Teen shares 'dangerous' experience of running away


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SALT LAKE CITY — More than 2,000 kids in Utah have run away from home so far in 2013. One of those cases was Michaela Kerby.

In April, Michaela, 17, ran away from her proctor home, which is similar to foster care for troubled teens. She and a friend grabbed some cash and never looked back.

Her mother, Charlotte Kerby, recently recalled the tormenting thoughts that ran through her mind every day her daughter was missing.

"It was a nightmare," she said.

Charlotte said she constantly wondered, "Is she OK? Is she hurt? Did somebody hurt her?"


It felt really dangerous the whole time 'cause over half the people we met were either doing drugs or, like, doing illegal things.

–Michaela Kerby, former runaway


"We got onto the TRAX station and we didn't know where we were going at first," Michaela said.

She and her friend stayed at different friends' homes, and Michaela recalled one particularly scary situation with a man they were staying with.

"He ... smoked marijuana all the time, and he would hit us and shove us around," she said.

The girls quickly realized this wasn't the freedom they were hoping to find.

"It felt really dangerous the whole time, 'cause over half the people we met were either doing drugs or, like, doing illegal things," Michaela said.

But Mcheala didn't feel like she could go back home.

"It was hard," she said. "I cried a lot because I felt so guilty the whole time."

Twenty-one days after she ran away, Michaela was finally tracked down by a private investigator who volunteers for a group called the Center for Search and Investigations, or CFSI.

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"I was ecstatic," said Charlotte. "I cried, you know, happy tears because I knew she would be safe."

Michaela now has a new appreciation for those who worked so hard to find her.

"I like spending time with my family a lot more than I used to," she said.

And she has one piece of advice for other kids thinking about running away:

"It's the most idiotic choice you could ever make, because it's not worth it."

Email: tmashburn@ksl.com

Video contribution:Mike Headrick

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Tania Mashburn

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