TERRE HAUTE —
Two runaway teens from Rockville missing for more than a week now face juvenile court proceedings after they were found safe Tuesday evening in Vigo County.
Elaine Nicole “Nickie” Smith, 16, and Devon Brown-Stites, 15, were last seen at school on March 8, and were considered runaways by Parke County authorities.
On Tuesday, the teens were taken into custody in Vigo County during a traffic stop. They were briefly returned to Parke County to meet with family members, and are now being held in a juvenile detention facility in Vincennes pending an investigation.
Chief Deputy Jake Compton of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department told the Tribune-Star that the juveniles had been picked up in Indianapolis by an adult friend and transported back to Terre Haute.
The teens had contacted various friends in recent days, and were reported to be en route to the Terre Haute area Wednesday evening, Compton said. A traffic stop was made on a semitrailer on U.S. 40 near the Phoenix Hills neighborhood, and the teens were found in that vehicle.
“We were happy to get them back safely,” Compton said of the teens, who cooperated with authorities when taken into custody. Parke County authorities traveled to the Vigo County jail to take the juveniles back to Rockville.
The runaway case has ended positively for Rockville Police Officer John Van Hook, who has been handling the investigation.
“My whole concern was that they were safe,” Van Hook said late Wednesday afternoon.
As a police officer who enjoys working with young people, Van Hook said he was familiar with these two teens, who are friends at Rockville High School.
When the girls were first reported missing, Van Hook said he got a tip that they had traveled to Columbus, Ind. He was able to confirm an address where the teens were staying, but when police arrived there to look for the girls, they were gone.
“We confirmed it, but we were a couple days behind them,” Van Hook said.
The tips kept coming in, however, especially after information about the girls was circulated by media reports this week.
“This next morning, my phone was ringing off the hook,” the officer said.
A tip came in that the teens were at an address on the east side of Indianapolis, and metropolitan police there assisted by checking that residence. But once again, the authorities had just missed the girls. Another tip came that the teens were on the west side of Indianapolis, and surveillance was set up to watch that apartment. But somehow, the teens were able to slip away and contact a person they knew who was en route to Terre Haute.
By Tuesday afternoon, Van Hook said, he was “flooded with information, and trying to put things together so they didn’t slip away again.”
He said he appreciated the help of Vigo County authorities, as well as Indianapolis police and child welfare workers.
The investigation into the case is far from over, said Van Hook, who is entering his fourth year as a full-time officer with Rockville Police after serving a few years as a volunteer reserve officer.
“This is a positive outcome. Kids this age, they don’t realize the dangers of being out on the streets by themselves,” he said. “Fortunately, they were staying with people. But they really were in danger.”
Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.
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