Rachel Owens disappeared from her home in North Carolina in May of 2011. The now 21-year-old was located and found in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month. Authorities reported Owens was found safe and unharmed. Owens had left home willingly.
According to the North Carolina Brunswick County Sheriff department, Owens had changed her name and date of birth.
In 2001, a video was released showing Owens getting into a car in a nearby parking lot after getting off the school bus the day of her disappearance. Owens was 15 years old.
Before Owens left, she had written a story describing a desire to travel to Mexico, with leads from her friends speculating should was there. Efforts toward investigating her location extended from the United States to Mexico.
There were agents searching across the country and across country borders. The FBI stated that they had received information in 2014 that she may have been living in the Ohio area. It took several police departments and sheriff offices in Ohio along with the FBI, as well as the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office. A $5,000 reward was offered for information regarding Owens' disappearance.
According to Daily Mail, investigators are not pressing charges against Owens, and there was no foul play for her disappearance.
Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, Rich Novelli, let the Owens family know of her whereabouts and situation. Also stating they family could, “move on with rebuilding their relationship,” with Owens.
