DARIAN GARDNER - 16 yo - Eaton OH

Posted: 9:34 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Preble sheriff: Missing girl, 16, a runaway for now



By J. Frazier Smith



Staff Writer


EATON, Preble County —

A
16-year-old teen has left home and the Preble County Sheriff’s Office
is treating her as a runaway, but her family wants an Amber Alert issued
and has sent her picture to news organizations in hopes she’ll soon be
found.
Darian Gardner was last seen in her pajamas about 6:45 p.m.
Monday emptying the trash outside her home, which is near the private
gated community of Lackengren, family spokesman Troy Maxel told News
Center 7 on Tuesday night. There were about 30 members of the family at
the house all day who had been searching the area for her, he said.
“We’ve
checked abandoned barns,” said Maxel, who noted that the girl’s parents
declined to speak with the media. “We’ve checked empty lots.”
But
Sheriff Michael Simpson said that without any leads, his office can’t
do any more than what protocol mandates must be done in such situations.
The
sheriff’s office has entered Darian’s name and picture with the
database maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, in Alexandria, Va., as well as with the National Crime
Information Center, a sharing system used by law enforcement.
“If
she runs into law enforcement and she gives them accurate information,
they'll hang onto her,” Simpson said, explaining how the NCIC system
works. “Hopefully, she'll give them accurate information.”
Simpson
said, “right now, we have it as a runaway child. We have absolutely
nothing in our investigation to suggest that it’s anything other than a
runaway. At this point, we're doing everything we can do. We're
following our protocol.”
The Eaton High School student has a cell
phone, Simpson said, but it’s a Trak phone. “We don’t have the ability
to track the cell phone that she may have,” he said. ”You can't ping it
or get coordinates on it.”
Simpson said he understands the
parents’ concern, but “none of this qualifies as an Amber Alert. There
are very stringent guidelines you have to go by. At this point, we don't
even know who the girl may be with. There's no violence that we're
aware of,” he said, explaining some of the circumstances under which
such alerts would be triggered.
The sheriff’s office is not aware
of any history with this family at all as far as past instances of
Darian running away, Simpson said.
He said his office has filed a request with the court to access Darian’s phone records, but that will take a few days.
“At
this point, unless we get some leads and get some information we can
follow up on, we’re going to have to wait on some records,” Simpson
said. “We're going to have to find out who this girl may have been in
contact with.”
http://www.newstalkradiowhio.com/news/news/local/preble-sheriff-missing-girl-16-runaway-now/nLSCs/

Missing Preble County teen found safe

EATON, Preble County —

The
16-year-old girl who disappeared from her home on Monday evening has
been found safe, Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson said Wednesday
evening.
Darian Gardner was found in Preble County, unhurt,
Simpson said, who told News Center 7 Reporter Mark Bruce that more
information about the case would be made available on Thursday.
The
announcement about Darian came a few hours after Simpson told News
Center 7 that the Internet might have played a "big role" in the girl's
disappearance.
Darian was last seen outside her home in her
pajamas about 6:45 p.m. Monday taking out the trash, family spokesman
Troy Maxel told News Center 7 on Tuesday night. Darian lives near the
private gated community of Lackengren.
Earlier Wednesday
afternoon, Simpson said, “We want her home safe and feel for the parents
who don’t know wheretheir daughter is, but it takes time to get this
stuff done.”
He said he believed Darian left on her own accord and mostly was chatting online with adult males.
Sheriff's
detectives were trying to backtrack Gardner's activity to figure out
who she might have been talking to online and offline, he said.
Detectives also werelooking through phone and Internet records.
Deputies
had sent a photo of Gardner and information about her to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children as well as to the National
Crime Information Center.
http://www.whiotv.com/news/news/local/missing-girl-possibly-talked-men-online/nLSsm/