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Police: Missing Alpine teen was not held against her will

Posted at 7:43 PM, Aug 26, 2013
and last updated 2013-08-26 21:43:07-04

ALPINE, Utah – Police said an Alpine teen who was missing for 8 days was free to come and go as she pleased from a residence in the Salt Lake Valley.

Police Chief Brian Gwilliam, Lone Peak Public Safety District, said 16-year-old Indica Huddleston was found at that residence just before 6 p.m. Friday, and he said she initially did not want to return home.

Police did not disclose exactly where the residence was, but they said they are forwarding the case to investigators in that community. That agency will decide whether to investigate the individual for harboring a runaway, which is a misdemeanor.

Gwilliam said Indica eventually agreed to come home. The teen’s parents acknowledged that their daughter had left of her own free will. Over the weekend, they told FOX 13 News Indica had been enticed to leave by a Facebook friend she had been in communication with for months.

The Huddlestons elected not to comment on the situation Monday. Gwilliam said his department is treating this as a runaway case, as they have since the beginning. He said his department is not conducting an ongoing criminal investigation at this point.