Natasha Ryan


 Natasha Ryan went missing at age 14 in 1998. She had run away only a month before, but was found after two days. When she didn’t turn up this second time around, it was assumed that she was dead. 

There was an active serial killer in the area at the time. This killer would be accused of killing Natasha, and it was made clear that her body was the only one of his victims that was never found. The serial killer also confessed to murdering her. A lot of times, criminals will falsely confess to crimes they didn’t commit because they like the attention it gives them. 

But Natasha wasn’t dead. It was now 2003, and she had spent the last five years hiding in her boyfriend’s home.  She alerted an 800 number for teens in crisis that a man was about to be accused of killing her, and that she was still alive. 

Natasha’s story often shines light on how badly we treat runaways. I have a few opinions about runaways: One is that their status as a missing person should not matter any less, since they are at magnified risk of things like murder or human trafficking. My other controversial opinion is that when found, there should be immediate CPS intervention and counseling to discover why they ran away. If a child doesn’t come home in a reasonable amount of time, then it’s safe to say that their home life must be worse than whatever travails awaited them after they ran away. 

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