2 missing high school students found safe after large search effort
SPRING, Texas -- Two missing Klein Collins High School teenagers were found after missing for nearly 48 hours.
Sophomore Alyssa Schaefer, 15, disappeared across the street from the school on Monday, and did not return home on the bus as expected. A second student, 16-year-old Noah Lewis, was also reported missing from Klein Collins High School.
Alyssa told abc13's Pooja Lodhia that the two "just decided to run."
"There was so much stress going on in our lives, at home for me is like crazy," Alyssa said. "I'm happy to be back."
She had a warning to other teenagers across the area.
"For teenagers out there, don't do this, please don't," Alyssa said, fighting back tears. "It's not a smart move."
K9 and helicopter patrols were brought in to assist in the two-day search.
Tim Miller with Equusearch says searches like this take a tremendous amount of resources from law enforcement, and elsewhere. Resources that could be spent on legitmate cases.
"Harris County has many many cases out there they need to be working. We have many cases we need to be working," said Miller.
Not responding, Miller says, with significant resources can have unintended consequences. When his daughter Laura first disappeared he says law enforcement treated the case as runaway. Only later did he learn she'd been murdered.
Earlier Tuesday, Alyssa's mom made a tearful plea for her return.
"Everybody is so worried about you, we want you to come home," Victoria Schaefer said. "You're not in trouble, I just want to give you a great big hug and hold you... Please be safe."
Those hugs were shared tonight, repeatedly.
