MARSHFIELD – A 17-year-old girl missing for more than a week turned up on her own Wednesday morning at her boyfriend’s house in Whitneyville, family members said.

Britany Carter had been staying in a Washington County camp 50 miles from her parents’ home.

Her parents, Wayde and Toni Carter, launched a search for their daughter shortly after she went missing Sept. 16. They contacted Maine State Police and registered her with the National Center for Missing Children.

At the time, the Carters suspected that some of her friends knew where she was but that they were not telling family members.

Carter attends Washington Academy in East Machias.

On Tuesday, the family put up a $1,000 reward for her safe return.

Although there were reports Britany Carter had been seen hitchhiking on Route 9 last week and was believed to be in the Bangor-Brewer area, her father said she was actually living in a camp about 50 miles from her family’s home.

“She stayed at the camp for the week,” he said. “We are not sure of the details. She basically had time to think and decided it was time to come back.”

The person who gave her a ride home from the camp apparently saw the Bangor Daily News article about her on Wednesday morning, but “I don’t know all the details,” Wayde Carter said.

The problems leading up to the girl’s disappearance began over a boyfriend, who is a juvenile.

The Carter family had obtained a protection order on the boy after the two had run away to Vermont for about 30 hours earlier this year, then returned home. Although the Carter family did not know where their daughter was for more than a week, the boyfriend had remained at his home.

“She wants to move on,” Wayde Carter said. “She’s sorry about the whole thing. She just wanted to think some things over. I think she was overwhelmed by all the people who were involved in the search.”

Carter said he wanted to thank the law enforcement officers and others who helped in the search.

“Friends put out fliers and went on patrol and checked areas,” he said. “We had hundreds of calls from agencies who said they’d put up fliers. The response was just unbelievable from different organizations out there. You learn a lot going through this.

“We are grateful to everyone who was involved and we will work through all the other things,” he said.

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