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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:09 pm
Missing Penhold, Alta., teenager found alive in Red Deer
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
PENHOLD, Alta. - Relatives of a teenager who had been missing for two days in central Alberta say she has been found alive.
Jordan Knelsen-Long, 16, went missing Thursday night after she drove to a nearby store to buy some juice wearing pyjamas and a coat.
"She has been found and this is the best day ever," Bonnie Tanton, Jordan's aunt, said Saturday night.
"She is on her way to the police station. We have her back and we are so glad. This is the best day."
RCMP said she was found at Bower Place Shopping Centre in Red Deer at about 8:30 PM. Mounties said Jordan is being interviewed about the 46 hours she was missing.
Her exhausted father, Doug Long, walked inside the Mountie detachment to be reunited with his daughter, but declined to comment.
The family got the good news while driving home Saturday night from a candlelight vigil attended by more than 200 people outside of the high school Jordan attends in Red Deer.
"We are so excited. This is just so amazing. People have been so good. There is clearly a bad apple out there," Tanton said.
"I said 'Oh My God. She has been found.' I had to hug everybody. I got talking to a policeman and it was all I could do to stop from giving him the biggest hug."
Jordan was only gone from home for 20 minutes on Thursday when her family found her truck parked in front of their Penhold, Alta., home with the keys inside and the lights on.
Her purse and the items she bought at the store were also in the truck, but her wallet and cellphone were gone.
Police and volunteers combed the area around the teenager's home on Saturday. A Facebook website was has also set up to glean information on her whereabouts.
"We've had lots of offers of help and tons of calls. We're overwhelmed by it all," Tanton said.
Earlier Saturday RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said police spoke to two men whom they believed had information - one seen on the store's surveillance video talking to Jordan, the other spotted outside the store.
Both were later interviewed by police and eliminated as suspects.
During the day dozens of family, friends and volunteers distributed posters that bear the teen's photo.
Jordan's uncle, Travis Knelsen, said he hoped the effort would encourage his niece, wherever she may be.
"Maybe Jordan will see it and get some hope," he said, adding her family is growing increasingly anxious.
"It's tough - everyone is starting to break down a bit."
The ordeal has taken its toll on Jordan's boyfriend of three months, Jimmy Sebree, 19.
"I don't want to think about what could have happened," he said.
"I don't know anyone who would want to hurt her, she's too nice a person."
Crews also scoured an area near Red Deer, where signals from Jordan's cellphone were detected about five hours after she disappeared.
Webb said there were no indications of foul play, but also no explanation for the disappearance of the teen, who has been described as a good student from a stable family.
"We are not going to call it foul play, but extremely suspicious," he said.
"She's a good kid and right now we don't have any plausible explanations."
Finally. One with a happy ending!
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