Missing 17-year-old girl found living with 44-year-old stranger, Michigan cops say
A 17-year-old girl had been missing since May when a community member spotted her riding a bike, Michigan deputies said.
Investigators found she had been living with an older man in Rockford, according to an update from Kent County deputies on July 21. The man was a stranger, authorities told WXMI.
The girl left her family’s home in Cedar Springs the evening of May 31, according to deputies. She was then seen on camera around midnight June 1, walking by herself near a bar, the sheriff’s office said.
She met the 44-year-old man around 2 a.m. on June 1, police told WZZM.
McClatchy News is not naming the girl because she is a minor.
The girl told police she had been living with the stranger and that the two were engaged, deputies told WZZM.
In Michigan, the minimum age to consent to marriage is 18.
Authorities told WZZM that they don’t expect charges to be filed in the case at this time.
As of Sunday, July 21, the girl had not been reunited with her parents and was in a juvenile facility as officials investigate the situation and connect her with resources, deputies told WOOD.
“Was she being held against her will?” her mother told WOOD. “Was she there voluntarily, where she knew the guy, or was this just somebody that picked her up? Just what she’s been doing for the last seven weeks.”
Rockford is about a 160-mile drive northwest from Detroit.
This story was originally published July 23, 2024 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Missing 17-year-old girl found living with 44-year-old stranger, Michigan cops say."
