PALMYRA, Maine — A teenage girl who was reported missing from her Palmyra home more than a week ago was found Monday, said Somerset County Sheriff’s Department Detective Lt. Carl E. Gottardi II.
Gorham police Detective Brian Key went to a private residence in Gorham on an unrelated matter when he spotted a female who matched the description of 15-year-old Harley McGinnis, who left her Palmyra home on Aug. 16.
The disappearance was reported by her guardians, Sue and Sanborn Quimby, who are also her grandparents.
Sanborn Quimby told the Bangor Daily News on Aug. 19 that McGinnis had packed several items and left in the early morning hours of Aug. 16. She had been threatening to run away for a while, he said.
“Once the detective confirmed the juvenile was, in fact, the same female juvenile reported missing from Palmyra … the detective returned to the residence and made contact with the juvenile,” Gottardi said in a statement late Monday afternoon. “The juvenile was brought to the Gorham Police Department, where she will be reunited with her family.”
Gottardi said McGinnis was in good health and there was no indication that she was being held against her will.
“Due to the keen observations made by Detective Brian Key of the Gorham Police Department, this case was brought to a successful conclusion,” said Gottardi.
“Relief — big-time,” Sanborn Quimby said when asked for his reaction. Quimby was traveling to meet McGinnis at the Gorham Police Department at about 5:30 p.m. Monday when he spoke with the Bangor Daily News. “We weren’t sure if she was alive or dead. She’s physically safe. That was the number one concern since she left.”
Quimby said he was also relieved that she stayed in the state. He said he feared she might travel to Louisiana.
“We’re glad she didn’t make it that far,” he said.
So happy to read she’s been found safe and sound!!!
Good observation skills, Detective Key! Kudos all around!
I’m glad she is safe, however, I think she should be held accountable for causing her grandparents and police to panic and spend money looking for her. She is 15, and should have some kind of consequences. Probation, curfew, community service etc.
back in my day that possibility very well existed, nowadays, not so much
You can’t on the one hand legally say she is incapable of making decisions and living on her own because she is a minor and unable to make good choices, and then on the other hand punish her for making bad choices she isn’t legally allowed to make. The juvenile/guardian relationship exists because juveniles have been deemed incompetent of making adult decisions. If you want to be able to punish them for making adult decisions poorly, you need to give them the leeway to make those decisions in the first place.
Well stated.
Then why do we have youth detention centers? We do punish youth for crimes. I spent 30 days in Maine youth detention in the 80’s for skipping school and running away for 1 day and refusing to come home when my parents demanded I return. I was placed on 6 months probation and when I skipped school again, that is when I “broke” the probation, and spent 30 days in Portland Youth Center. Juveniles are not incompetent of making Good choices, she knew she was running away and that it was wrong. She packed clothes and took off.
What did she do that was illegal? She didn’t skip school, so she was not a truant. You can’t be put on probation without committing a crime.
I don’t exactly know…. but I do know that if she had run away numerous times, there is some kind of ” law” against that, she is 15, not 7. She knew her family was looking for her, she knew police were looking for her, she made no calls to let her family know she was alive and ok. I understand teenagers get upset and take off, but she had police and local news outlets on a hunt for her! Being held accountable when I pulled that crap put me back on the right road. I am now a licensed health professional with an advanced degree. I’m not saying we lock her up, I’m just saying hold her accountable for the mess she caused. A short probation or curfew… often it is the only way that parents can begin to gain back some control over disorderly teens.
Ok then. That sounds like a free ticket to get away with .. oh, just about anything.
Where is her accountability? She’s a kid, so she can get away with it? Not hardly.
Why wouldn’t the people hiding her be guilty of criminal restraint. They had a runaway juvenile in their home.
Criminal restraint implies they held her against her will. Based on what the article says, she was there willingly, so that wouldn’t apply.
That being said, I would think there’s SOMETHING they could be charged with. They had to have had questions about why she wasn’t going home, they may even have known she ran away.
If she was held against her will, yes they should have, I do believe that there is/was an offense for failing to notify authorities in these cases, I do not recall and even if it is still out there the question now becomes did the people who had her knew she was missing, the stories could go on as to why these people “didn’t know” she was a runaway before slapping them on the hand etc. Now if they were the ones that assisted her during her middle of the night escape, then there should be some level of accountability as I am sure “Yeah Gram said I could leave in the middle of the night, she has no problem with it” wouldn’t sound too convincing.
So many, so lost, so why?
So many unhappy young people nowadays.
Because spoiling leads to entitlement which leads to disappointment when they only get a $200 smartphone instead of a $300 smartphone.
ASSume much?
I am glad that she was found safe and sound. It could so easily have turned out badly for her.
She was obviously safe where she was and wanted to be there. Wonder why she left in the first place? Something tells me we will be hearing of this happening again.
I really feel bad for these grandparents. The girl has obviously come from a broken home and the grandparents love her enough to take her in and care for her. How ungrateful can a young girl be? Punishment for what she has done is now impossible thanks to the Liberals. The only ones being punished here are the grandparents. I really feel sorry for them.
Please enlighten us as to what laws make punishment “impossible”?
.
Or do you really mean no one is allowed to beat her up?
Boy, this young woman has no idea about the kind of trouble she’s headed for if she continues down this path- rape being only one possibility. I feel sorry for her grandparents, who don’t deserve the worry this ungrateful brat has caused them. I don’t know the circumstances under which they were made her guardians but it’s obvious that they love her. It’s just an unfortunate situation and they deserve respect for caring enough about her to give her a home.
How about who she was with? Why the cops showed up there in the first place?
If they didn’t commit a crime, then there is no reason to be nosey.
Glad she’s safe, but the shame of it all is that if/when she does it again there will be more time and resources wasted again to find and bring her home.