Missing girl found by father in Orono Georgia teen was involved in accident

ORONO – Officials have ended the search for a missing 14-year-old Georgia girl involved in a single-car accident early Saturday morning in Lowell.

Officials ended the search for Jacqueline Gonzales after her father found her in Orono.

A visitor to an apartment in Orono recognized a young girl on a couch as Gonzales from a picture and a story in Monday’s edition of the Bangor Daily News and contacted Orono police, Gonzales’ mother, Maureen Gonzales, said Monday evening from the family’s home in Alpharetta, Ga. Additional reports as to his daughter’s whereabouts led Gonzales’ father, Richard Gonzales, from Georgia to Lincoln to Orono on Sunday.

Richard Gonazales’ “intention was to search the woods around the crash site and talk to homeowners in the area,” Mrs. Gonzales said. “The article did the trick. Someone recognized her in Orono on a couch in an apartment.”

When police arrived at the apartment, Jacqueline Gonzales already had left but remained in Orono and called her father on his cell phone, believing he was still in Georgia, Mrs. Gonzales said. Richard Gonzales answered the call nearly three blocks from where his daughter was calling and the pair were soon reunited.

Jacqueline Gonzales and a 15-year-old girl had been attending a camp for troubled teens in Springfield when they stole a red 1999 Chevrolet Blazer at the camp sometime between midnight and 4 a.m. Saturday and drove off, Deputy Doug Smith of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday. The two were traveling at a high rate of speed on Route 188 in Lowell, more than 20 miles from the camp, when they failed to make a sharp turn and crashed at around 4:30 a.m.

Gonzales was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was not injured, her mother reported Monday.

The girls hitched a ride to a Getty gas station in Burlington, where the 15-year-old called police on a pay phone. While the other girl was on the phone, Gonzales got into a dark-colored pickup truck, which drove off in the direction of Lincoln at around 5 a.m.

The 15-year-old, whose name has not been released, was taken to Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln for treatment and was released, Smith said. The extent of her injuries was not available.

Police are not sure which girl was driving the Blazer, which had minor front-end damage after the accident, Smith said. Police have not released the vehicle owner’s name.

Orono police and members of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the situation surrounding Jacqueline Gonzales’ transportation from Burlington to Orono and where she stayed from Saturday to Monday, officials said.

Gonzales will return to Georgia with her father today and will comply with whatever Maine officials want to do regarding the theft and accident, her mother said.

“She’s coming home with the understanding we’re not going to hide from any legal ramifications,” Mrs. Gonzales said. “We’re just thankful and relieved that she’s safe.”