Claim:   Is a 14-year-old Michigan girl named Lindsey Ryan missing?

Status:   Outdated.

Origins:   Another missing child alert with a fortunate ending: 14-year-old Lindsey Ryan was discovered missing from her Michigan home on Saturday morning, 1 March 2003, when her mother went to wake her and found her bedroom door locked. When Lindsey's father broke the door down, the two parents discovered the bedroom window open and their daughter missing.

Lindsey was said to be in the company of a 56-year-old man named Terry Drake from Middlebury, Indiana, whom the Ryan family had met through their church and with whom Lindsey was carrying on an e-mail relationship. Drake pleaded guilty to the 1977 kidnapping and murder of Linda Kearschner in 1977 and served 12 years in prison for the crime.

Police did not know whether Lindsey accompanied Drake voluntarily or was abducted. The two were reportedly traveling in a white 1995 Dodge Dakota extended-cab pickup with an Indiana license plate and were thought to be headed for California. Witnesses reported seeing the pair traveling west on Interstate 80 through Wyoming, Utah and Nevada and also reported that Lindsey's blonde hair had been dyed black.

On 24 March 2003, Lindsey was safely recovered when a California Highway Patrol trooper spotted a "suspicious looking vehicle" near Susanville, California, stopped it, and found it to be driven by Terry Drake with Lindsey along as a passenger.

Additional Information:

Lindsey Ryan - Missing   (The Polly Klaas Foundation)

Last updated:   20 October 2007

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  Sources:

    CNN.com.   "Amber Alert Issued for Missing Michigan Girl."

    6 March 2003.

    CNN.com.   "Police: Man Heading West with Teen."

    5 March 2003.

    CNN.com.   "Parents Pray for Daughter's Return."

    12 March 2003.