16 year old Michigan girl travels to Israel to meet Myspace friend
FBI continues probe into local girl's Middle East trip
Family will talk about the case Monday afternoon
By Jeff Piechowski, Tuscola County (MI) (WJRT) - (06/12/06)--
We should soon know more about a Tuscola County teenager who secretly flew to the Middle East to meet a man she met online.
Authorities found 16-year-old Katherine Lester in Amman, Jordan last Thursday, after her family told police she ran away. The Gilford Township girl returned home to Michigan Friday night, but the family has been quiet since. That is expected to change later this afternoon, when the family is scheduled to hold a news conference.
That news conference is scheduled for three this afternoon at the Tuscola County Courthouse. Katherine's family will be accompanied by their attorney Renee Wood.
Authorities say Katherine tricked her parents into getting her a passport for a trip to Canada. However, she used that passport to fly to the Middle East to meet a 25-year-old man in Israel whom she'd met on myspace.com.
U.S. officials in Jordan persuaded the Akron-Fairgrove honor student to head back home instead of going to the West Bank to meet the man whose screen name is Abdullah Psycho. The family computer was confiscated and taken to the FBI's Bay City office, where agents continue to look at e-mail and other documents to determine if any crimes were committed.
A source close to the investigation says that as of right now, this remains the case of the Tuscola County Sheriff's Department. Tuscola County Sheriff Thomas Kern says any investigation into Abdullah Psycho would have to be through the FBI, because the Sheriff's Department does not have the resources.
Sheriff Kern says he will speak more on the status of the investigation at this afternoon's news conference.
Retrieved June 12, 2006 from http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=4262085&ft=print