Friends and family members of a missing Elbert County teenager handed out missing-child fliers in Boulder on Tuesday after a police investigation indicated the girl, last seen in downtown Denver, may have been taken to Boulder by an unknown man, searchers say.

Avery Dawn Workman, 16, last communicated with someone she knew at 2:45 p.m. Sunday when she sent a text message to her sister, who was supposed to pick her up on the 16th Street Mall in Denver at 8 p.m. that day.

Avery, a troupe member of the Elbert-based youth performance and training group Circus-Your-Way, was performing stunts on the mall with a large black, white and yellow hula hoop, according to Jo Petit, Circus-Your-Way ring mistress and a close friend of Avery.

Denver police investigating the teen’s disappearance say they spoke to a witness who claimed to have seen her in Denver’s Civic Center Park at 5 p.m. Sunday with an unidentified man, who said he was taking her with him on a bus to Boulder, Petit said.

Petit said Avery is outgoing as a performer but is not the type who would travel with a stranger willingly. She said investigators are working under the theory that Avery may have been drugged, based on information from the witness they spoke to in Civic Center Park.

“This is not a city kid who takes off with some unknown stranger,” Petit said. “She’s not a rough kid. She has the sweetest, bubbliest personality.”

Avery is described as about 5-feet 4-inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds. She is Caucasian with red hair, blue eyes and a birthmark under her left eye. She was last seen wearing a black vest and a white mini skirt.

The man investigators believe she may be with is described as white, with a medium build and blond or brown dreadlocks. He reportedly has a tattoo on his wrist of a chemical molecule and was last seen wearing overalls and a hat, both covered in patches. It is believed the man is homeless.