WEST POINT, Calif. — If you were following ABC10's live updates of Calaveras County's search for a missing teen girl, you know that she was thankfully found safe and unharmed.
Calaveras County Sheriff's Office has now released more details about the investigation. Missing for roughly a week, the 14-year-old was eventually found inside the home of friends that had deliberately misled the police during the investigation.
The sheriff's office said that the West Point residence where she'd last been seen was also where she was found. On Oct. 22, the teen was reported missing. According to a press release, the girl had gone to spend a few nights at a friend's house in West Point, but when her mom came to pick her up, the people the girl had been staying with said that she had already left.
The girl's parents immediately notified police, who then interviewed the occupants of the residence and searched the house and the surrounding area. The house was searched by both patrol deputies and by detectives.
Again, the people the girl had been staying with said that she had left and was last seen walking down the driveway.
After a week of investigating, detectives got new information and were able to search the house again. When deputies arrived, the occupants were in the front yard. They again insisted the girl was not there.
Detectives eventually found the 14-year-old "intentionally hiding amongst densely hanging clothes." She was unharmed.
Deputies also found what the press release describes as a "hidden trapdoor" that led to a "makeshift sleeping area" located on the dirt floor under the house. Bedding and the girl's cellphone were found there.
West Point residents Isaiah Haggard, 20, and Annie Pearl Abernathy, 41 were arrested on numerous charges, including providing false information to an officer, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and felony child endangerment.
Haggard had originally been questioned regarding the missing teen's location, but the sheriff's office said because of his "deliberate distortion of the facts and fabrication of his involvement in the girl’s disappearance," he was not initially listed as a suspect.
A third suspect, Jose Tinocopureco, 34, also of West Point, was also arrested for providing false information and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
All suspects were transported and booked into the Calaveras County Jail. Haggard and Abernathy are being held with a $100,000 bail each. Tinocopureco was booked and released with a citation for the misdemeanor charges.
The teen has since been returned to her parents, and she is in good health. The investigation is still ongoing and there is no more information at this time.
