A teenage girl who had been missing for nearly two months after vanishing from her family’s Michigan home in May was found Sunday living with — and engaged to — an older man she had just met, authorities said.
Penelope “Penny” Wise, 17, was reported missing by family members after she ran away from her Cedar Springs home around 6 p.m. on May 31, according to the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
She was last seen on security footage walking alone near a bar in Rockford around midnight on June 1.
Wise is believed to have met her 44-year-old fiancé that same night, the sheriff’s office said in an update to her missing person’s case Monday.
The muscular-faced teenager was thought to have left her home voluntarily, but in the nearly two months since she was spotted near the bar, there has been no trace of the girl anywhere.
She had not been seen by passersby or by security cameras in the area, leading to a massive search operation by investigators from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Michigan State Police and the Rockland Department of Safety.
“We believe she intentionally strayed from home, but due to the passage of time and lack of sightings, KCSO [Kent County Sheriff’s Office] and his family are concerned for his well-being,” the sheriff’s office said in a June 7 update.
Despite support from other law enforcement agencies and volunteers, additional field searches and a hotline open for information about Wise, investigators had no leads in her disappearance as of Sunday morning.
A “watcher” community member called police around 11 a.m. after seeing the teenager riding her bike and recognizing her from missing persons flyers.
Investigators responded and learned that Wise had been living with an unnamed man 27 years her senior since the night she ran away from home.
She had first met him around 2am on June 1 and had lived in his house from that day until last Sunday, when she left the house on her bicycle and was spotted by the resident.
Investigators also learned that Wise and the man had become engaged between her disappearance and this weekend.
They said the teenager was found “safe and sound” and sheriff’s detectives were still investigating the case.
The Kent County District Attorney’s Office has not authorized any charges against Wise’s new fiancé, according to M Live.