Geyahna Medwatz, 16, of West Rockhill Township, Pennsylvania, has been missing since March 21.
A West Rockhill teenager who has been missing for nearly five months and whose case made national headlines has returned home to her family this week, Pennridge Regional Police confirmed.
Geyahna “Gigi” Medwatz of Lower Rocky Dale Road disappeared on the night of March 21. She was missing for a total of 143 days.
“She returned to her home in West Rockhill on Sunday and we were officially notified of her return on Monday morning,” said Pennridge Regional Police Chief Paul Dickinson.
According to a Facebook post by her parents, Medwatz’s disappearance was “one of the longest and darkest” times the family has ever experienced, but “the sun is shining again.”
“Gigi still has a long road ahead of her. She and our family need time to heal,” Anthony and Katie Medwatz wrote on Facebook. “I firmly believe we can do this.”
The Medwatzes thanked the community for their help in spreading the news of Gigi’s disappearance.
“It meant so much to us to know that so many people cared about us and tried to help us bring our little girl home,” the family wrote.
Geyahna Medwatz, 16, of West Rockhill Township, Pennsylvania, has been missing since March 21.Pennridge Regional Police Department
Medwatz was last seen in Southwest Philadelphia on March 29, eight days after she was reported missing. There have been possible sightings of her in Upper Darby, in Kensington at Kensington & Allegheny, and on Ruth Street in Philadelphia.
Medwatz was last seen in Southwest Philadelphia on March 29, eight days after she was reported missing. Katie said there were possible sightings of her in Upper Darby, in Kensington at Kensington & Allegheny and on Ruth Street in Philadelphia.
Pennridge Regional Police said Geyahna left her home between midnight and 6:30 a.m. Surveillance video from a nearby home shows a vehicle pulling up in front of Geyahna’s home at 2:36 a.m. and driving away about a half hour later, police said.
Investigators said the footage showed a figure, believed to be Geyahna, walking away from the house with a flashlight around 2:50 a.m.
The vehicle leaves Lower Rocky Dale Road and heads toward Upper Rocky Dale Road, police said. Police were unable to determine the make or model of the vehicle from the video.
Investigators and family did not disclose Medwatz’s whereabouts for five months.
In June, Medwatz’s missing person case was featured in a May episode of the REELZ channel’s television show “On Patrol: Live” (think a mix of “COPS” and “America’s Most Wanted”).
“This is a case where, once again, it’s very likely that a teenager communicated with a stranger online, left the house to meet that person, and disappeared,” said news anchor Angeline Hartmann of “On Patrol: Live.” “Her grandmother worked the night shift and that night, she said, she spoke to her in person before she left. Then they spoke again on the phone.”
Hartmann said everything was fine during the conversations, but when the grandmother went in the next morning to wake her up for school, she was gone.
