PORT TOWNSEND — A teenage girl missing since Friday has been returned to her mother after Marysville police found her walking along a city street Monday morning.
Phoebe Marie McHenry, 15, had been reported missing by her mother, Evelyn Michelle McHenry, Friday afternoon.
Evelyn McHenry could not be reached for comment Monday.
A passerby recognized the teen Monday morning and contacted police.
“We received the call from a passing motorist who recognized her just after 10 this morning in Marysville,” Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux, Marysville Police Department
public information officer, said in an email Monday.
“She was walking down the street in the 8000 block of 47th Avenue.”
She was taken “into protective custody where she was with us for about three hours until her mother could get to Marysville from Port Townsend,” Lamoureux said. “She has since been released to mom.”
‘Runaway case’
Police said Phoebe McHenry was in Marysville by choice, not harmed and in no distress.
As such, the incident is being treated as “solely a runaway case,” Lamoureux said.
“There were no crimes committed and no charges are being considered.”
There are no pending charges in Port Townsend either, said Patrick Fudally, Port Townsend Police Department public information officer.
She “is with her mom and can work through whatever home issues made her decide to run away in the first place,” he said.
Evelyn McHenry reported her daughter missing when she didn’t come home from the OCEAN (Opportunity, Community, Experience, Academics and Navigation)
Program on Grant Street in Port Townsend.
Officers discovered she had not attended school but had been seen in the area at about 12:30 p.m.
Evelyn McHenry has said her daughter had recently transferred to the school and was doing very well there.
Cell phone
The teen’s cell phone was located through a cell tower at 3:25 p.m. Friday near Marysville by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office — the same time a friend received a Facebook message from Phoebe McHenry saying “help,” police said.
Her cell phone was then turned off and could no longer be tracked.
The teenager has no connection to Marysville, located just north of Everett along Interstate 5 in Snohomish County, Evelyn McHenry has said.
Marysville police began searching for her while Port Townsend officers interviewed her friends and acquaintances, hoping for clues.
An adult relative distributed fliers in Marysville, Evelyn McHenry had said.
Phoebe McHenry on Saturday was seen at 7:30 p.m. leaving a 76 gas station in Marysville with two young men and did not seem to be in distress.
“The males were identified” by police, Lamoureux said. “One is from Marysville and the other from Lake Stevens.”
Neither is expected to face any charges stemming from this incident, he said.
Interagency cooperation made this successful outcome possible, Fudally said.
“The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office helped us out when we were first trying to pinpoint the area, and of course, Marysville Police Department has been a big help.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
