A 16-year-old girl who vanished from Missouri in December was reportedly found alive this month in a sex offender’s home in Colorado.
A task force from Missouri alerted the police in Fort Collins, Colorado on April 18 about a missing girl potentially being in that area. Acting on this tip, the Fort Collins’ SWAT Team conducted a search at Maximilian Bondrescu’s residence and found the girl, as reported by KOMU.
According to KUSA, the girl reached out via Instagram on April 15, which helped identify Bondrescu, a 44-year-old. Prior to this interaction, the girl had been absent from social media since her disappearance.
Despite Bondrescu’s alleged claim that no child was present in his house, the girl was discovered hiding in a closet there. She informed the authorities that she had been held against her will, as stated by the Island Packet.
Police said Bondrescu rented a vehicle to drive the girl from Missouri to Colorado. The girl was forced to work for Bondrescu’s snow removal company and wore a mask to conceal her age and identity, the Island Packet reported.
According to KUSA, the girl was 15 in December when she was reported missing by her father. The father said he got a call that she did not arrive at school that morning. He came home to find his daughter was missing, and she was not answering her phone.
Bondrescu is a sex offender with a 2019 conviction for immoral communications with a minor. In the current case, he is charged with second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault on a child, second-degree assault, false imprisonment, failure to register as a sex offender, child abuse, harboring a minor, and obstructing a peace officer. He remains jailed on a $500,000 bond.
[Feature Photo: Larimer police]
