AWOL 7-year-old girl missing for six hours

HOLDEN — Law enforcement officials searched the shrubby area of Holbrook Pond for six hours Sunday before a 7-year-old runaway girl turned up not far from her family’s summer camp.

She was unharmed and in fine condition, as well as pleased to see her dad, David Marden of Bangor.

Deputy Sheriff Joel Peters said Sunday that Leila Marden told authorities she was tired of being bossed around and decided to run away. Leila, shoeless, wearing a pink and white nightgown, and carrying a brown towel, fled the camp through a window.

Leila ate some apples, lay down on the ground and took a nap, said Peters. She awakened when she heard a search plane flying overhead. She then proceeded to walk behind a house on Route 46, about 400 feet from her camp on Fire Lane 6, when the house’s occupant reported her whereabouts to the search party.

The young girl’s father contacted authorities at about 9:50 a.m., after his initial searched failed to locate Leila. After a general search of the area by the sheriff’s department, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife was alerted.

A search party of 15 law enforcement officers executed a “rough gridlock check,” which scanned the shoreline and the area between the camp and the Holbrook School. Leila was discovered at 3:45 p.m.