Police: 2 Labette County runaways found

Two of the girls were in state foster care and the third was a resident of the reporting parent. The girls were entered into a nationwide system as runaways. On midmorning Monday, a citizen tip about the girls led police to a red-tagged (abandoned) house in the 2500 block of Chess. Police officers found all three girls and brought them to the police department.

They were turned over to Labette County juvenile intake for processing and placement. The two juveniles in foster care were turned over to TFI Family Services, one of the state’s foster care providers, and the third was placed out of the home.

At 2:35 p.m. Monday, TFI staff called police to report that the two 12-year-old girls had run away from its office in the 100 block of South 18th Street after they had been left unsupervised, police said this week. Police searched but did not find them.

At 5:32 p.m. Monday, a customer at NAPA Auto Parts, 400 S. 21st St., reported a 2004 Nissan Frontier stolen and the two runaway girls were determined to be suspects, police said.

The Kansas Highway Patrol found the pickup on U.S. 400 19 miles east of Parsons after it had been involved in a collision.

The girls had run into a field and could not be found.

Parsons Police Lt. Jason Ludwig said that the girls were found Tuesday night in Cass County, Missouri. He didn’t know the circumstances under which they were found.

The Cass County sheriff did not respond to a request for information.