Ohio teenager Madison Bell was reportedly together with the man police tried to locate as a person of interest during the investigation, according to new information released by the Highland County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Tuesday.
Madison Bell, 18, left her home in Greenfield to “start a new life” on the morning of May 17, telling her mother she was going to a tanning salon. Her disappearance prompted a massive statewide search and nationwide media attention.
Bell had been talking with the unidentified man for a while online before she left her home out of her own free will, Sheriff Donnie Barrera said in a statement obtained by Local12. She thought that since she is 18, there was no problem with her leaving.
No indication of a note was found after she left her home, nobody had a clue she left voluntarily. Bell said she had no idea there were people looking for her until after out of state police located her safely on May 23.
The department spent at least 100 hours looking for Bell, and the cost of the search has not yet been released, Barrera said.
The massive search involved more than 350 people with search equipment such as ATVs, Chillicothe Gazette reported. Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Federal Burea of Investigation (FBI) also joined the search from May 20.
HCSO detectives released pictures of the man as a person of interest while Bell was missing. The man was thought to be in connection with her disappearance. His identity and age still haven’t been released at this time.
Barrera said currently there are no charges filed in the investigation.
The man was seen at the same location Bell’s car was found unlocked at a church parking lot near to where she left her home Sunday morning. Her keys and cellphone were still inside the car.
“Her car was found unoccupied, unlocked, windows up, and keys in the ignition and her phone was laying in the car,” Bell’s mother said at the time. “She would NEVER be even a few minutes late from wherever she was going without calling or texting me.”
She said Bell is going to school and was in her senior year.
“This would be her senior week of high school, so we had a lot of events going on this week that she wouldn’t miss,” the mother said at the time.
Bell’s boyfriend said during an interview with FOX19 NOW on the night of May 19 he has had little sleep since his girlfriend, Bell vanished.
“‘I’ll see you when you get back,’ is the last thing I got to say,” Cody Mann said. “She’s the most loving girl I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, I can’t even explain it … I just want her to come home,” he added.
