Missing Teen Returns Home Nine Months After Disappearing
Fifteen-year-old Abigail Hernandez was reunited with her family Sunday evening, nine months after she disappeared from a small New Hampshire town in Mount Washington Valley. Hernandez was last seen leaving her high school in October of last year. Authorities are still investigating the circumstances of her disappearance.
Hernandez's family has yet to comment publicly on their daughter's return, with Attorney General Joseph Foster telling the Associated Press that they have requested privacy as the investigation continues.
According to police, Hernandez was walking home from school on her usual route when she disappeared. It was believed that the last her family had heard from her were text messages she sent the day she disappeared, October 9, 2013. But apparently, Abigail had written a letter to her mother while she was still missing. From the Associated Press:
Police did reveal several months ago that she had written home to her mother. When the letter surfaced, FBI Special Agent In Charge Kieran Ramsey said there was the possibility that Abigail had run away but that someone could still be coercing her into staying away from home.
"This was a 14-year-old who went missing for nine months. She did not do this on her own," Associate Attorney General Jane Young said. "This is still a child. This child did not have the ability to survive on her own."
According to a release from New Hampshire State Police and the state's attorney general's office, more information will be released "once it has been determined that releasing additional information will not compromise the integrity of the on-going criminal investigation."