It took 2 days to find missing girl at Olympia’s ‘Jungle,’ federal official says
The search for a missing Arizona girl at a sprawling Olympia homeless encampment known as the Jungle began Wednesday, a day before she was found, a U.S. Marshals Service official said Monday.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Thorin Fash said their work began on Wednesday and ended Thursday. The longtime camp, which at times is home to dozens of people, is in the 3200 block of Martin Way East and reportedly covers a 20-acre site.
That work was completed with the assistance of the state Department of Corrections, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families and the Olympia Police Department, the federal agency announced Friday.
Timestamps from body-camera images, which were shared by Fash, show that marshals were at the camp Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon.
Other details about the case were hard to come by on Monday.
Fash declined to identify the girl’s age, or share the circumstances surrounding her disappearance in the Mesa, Arizona, area last month, saying he was trying to protect her identity.
Mesa police Detective Robert Katz deferred to the U.S. Marshals Service for more details about the case.
Local leaders on Monday explained their roles in helping the federal department.
Department of Corrections communications director Chris Wright said members of DOC’s community response unit have ties to the marshals.
“They are also members of several task forces, including the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force that is led by the U.S. Marshals Service, and they were assisting them in that role for this investigation,” he said in an email.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Children, Youth and Families didn’t comment on the specific investigation, but she explained how they operate in these situations.
“In cases like these, our CPS (child protective services) staff are called after a child, or youth is placed in protective custody,” said Nancy Gutierrez.
“Our role is to coordinate services for the child and youth, such as emergent medical care, contact with victim advocates, and support with returning them home safely or finding a placement. Additionally, our Missing from Care locator staff engage directly with youth and provide trauma-informed support.”
“We appreciate our partnership with the U.S. Marshals and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on these cases and joint efforts to keep children and youth safe,” she added.
Olympia police Lt. Paul Lower said the girl was brought to their department offices so she had a safe place to stay while the U.S. Marshals contacted other agencies to help her.
Other than that local police had no additional role, Lower said.
“They are handling their case on their own,” he said.
The U.S. Marshals on June 18 received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that the child was potentially being sex trafficked within Washington state, the agency announced in a Friday news release.
A deputy U.S. Marshal assigned to investigate missing children in the Western District of Washington developed an investigative lead as to the missing juvenile’s whereabouts which led to the 3200 block of Martin Way East.
