Missing Gurnee teenager back home
Gurnee police say a teenage girl who had been missing for a little more than a week is back with her family.
Samantha Smith, 16, who was last seen about 3:15 p.m. April 11, near Warren Township High School's freshman-sophomore O'Plaine Road campus in Gurnee, contacted a family member Sunday and returned home, Gurnee police Cmdr. Saundra Campbell said.
"The detective handling the case is talking to her about where she was," Campbell said Monday. "She is unharmed and returned to school today."
After dismissal from Warren High on April 11, police said, Smith went to an area off McClure Avenue east of O'Plaine. There, she apparently entered a dark-colored, mid-sized car.
Gurnee police last Friday solicited the public's help in finding Smith. Campbell said authorities followed up on information that came to them after news stories about Smith, but it's not immediately known if the publicity led the teen to contact her family.