Missing 15-year-old found 500 miles away with man she met online
NEW PHILADELPHIA – Authorities found a missing 15-year-old Tuscarawas County girl in Wisconsin hours after she left her home with an older, married man who allegedly met her online and lied about his age.
Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Captain Detective Adam Fisher says the girl’s mother has brought her home, and the man, 24-year-old Jordan Romine of Dayton, is in jail in Walworth County, Wisconsin, contesting extradition back to Ohio.
Fisher says the pair had known each other for about three months, and Romine had even met the parents. However, Fisher says they confronted him when they found out he wasn’t a teenager. He says Romine presented himself as only a year older than the girl.
“It appears that the two had met on a social media platform,” Fisher said, “that they had developed a relationship between the two of them. But it appears that the 24-year-old is married and has children. That marriage I think quite obviously looks like it’s falling apart and somehow he has wound up here in Tuscarawas County shortly after meeting the 15-year-old.”
Fisher says the girl left her home around midnight on Sunday, was reported missing at 12:44 p.m., and was located at 3:35 p.m. Investigators used Flock Camera Systems to locate the suspect’s vehicle in Wisconsin where police there found the pair at a rest area.
“A handful of years ago when the technology was not the way that it is… we still would be asking, ‘Where?’” Fisher said.
Fisher says Romine is initially charged with interference with custody. More charges are likely.