Police Department

Spokane Police Help a Worried Minnesota Family Find Their Son

Ofc. John O'Brien, PIO

Monday, December 21, 2020 at 3:22 p.m.

Spokane Police help a worried Minnesota family find their son who hopped a train to Portland, via Spokane, to meet someone he met online. Officers reconnected the young man to his family and he agreed to return home.

On December 21, 2020, around 1:30 a.m., Spokane Police Department (SPD) officers responded to the Intermodal Facility at 221 W. 1^st Avenue after receiving a request from a Minnesota police department requesting assistance. Burnsville P.D. had received a report from the family of an eighteen-year-old young man who was taking a train to Portland. Their son had been missing for 36 hours and was without his medications.

The family was concerned because their son had never been in trouble, had never run away, was stricken with ADD, anxiety and depression, and he had told them he was going to the mall.

Officers explained to the family, because their son is an adult, there may not be much SPD could do other than check on his mental and physical condition.

Officers located the missing male on the train and helped reconnect him with his family over the phone. Officers also mentored the young man and helped him see the dangers in meeting someone from online gaming and traveling alone to unite with them.

The young man stated he wanted to return home to his family so an officer drove him to a hotel near the Spokane Airport where he stayed until a family member flew out to pick him up.

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