Amber Alert cancelled: Missing Tacoma girl found safe

UPDATE as of 8 a.m.: Briana Troyer and Terrence Powell were found about 7:40 a.m. sleeping at a home in the North End, police spokesman Mark Fulgum said.

Detectives are interviewing them both to determine what they did after leaving the bowling alley. Briana will then be reunited with her family.

“We want to figure out what happened and what the circumstances were,” Fulghum said.

From an earlier story:

Tacoma police have issued an Amber Alert for Briana Troyer, 16, who last seen Tuesday evening leaving a local bowling alley with a registered sex offender, Terrence D. Powell.

Briana, who is the daughter of Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Det. Ed Troyer, is developmentally disabled and has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.

She was at Tower Lanes for practice with Wilson High School’s bowling team when witnesses reported seeing her leave about 5:30 p.m. with Powell, who is 21 and level 1 sex offender. They were last seen walking west on 6th Avenue.

When Briana’s ride home realized she was missing, her family was notified and began looking for her. Police were notified about 7:30 p.m. and launched a search that includes search and rescue teams and bloodhounds.

“She has no history or running away or doing anything like this at all. That raised the level of alert,” police spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

Officers have checked Powell’s home and places he is known to hang out, but haven’t located him or Briana.

Although the two don’t appear to have known each other well, police believe they may have spoken recently at Tower Lanes.

Ed Troyer, Briana’s dad, released this statement:

“Thanks for the support, I am going to stay off the media as much as possible due to not wanting the suspect to see who I am, which could bring harm to Briana. Tacoma Police are doing an excellent job and are leaving nothing unchecked. When the time is right I will share what we are going through and what happened.

Briana is 5-foot-2 and 105 pounds. She was wearing a Wilson High School bowling shirt, a Wilson sweatshirt and blue jeans. Powell is black, 5-feet-9 and 220 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call Tacoma Police at 253-798-TIPS (8477).