Teen missing from facility found living with 62-year-old man, Michigan cops say (2025)

A weekslong search for a teen girl who escaped from a Michigan facility ended when she was found living with a 62-year-old man, police said and news outlets reported.

The 16-year-old was found with the man in a Dearborn Heights apartment, police Chief Ahmed Haidar said during an April 24 news conference posted by WXYZ.

Police did not name the man.

“I can finally breathe now,” the girl’s aunt, Trisha Wade, told WXYZ. “I had started suspecting the worst had happened because it had been so long.”

Numerous tips to police led to the discovery of the missing girl on April 23, and she had been living with a man who had promised her financial support, Haidar said.

A sexual assault kit was done, but police said they do not have the results. The girl was then taken into Children’s Protective Services custody.

The girl left Vista Maria, a facility for vulnerable youth in Dearborn Heights, which has received numerous calls to law enforcement and abuse allegations, on March 14, WDIV reported. Haider said the girl will not be returning to Vista Maria.

McClatchy News reached out to Vista Maria on April 29 but did not immediately receive a response.

The man found with the teen was arrested but has not been charged, police said. The two had been living together since March 17, three days after the girl left Vista Maria, Haidar said.

Shortly after the girl’s disappearance, police were canvassing the area and spoke with the 62-year-old man, Haidar said.

Haidar said he doesn’t believe the teen was forced to stay with the man but was a “child in need.” The two met while the girl was “roaming the streets,” police said.

The man gave the girl a phone but only allowed her to use it when he was around, according to police. The teen never contacted authorities with the phone, the police chief said.

The teen was also seen with two other men at one point, according to police. One of the men, whose name was not released, is believed to be in his mid-30s, police said. The other man’s identity is not known to authorities.

Haidar said there is some indication that the teen asked the unidentified men to stop and talk to her.

“We are thankful (the girl) has been found alive and safe. She is now in good hands, which is a huge relief to all of us who were involved with attempting to locate her and bring her home,” Haidar said in a statement.

Dearborn Heights is about a 20-mile drive west from Detroit.