Missing 15-Year-Old Utah Girl Found Safe After Police Nab Three Accused Pedophiles

Police said a 15-year-old girl from South Jordan, Utah, who has been missing since April 21 was found safe on Sunday in Colorado.

The girl is identified as Alisa Petrov who walked into the Colorado Springs Police Department in good health, according to KUTV.

It was unclear how she arrived at the location or if she had been held against her will. In a statement early Monday, South Jordan police said Petrov’s parents had been notified she was found safe and authorities were working to bring her home:

Petrov went missing after being dropped off at her school on April 21 in American Fork. She did not go to school but ended up at a train station. She reportedly went to Provo, before asking people for help in getting to Las Vegas, the Daily Mail reported on Monday. The article said she had been using an old iPad to talk to three accused pedophiles who have since been taken into custody. The teenager had apparently arranged to meet one of them, a 35-year-old man named Matthew Nicholas Menard, in Las Vegas.

Images show the teenager and the men accused in the case:

“Alisa has not explained why she ran away, but messages on Discord and Snapchat between Alisa and Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, another of the accused pedophiles, revealed deep animosity she apparently felt for her parents,” the Mail report said. The girl reportedly talked about suicide in their chats and told him she was angry with her parents, was cutting herself, and asked him to “kidnap” her.

However, Mitchell was unable to meet the girl so she made plans to meet one of the other men in Las Vegas. Mitchell later told officers she had mentioned meeting an FBI agent in Florida, who is reportedly Menard, a tech sales executive. Menard is accused of grooming her for sex.

Alisa never met that suspect because law enforcement in Miami seized his phone a few days after she went missing and found the texts between them.

“Menard was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and three counts of criminal solicitation on May 20, and surrendered to police eight days later,” the Mail article read. “Another man Alisa was allegedly talking to, William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, was arrested on May 8 and remains in custody,” it added.

The outlet said officials charged him with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, criminal solicitation, and possession of child porn, while Mitchell was charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

While the teen was still missing, her mother said she was very attached to her social media but had not been using it.

According to the Mail, the girl’s mother also said she and her husband worked hard to protect their daughter when it came to online activities by checking her phone. However, they did not find anything suspicious.

“We never thought she could be talking to strangers in this way…  but she was sneaky and we didn’t know. I wish we figured this out sooner and could help her,” her mother explained.