13-Year-Old Girl Went Missing After Meeting Man Online
Girl Left East Towne Mall With 3 Older Men
Posted: 5:45 pm CDT July 25, 2006Updated: 8:44 pm CDT July 25, 2006
MADISON, Wis. -- A Madison mother is urging other parents to monitor their children's Internet activities after her 13-year-old daughter met a man online and went missing.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportWISC-TV reported that police have not launched an all-out search for the girl because at this point there is no evidence that a crime has been committed.But the girl has not been seen since 3 p.m. Monday afternoon when friends said she left East Towne Mall with three older men.Jenni Polensky noticed that her daughter Kayla last accessed her MySpace.com Web site on Tuesday, meaning that she is out there somewhere."At least she's still alive. We just don't know where she is, but we're working on it," Polensky said.She last spoke with her daughter Monday afternoon. Kayla was at East Towne Mall with friends and the agreement was that her mom would pick her up at 6 p.m."And she said OK, and I said, 'I love you,' and she said, 'I love you,' and that was that," Polensky said.Kayla's friends told her mom that Kayla left with three men including one she said she met online. Her mom logged onto Kayla's MySpace page and found that she had been corresponding with a man who said he is 19."She acts big and tough, like she's their age but she's not. Well, she's got a whole different persona online, a whole different kid I didn't even know existed," Polensky said.Polensky called the police Monday evening."They came over. They said they would file a runaway report," she said.Police get five to 10 calls involving missing teens a night, WISC-TV reported."It is being reviewed, and an officer took a report, which is being reviewed by a supervisor, and will be distributed to a detective for follow-up," said Mike Hanson, a public information officer with the Madison Police Department.There is no indication Kayla has been victimized, but these kinds of online hook-ups are a growing concern for state officials."Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, in just this department we've arrested 300 sexual predators who, through Internet contact, lured a kid for a meeting and had illicit contact of some sort with that child," said Michael Bauer of the attorney general's office.At this point, Kayla's mother said she believes her daughter went willingly with whoever she is with -- but that doesn't make it any easier."I just got to know she's OK," Polensky said.Polensky called the WISC-TV News Center Tuesday evening to report that her daughter has now contacted her and said she is coming home.It's the news Polensky had been hoping and praying for, for more than 24 hours.
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