A family was reunited with their missing 17-year-old after two months of worry. Thankfully she’s alive and well — but the circumstances she was found in are SHOCKING!
Back on May 31, Penelope “Penny” Wise was seen by security cameras leaving her home in Michigan around 6 p.m. according to Kent County Sheriff’s Office. The teen was spotted leaving the residence on foot and making her way down the road. She was also spotted on camera around midnight on June 1 in the Rockford area. These two pieces of evidence led police to believe she had “intentionally walked away from home” — and now their theories are looking pretty well confirmed.
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Luckily, Penny was “located safe” according to a new police update from Sunday. The reports say a community member of Rockford saw the young girl leaving a home in the area and contacted police. It was then police found out the truth — she was living with a man. A 44-year-old man:
“The initial investigation revealed that Penny was living with an older man in a home, in the City of Rockford.”
OMG!
And that’s not even the most shocking part. According to police, the teen didn’t run away from home to be with her star-crossed, much older lover. No, she’d never even met the man up until the night of June 1! On Monday, law enforcement said in an updated statement that the two were strangers, and met around 2 a.m. the last night Penny was spotted on camera. Since then, investigators “also learned that Penny and the man were engaged”.
Wow…
While explaining the situation to WZZM, police said the girl left home after a “disagreement” with her parents and ran into the man by “happenstance”. Kent County Undersheriff Brian Muir told the outlet:
“They never had any connection. There was no digital trail that we could have followed that would have led to this location. They just happened to meet each other and have a bond.”
The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office has also “decided not to pursue charges against the 44-year-old man at this time” because the age of consent in Michigan is 16 — and Penny is 17. But just because they’re not pursuing charges doesn’t mean this whole thing isn’t disturbing as hell, of course. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker told WXMI the case is “clearly troubling” but they “can’t just charge things that we find troubling”:
“We have to follow the law, and that’s what we did. We were just left without anything to charge.”
Meanwhile, Undersheriff Muir told WZZM Monday they “really can’t get into what she’s in custody for, because she is a juvenile still in the eyes of the law” but they’re “trying to connect her with services before she makes it back home”.
People reached out to Penny’s family. Her mother replied and said they’re “happy” to have their daughter back, but they’re “saddened by the choices she made”:
“We are thankful for all the Law Enforcement and the hours they put in searching for our daughter.”
The mom went on to say the family has yet to be able to see their daughter as she’s being held at a Juvenile Detention Facility.
A lot to take in with this case, Perezcious readers. What are your thoughts?
[Image via Kent County Sheriff’s Office]
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