Caitlyn Frisina with her parents Scarlet and Ward after police located her in New York with the school's soccer coach.
Caitlyn Frisina with her parents Scarlet and Ward after police located her in New York with the school's soccer coach.
The mother of a Florida teenager who was found days after her disappearance in New York with a 27-year-old soccer coach from her school was overcome with relief on Monday as she addressed reporters at a news conference.
Her daughter, 17-year-old Caitlyn Frisina, was home. A week-long nightmare had ended.
"We understand and we realise that this was a very big deal," said Scarlet Frisina at the news conference in Florida's Columbia County, where the family lives. "We are already taking steps toward rebuilding our lives after such an emotional week."
"By lots of grace and love, we will heal," she said.
Caitlyn, a senior at Fort White High School, had been missing since November 25 after she appeared to sneak out of her bedroom window, according to the Associated Press. A soccer coach at her school, Rian Rodriguez, allegedly ran off with her to central New York, where the pair were found on December 1.
Rodriguez, who coached the boys' soccer team at Caitlyn's school, has been charged with interference with a child's custody. He has been suspended from the school, according to the AP.
Police said they are investigating whether he and Caitlyn had a sexual relationship, according to ABC News.
Caitlyn's mother said the family was relieved to have her home and is grateful for the support of friends, neighbours and law enforcement during the search for her daughter.
Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter said on Monday that he was proud of Caitlyn for attending the news conference. He said she had been "influenced by somebody who was in control, was in a supervisory role".
"That shouldn't be," he said. "She's got a lot of growing up to do even though she's a very strong young lady."
Caitlyn was first reported missing on November 26, shortly after she withdrew $200 from an ATM in St. Marys, Georgia, sheriff's officials said in a Facebook statement. Caitlyn had left her cellphone at home, but it was wiped clean, officers said.
Caitlyn and Rodriguez reached Syracuse, New York, on November 27. Rodriguez got a job at an area business, Prime Time Marketing, and wanted to work there until he could save enough money to obtain fake documents for Caitlyn and himself to cross the Canadian border, according to Syracuse.com's interview with the arresting New York police officer, Todd Grant. He and several other area officers had been on the lookout for Rodriguez.
Caitlyn from her Florida home for a week before a police officer spotted Rian Rodriguez's car in New York.
Rodriguez was driving his red Mercury Sable GS away from an employee orientation at his new job when Grant recognised the vehicle, pulled a U-turn and arrested Rodriguez at gunpoint in a parking lot, according to Syracuse.com.
Four sheriff's deputies and an FBI special agent arrived on the scene and helped handcuff Rodriguez. They removed Caitlyn from the car, where she had apparently been waiting during Rodriguez's two-hour orientation, according to Syracuse.com.
Whether Rodriguez and Caitlyn had a sexual relationship was not immediately clear. Rodriguez's arrest affidavit, obtained by People, says that one of Caitlyn's friends said she was intimate with Rodriguez and that Caitlyn told her friends "she didn't know how to get out [of] it and if she did he would mess up her life."
Though the history on Caitlyn's phone had been erased, the data recovered on a SIM card showed she and Rodriguez were in a sexual relationship, People reported.
A school resource officer investigated a rumour in August that Caitlyn and Rodriguez were in a relationship but found it to be unfounded, People reported.
