By DELANIA TRIGG, Register Staff Writer
A 15-year-old Era High School student is safe after leaving her backpack near a post on FM 922 Wednesday and walking to a friend’s house leaving police to search a rural section of Cooke County into the night.
The ordeal began when Rebecca Porters family discovered she was missing early Wednesday morning.
“She went to bed the night before and was reported missing that morning,” Cooke County Sheriff Mike Compton said.
After searching for her daughter, Porter’s mother found the girl’s backpack on FM 922 Thursday.
Compton said the backpack contained some clothing items, a laptop computer and a note.
“It was not a suicide note. It was more of a goodbye note with something to the effect that they would not see her again,” Compton said.
Compton said news of the missing girl prompted his agency to request assistance from several other entities including the Texas Rangers and Rescue One — a non-profit volunteer organization which assists governmental agencies with locating lost or missing persons.
Volunteers from the Lewisville-based organization brought scent-specific dogs to try to help find the girl, Compton said.
Compton said one of the dogs alerted to a human scent near the backpack.
He said based on the location of the backpack, officers formed a theory about what may have happened to Porter.
“We thought she might have met somebody or got snatched walking down the road,” he said. “We had two reports from truck drivers who were in the area. One saw her out walking.”
Rescue One handlers eventually used dogs trained to find cadavers. The canine handler was horrified when the dog alerted near a stock tank, he said.
“We had already contacted the game warden and were prepared to drag that tank in the morning,” he said. “The plans were ready and they were waiting for the scent-specific dog to finish when (Porter) showed up at a friend’s house,” he said.
Compton said he and the others were relieved that the incident had a happy ending.
“The bottom line is that she was found safe,” he said.
