GARY, Ind. (WLS) — Even though 14-year-old Ja’Niyah McMichael has been missing for nearly nine months, her family still holds out hope that she will be found alive, despite investigators recently saying that something sinister is behind her disappearance.

“It’s very hard, because Ja’Niyah was like one of my own children instead of my granddaughter,” said Dalia Guerrero, McMichael’s grandmother.

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Still hopeful, Guerrero prays for the best, but braces for the worst as investigators searching for her missing granddaughter say she may be the victim of foul play.

“Of course we want to find her alive, but if we don’t, we need to lay her to rest as she deserves,” Guerrero said.

The teen, whose 14th birthday was Monday, was reported missing by her mother last August from their Gary, Indiana home.

McMichael was last seen wearing black pajama pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, and red and black shoes.

Investigators have searched the home where the girl lived.

While the FBI says McMichael has known ties in both Gary and East Chicago, Indiana, they have not provided any details outlining this latest development.

“It was very unlike Ja’Niyah to be gone for so long, so it wasn’t a shock to find out foul play could be possible in this case,” said Lisette Guillen with Case Files Chicago.

On Monday night, family and friends and people in the community gathered to celebrate McMichael with a balloon release, where her biological father, Antonio Rogers, promised never to stop looking for his daughter.

Federal investigators and the City of Gary have put up a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in McMichael’s disappearance.

“If somebody is holding her, just let her go. you can drop her off anywhere. My numbers are on the flyers. I will go anywhere. just let her go,” Guerrero said.

The Gary Police Department and the FBI asked anyone with information about the girl’s disappearance to contact them.

Tips can be submitted anonymously to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.