Did you hear about Macy?

[EngLearner]

Source: "Danger Lurking Under My Roof", a movie (timestamp: 58m31s).

Sasha, Lucy and Macy are all neighbors. Macy hadn't come home the previous night, so in the morning Macy's mother went to Lucy and asked her if she knew where Macy might be. After that, Lucy went outside where she saw Sasha, and they had the following conversation:

Sasha: "What are you up to?"
Lucy: "Just getting some fresh air. Did you hear about Macy? She didn't come home last night."
Sasha: "I did. Do you know anything about that?"

As far as I can tell, Lucy has no specific time in mind, as in "Did you hear about it on the news?", so I wonder if it would be appropriate to use the present perfect here for the bolded verbs:

Sasha: "What are you up to?"
Lucy: "Just getting some fresh air. Have you heard about Macy? She didn't come home last night."
Sasha: "I have. Do you know anything about that?"

I also wonder if the original version with the simple past is how the dialog would go in British English.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, it wouldn't be inappropriate to use the present perfect, but that's not the tense that was used. Focus on what was used.

No, this is not an example of American English.

 

[EngLearner]

Lucy: "Just getting some fresh air. Did you hear about Macy? She didn't come home last night."

The time period that the simple past refers to in this context started when Macy went missing and ended at the time Lucy asked Sasha about her.

Is my understanding correct?

 

[jutfrank]

The time period that the simple past refers to in this context started when Macy went missing and ended at the time Lucy asked Sasha about her.

Is my understanding correct?

The past simple doesn't 'refer to' any time period. It relates to a past event, conceived of as happening at a point in time, which is located somewhere between the point at which Macy went missing and the present moment. Logically, there's no other possibility, is there?

 

[EngLearner]

Logically, there's no other possibility, is there?

No, there isn't.