Alisa Petrov, a 15-year-old girl who had been missing for six weeks after running away from home to meet an alleged p*dophile, has been found alive.
Alisa had vanished on April 21 after being dropped off at school in Utah, getting on a train out of town, as per The Daily Mail.
The teen walked into a police station in Colorado Springs on Sunday night (June 1) and identified herself.
Police said Alisa was “in good health.” It remains unclear where she was or if she had been held against her will.
Alisa Petrov, 15, was found “in good health” six weeks after she was reported missing
“Alisa’s parents have been notified of her location and are working with South Jordan Police to bring her home,” police said.
After Alisa went missing, her parents Olga and Nikolai discovered an iPad she kept hidden in her dresser. The device reportedly contained messages she had exchanged with three accused p*dophiles, who are now incarcerated.
Alisa was dropped off at her school, about 32 miles south of Salt Lake City on April 21. However, instead of going to class, she convinced a man at a gas station to drive her to the local train station.
Olga previously told The Daily Mail that her daughter had approximately $1,000 saved from pocket money and birthday gifts, so she suspected someone was “helping” Alisa.
The teen had run away from her home to meet an accused p*dophile, 35-year-old Matthew Nicholas Menard
Alisa got off the train in Provo, about 14 miles south of American Fork, and asked people to buy her a bus ticket to Las Vegas, where she had arranged to meet 35-year-old Matthew Nicholas Menard.
Messages exchanged on Snapchat and Discord between Alisa and another man, 41-year-old accused p*dophile Samuel Teancum Mitchell, mentioned “su*cide” and “that she hates her parents,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit for Samuel’s arrest.
“Mitchell advised he had met a girl online who was mad at her parents and had started cutting herself.”
Alisa reportedly asked Samuel to “k*dnap her” and eight days before she ran away sent him locations of where she was planning to go.
She messaged the man, “Like r we [for real] meeting?? like please confirm please before tonight confirm if we r meeting pls bring c*ndoms.”
Her parents found conversations with Matthew and two other older men accused of p*dophilia
The 41-year-old replied that they couldn’t meet because he was feeling unwell. After that, Alisa decided to meet another man believed to be Matthew Nicholas Menard, a tech sales executive who had spent months grooming her.
According to the affidavit, Samuel told police that Alisa “mentioned that she met” another man in Florida and “had an interest in that guy.”
Two days before she vanished, Alisa reportedly messaged Samuel saying, “IM RUNNING AWAY, please don’t contact me,” suggesting she was planning to meet Matthew, who was in Las Vegas for a business trip.
Alisa and Matthew had been exchanging messages since January 17.
On April 30, Miami police seized Matthew’s phone after Alisa’s parents found his texts on her device.
On May 20, he was charged with two counts of aggravated s*xual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and three counts of criminal solicitation. He and Alisa never met.
The three men she had texted have been arrested and charged with s*xual exploitation of a minor
The third man arrested in connection to the case is 37-year-old William Taylor Glines from Texas, who was put behind bars on May 8.
William allegedly tried to convince Alisa to send her photos and videos of her unclothed.
On his phone, police found no such videos and photos of Alisa but discovered conversations with two other underage girls who had agreed to send him the content he requested.
William was charged with aggravated s*xual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation.
Additionally, he was charged with possessing more than 50 s*xual images or videos involving children.
It remains unknown who Alisa was with during the time she was missing
Samuel was arrested last Wednesday (May 28) in the Salt Lake County Jail and charged with five counts of s*xual exploitation of a minor.
Olga said she and her husband “regularly checked” Alisa’s phone but never found anything “suspicious.”
“Everything seemed to be normal, just classmates, neighbors,” she described.
“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.”
Officer Shaun Becker of the Colorado Springs Police Department said the investigation is ongoing and detectives are “going to continue to do everything they can to figure out what happened,” as per local outlet KSL 5.
“This investigation isn’t over. If anything, it’s just beginning.”
People expressed relief at the news that the 15-year-old had been found in good health
