BREWER – A 14-year-old girl returned home Wednesday night, more than a week after she ran away, leaving worried family members behind.

Cady Gordon had been missing since Aug. 9 when she disappeared from her home with a note saying that she couldn’t take things anymore. Her parents received a call from her from a Glenburn pay phone on Aug. 13, but when a state trooper went to investigate, the girl was gone.

Her mother, Colleen Gordon, now says that her daughter was staying with an 18-year-old in Bangor for much if not all of the time. She said her daughter had met the teenager a year ago through friends.

Worried about the safety of heir daughter and fearing the worst, her mother and her father, Michael Gordon – who are no longer married – contacted authorities, friends and the media, in an effort to locate their daughter.

“I hadn’t slept in almost a week, barely catnapped here and there,” her father said Wednesday afternoon after having the first good night’s sleep in a while.

Media accounts helped in bringing their daughter home, they said. A newspaper story of the missing girl was read by a woman who had seen her with the 18-year-old and contacted authorities, providing the necessary information for them to contact the man, much to the relief of the family.

“I just thank God for that lady calling,” Colleen Gordon said Thursday. Her daughter arrived home at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.