s safe return.

Kelsey is blond, blue-eyed weighs 110 pounds and is 5-foot-4 inches tall.

“As far as everyone knows, we can’t determine any motive. There hasn’t been any threats, no kind of vendetta,” Cox said.

Kelsey was happy, well-liked and active, with no reason to run away, her mother said. The junior in high school was preparing to play in a softball doubleheader Tuesday evening, was doing well academically and was captain of the dance team, she said.

Anyone with information has been asked to call the Independence Police Department at (620) 332-1700 or the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (800) KS-CRIME.