http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_0722_news_missing_teen.151541cd.htmlSearch for Lake Oswego Teen Cost $50,000
07/22/2002
By TERESA BELL, STEPHANIE STRICKLEN, and KYLE IBOSHI, KGW Staff
A 24-hour search for a missing Lake Oswego teenager who returned home unharmed early Tuesday cost about $50,000 dollars, authorities said.
Police planned a 4 p.m. news conference Tuesday to talk further about the case of he teen, whose disappearance caused a massive search in SW Portland's Tryon Creek State Park Monday.
Authorities said Sarah Katherine Roberts, 16, turned up in Seattle late Monday night. FBI agents picked her up near Northgate Mall in Seattle after the teen called her parents at 9:40 p.m.
Captain Marc Galloway with Lake Oswego Police said the girl had gone to Seattle voluntarily with a group of other teenagers.
"There are a lot of other juveniles involved and we are not releasing information on those people at this time," Galloway said during a morning press conference.
The FBI took Roberts into custody for questioning just before 10 p.m. Monday night, according to the Associated Press, and then drove her back to Portland to be reunited with her family. She arrived at her Lake Oswego home at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Lake Oswego police still plan to question Roberts further. Galloway said it's unclear whether she will face any criminal charges. He said the massive search for Roberts cost more than $50,000.
"We are going to give the family a chance to regroup and address the issues that they have to work out first,” Galloway said. “Obviously with a 16-year-old as we all have had 16-year old teenagers, sometimes they are hatched from another planet and we have to deal with those issues."
Details Leading Up to Search:
Local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Tryon Creek State Park Sunday night and all day Monday for Roberts after she failed to return home from a jog.
Sarah Katherine Roberts in a new picture released by her family. It shows her recent change to a darker hair color. (KGW Photo)
Roberts' mother found her daughter's Jeep Cherokee parked along Terwilliger Boulevard in a gravel turnoff at a trailhead about a mile east of the park's Equestrian Center late Sunday night. The family's two dogs were inside the hot car, but there was no sign of Roberts.
Her parents said it was unusual for Roberts to leave the dogs alone.
Lt. Terry Timeus said Sarah Roberts was known to run with her dogs sometimes, although at other times she chose to jog by herself.
"Anybody who is running away is not going to hurt the family pets (in the process)," Timeus had said at the time.
Police are searching Roberts' Jeep for any clues. (KGW Photo)
Detectives on Monday called Roberts' vehicle a "crime scene." They carefully examined the area in and around the vehicle for clues. They also brought in search dogs to sniff for evidence that might lead them to the girl.
Several Agencies Involved
Until darkness fell Monday night, about 100 officers from multiple agencies, K-9 teams and homicide detectives scanned every section of the state park for signs of Roberts. The same FBI investigators who are working on the Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis missing girls cases from Oregon City also helped in Roberts' case.
FBI officials emphasized that Roberts' disappearance was not related to the Oregon City girls, but their expertise could be of assistance.
Her disappearance raised fears that she might have been the latest in what has been a string of abducted girls.
Calling out Roberts' name, searchers first scoured the trails. By midafternoon, they had completed a search of the signed paths through the park, and could conclude that Roberts had probably not fallen and found herself unable to get to safety.
With nothing found, they moved into the thick brush, searching in gridlike patterns.
Searchers are working with dogs in the heavily-wooded park. (KGW Photo)
Searchers were undertaking a "shoulder-to-shoulder, footstep-to-footstep" search of the park which Timeus had said could take up to a week to complete.
Road, Park Closed During Search
Authorities closed off Terwilliger Boulevard between Boones Ferry Road and Highway 43 as they searched the area. They had also closed the park. (See map below)
Police said Roberts wore a white T-shirt and gray sweatshirt with blue shorts when she left home for her jog. She was described as 5'6" tall and weighs about 130 pounds. Roberts' parents had said she knew the Tryon Creek State Park area well and jogs there often.
The park is located at 11321 SW Terwilliger Boulevard in SW Portland between Portland and Lake Oswego.
This photo shows one of the many tree-lined trails in Tryon Creek State Park. (Photo from park Web site.)
The heavily-wooded, 645-acre park has several popular trails used regularly by joggers, cyclists, hikers and horseback riders. Investigators said the size of the park made for a large and difficult search effort.
Roberts lives with her 21-year-old brother, Andrew, and parents, Deborah and James in Lake Oswego, where she also attends high school and plays on the high school soccer team.
Timeus said at the time that police were not ready to call the disappearance a kidnapping, but were treating it as a suspicious missing person. Meanwhile, Roberts' family and friends claimed she came from a tight-knit family and had no reason to run away.
“Sarah’s very much loved by her family, by her friends, and her safety and her return home is what we are focused on currently, and we sincerely hope that happens shortly,” said Roberts’ uncle, Larry Brown on Monday afternoon.
A candlelight and prayer vigil was held for Roberts on Monday night at Millennium Park in Lake Oswego, with numerous friends, family, and communit residents turning out.
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