LOCAL GIRL FOUND AFTER 15 YEARS MISSING
A teenage girl who has been missing since 1968 was found and reunited with her parents two days ago when she appeared in the quaint woods behind a local family’s house. Authorities say Susan Carpenter wandered out of the woods behind the home of Ron and Shiela Taylor Wednesday. The Taylors informed sheriff’s deputies that their sons saw the girl walking out of the woods when they were home from school due to the snow day. The boys reportedly took her in and attempted to discover her identity with little success. They called the sheriff’s department who was able to determine the girl is 15-year old Susan Carpenter.
Carpenter was reported missing by her parents, Martin and Cathy Carpenter, in 1968 when she did not return home from a basketball game she attended with her friends. A county-wide manhunt ensued and seemed promising at first when Susan’s shoes were found in the same woods she wandered out of Wednesday. Nothing else was found, however, and eventually the manhunt was called off. The case went cold and no new leads were ever found.
Sheriff Ray Fields told reporters that Susan Carpenter was in good health aside from her apparent lack of aging. Susan was 15 when she disappeared which would make her approximate age 30 years old. When asked about this, Sheriff Fields replied, “we have no explanation for that currently.”
“The main thing,” he added, “is that Susan is safe and home with her family.”