Found — Runaway Nebraska teen located safe near Newcastle
A runaway teen who sparked a lockout at local schools was found safe, according to information provided by the Newcastle Police Department. Sheriff Bryan Colvard later told the News Letter Journal that the young man was found safe in Spearfish after abandoning the vehicle in Weston County and obtaining a ride across the state line.
Local agencies had searched the area north of Newcastle for a runaway juvenile male after a car associated with the teen was found in Weston County on Monday, Sept. 15. Social media posts about the search were posted shortly after 10 a.m., with the announcement that he was found safe coming roughly four hours later.
The search for the teen began after a call from the Chadron, Nebraska, Police Department at 8:30 a.m. Monday referencing the runaway teen and the car he was believed to be traveling in.
“The vehicle he was believed to be driving was located, through OnStar, just north of Newcastle, unoccupied,” Police Chief Derek Thompson told the News Letter Journal. He noted that he was assisting the Weston County Sheriff’s Office with the dissemination of information so their personnel could focus on the task at hand.
After locating the vehicle, personnel on scene requested Search and Rescue and the K-9 unit with the Weston County Sheriff’s Office to see if they could track the young man. Thompson said the assistance of air support was obtained by Weston County Emergency Management.
Because of the search, Thompson said, local schools had been placed in a lockout as a precautionary measure. He noted that there had been no information indicating the juvenile was armed or dangerous, but those details were unknown at the time.
School officials confirmed the lockout via text, noting that it had been “business as usual” inside the buildings but that outdoor activity was limited.
Newcastle High School Principal Bryce Hoffman told the NLJ that police had been on campus and staff supervised passing periods between the vocational-agriculture building and the main building and reminded students to lock their cars. He said he believed staff and students were doing fine.
Information provided by the schools said the lockout was due to a search for a person of interest related to a stolen vehicle found near Newcastle.