PORT ANGELES — The mother of a Port Angeles girl who had been missing as a juvenile since Jan. 28 had sharply mixed emotions last week after her daughter walked in to the Spokane Police Department on Thursday, on her 18th birthday, to say she was not a runaway — and to apparently move on with her life as an adult.
Hannah Hendrickson, whose missing notice Jan. 29 on the Port Angeles Police Department’s Facebook page had 1,483 shares by Saturday, by all appearances was safe and sound when she told authorities she was no longer a juvenile runaway, Spokane Police Department spokesman Josh Laiva said Friday.
“She had an orderly appearance,” Laiva said.
“She came in and said she basically wanted to settle her runaway report.
“She was not forthcoming with any other information.”
The fact that her daughter was safe left Hannah’s mother, Tina Hendrickson of Port Angeles, “so incredibly relieved,” she said Friday.
“I’m just happy that she’s OK,” she said.
But as of Saturday morning, her daughter had not contacted her family.
Tina Hendrickson said she doesn’t believe that will change.
“I miss her more than anything,” she said. “My heart hurts.
“But there’s nothing I can do anymore.
“She’s just all grown up. She’s an adult.”
A Spokane police officer notified Tina Hendrickson on Thursday that her daughter had shown up in a city nearly 400 miles from Port Angeles.
“He said she’s alive, and she’s doing well, and she came in to see him,” she said.
“When he said she was alive and well, that was just the first thing I needed to hear.
“That’s the most important thing.
“The nightmare is going to be gone.”
Tina Hendrickson’s daughter was a 17-year-old runaway when she went missing Jan. 28 and now, as an adult, is not missing after reporting her whereabouts, Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Jason Viada said.
Her “missing” poster was taped to storefront windows, and a $4,000 reward was offered by her family for information on her fate.
Hannah was a Port Angeles junior in the Running Start program at Peninsula College when she was reported missing, her mother said.
According to police records, she sent a “manifesto” to Peninsula College on why she ran away, saying she left with a friend from school and did not plan to return.
Further information on what she wrote was unavailable last week.
“There was a lot of concern in the community about this case,” Viada said Saturday.
The Police Department’s Facebook post said she was reported missing at 4:30 a.m. Jan. 28, taking clothing and her gray chihuahua, whose name her mother said Friday was Huey.
The Spokane police officer who called Tina Hendrickson told her that her daughter had a little dog with her when she surfaced in that city.
Tina Hendrickson received the officer’s call while she was getting her house ready for a birthday party for Hannah’s twin sister, Heather.
“She [Heather] was confused that Hannah would just drop her like that, not contact her, not call her, nothing,” Tina Hendrickson said.
“She was used to having another half her whole life, and all of a sudden, she was alone, so it has been a really hard year for her.
“You don’t have a partner anymore.”
The family was in shock much of Thursday, Tina Hendrickson recalled.
“We talked about driving to Spokane but then realized how ridiculous that was,” she said.
“At this point, the most practical thing to do is to let her go and hope that she wants to see us again someday.”
Viada said Friday the police investigation continues into Hannah Hendrickson’s disappearance.
“The evidence I have so far indicates that she left of her own free will,” he said.
“There is a big however here,” Viada added.
“Anyone who might have unlawfully harbored her while she was a runaway juvenile is still under investigation.
“That investigation does not disappear.”
Tina Hendrickson said she “absolutely” believes that adults were involved in her daughter’s disappearance “because of the grooming aspect of things and the things that were said to her by some adults about getting her out of here and taking care of her and things like that.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
