Missing teen lured away by video game chat resurfaces


Save Story

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. (AP) — A northwest Mississippi teenager has resurfaced in Illinois four days after he went missing.

Olive Branch police say 14-year-old John Aubrey Peal III turned himself in Sunday at an Illinois fire station.

Peal had been missing since Wednesday. His parents told local news outlets that Peal left after he made plans to meet someone in person whom he contacted using Discord — a video game-centered chat program.

Olive Branch police say they continue to investigate.

Peal's father says his son turned himself in after seeing social media posts about his disappearance.

Developer Discord Inc. tells WHBQ-TV that it urges users to only chat with people they know. It also says it urges parents to teach children about the risks of communication with unknown people.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent U.S. stories

Related topics

The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
    Newsletter Signup

    KSL Weather Forecast

    KSL Weather Forecast
    Play button