Authorities said that a 14-year-old Washington girl who had been missing from Mount Vernon for almost a month was found safe on Thursday in Michigan.
After finding that the adolescent may have departed home in a ride-share vehicle on January 5, the Mount Vernon Police Department was able to locate the suspect, who was only identified as a 30-year-old male going by the name “Keith,” through an investigation into the history of ride-share services in the area.
Investigators were able to track down a specific ride that Ella might have taken because Mount Vernon doesn’t have many ride-sharing alternatives, the department said in a press release on Thursday. “Investigators were able to identify the subject ‘Keith’ who ordered that ride share for her and his address in South Haven, Michigan.”
Parents of the girls were “elated” with
the information that the 14-year-old girl had been found safely, according to the authorities.
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Police stated that because the suspect drove Jones across state lines, there is probable cause to arrest him with second-degree kidnapping.
Before Jones vanished from her house on the evening of January 5, her mother had previously told Fox News Digital that she had been corresponding with an older guy on social media.
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After Washington investigators made contact with the Michigan Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, they went to the suspect’s property on the Blue Star Memorial Highway and arrested him.
A man named Keith Freeksen is listed on the jail roster of the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, and his charges correspond with those listed in the police press release.
