Bemidji Authorities Locate Missing Juvenile After Early Wednesday Morning Search

A juvenile female who went missing early this morning after running from police into a swampy area north of Bemidji has been safely located.

According to a Bemidji Police Department press release, at about 3:51 a.m. Wednesday, Bemidji Police Officers responded to a Sanford Hospital ER to follow up on a report of an intoxicated juvenile female. When officers arrived, they discovered that the female had been consuming alcohol by Anne Street and Irvine Avenue with another juvenile female. The second juvenile female stated that they both fled northeast from the location into a swampy area after noticing a police car.

The first juvenile female also reported that the two walked through the wet swamp and eventually the second female could no longer walk on her own. The first juvenile female told officers that she was able to drag her friend to the edge of the swamp and then left her there and walked to a nearby gas station to get help. When she arrived at the gas station, she was given a ride to the emergency room.

Bemidji Police Officers, Bemidji Fire Department, Beltrami County Sheriff’s Deputies and Bemidji Ambulance EMTs immediately responded to the large swamp just northeast of the intersection that was described them. They began to follow multiple sets of foot tracks as well as using thermal images to help locate the second juvenile female.

Bemidji Police Officers worked with the Beltrami County Communications Center to research past contacts and possible locations the juvenile may have walked to on her own as well as making a request to the United States Border Patrol for their assistance with a helicopter equipped with heat-sensing.

Bemidji Police Officers were able to locate the juvenile female at an apartment on the 800 block of 26th Street, who was then released to the custody of her parents.