A teenager missing from Springfield, Vt., since early this month was located safe on Sunday afternoon in Royalton at the home of her boyfriend’s father, according to Vermont State Police.
Autumn Sanville, 17, of Weathersfield, had been missing since Oct. 6, when she failed to show up for school or return home, and her parents told the Valley News they were concerned about her well-being.
Early in the investigation, police said interviews with Sanville’s friends indicated she may have been a runaway.
In a written statement on Sunday, police identified the boyfriend as Shadoe Benson, 22. Police said they had questioned Benson multiple times during their investigation and he repeatedly denied knowing Sanville’s whereabouts before Sunday.
According to State Police, Benson’s father came home unexpectedly on Sunday and found Sanville standing in his kitchen, at which point he made his son contact authorities.
Sanville, who was returned to her parents’ home, told police she camped alone in the woods for the past 3½ weeks, subsisting “on a diet of bread, jelly, river water and goldfish crackers,” according to the statement.
Police said Sanville was in good health, and that she insisted she had not had any assistance during her weeks spent living in the woods.
In Sunday’s statement, authorities cast doubt on Sanville’s version of events.
“Despite her claims, Sanville was clean and dry, and her clothing and sleeping bag showed no signs of wear and tear or use in the woods,” police said. “Sanville said she threw her cellphone into the Connecticut River the day she went missing.”
Sanville had last been seen getting into a car with three other unidentified people around 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 6 near the boat landing in Springfield.
Sanville had been late to school in the days leading up to her disappearance, and lied to her mother about having to work at her afterschool job on the day she went missing, her parents said.
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Posted at 9:40 p.m.