Missing Teen Penelope “Penny” Wise Found Engaged to Older Man After Two-Month Search

A teenage girl who went missing from her family's Michigan home in May was found on Sunday. 

She had been missing for almost two months.

When she was found, she was living with, and engaged to, an older man she had just met.

Penelope “Penny” Wise, 17, was reported missing by her family after she ran away from her Cedar Springs home around 6 p.m. on May 31.

The last time she was seen was on security footage, walking alone near a bar in Rockford around midnight on June 1.

According to the sheriff’s office, Penny Wise apparently met her 44-year-old fiancé that same night she disappeared. 

This was revealed in an update to her missing person’s case on Monday.

The brace-faced teen was believed to have voluntarily left her home.

However, in the nearly two months since she was last seen near the bar, no one could find any trace of her.

No one, including bystanders or security cameras, had seen her in the area after that time.

This led to a huge search by the FBI, US Marshals Service, Michigan State Police, and the Rockland Department of Safety.

“We believe she intentionally walked away from home, but due to the length of time and no sightings, KCSO [Kent County Sheriff’s Office] and her family are concerned for her well-being,” the sheriff’s office said in a June 7 update.

Despite the help from other law enforcement agencies and volunteers, as well as additional searches and an open tipline, investigators had no leads on her disappearance. 

It wasn’t until Sunday morning that they finally got a break in the case.

A watchful community member called the police around 11 a.m. after seeing the teen girl riding a bike and recognizing her from the missing persons flyers.

Investigators responded and found out that Wise had been living with a man who is 27 years older than her since the night she ran away from home.

She first met him around 2 a.m. on June 1 and had been living in his house from that day until this past Sunday. 

On Sunday, she left the house on a bike and was spotted by a resident.

Investigators also found out that Wise and the man had gotten engaged during the time between her disappearance and this past weekend.

They said the teenage girl was found “safe,” and sheriff’s detectives are still looking into the case. 

According to M Live, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office has not filed any charges against Wise’s new fiancé.

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