Police: Missing Florida teen found safe in New York
Authorities say the girl was found in high school soccer coach's car.
A Florida teenage girl who was found with a high school soccer coach in upstate New York on Friday was afraid to leave the country with the man because “he would mess up her life" and had exchanged sexual messages on Snapchat with him, the arrest affidavit revealed.
Caitlyn Frisina, 17, was located in Syracuse with Rian Rodriguez, 27, more than 1,000 miles away from her Lake City home in Florida. A New York state police officer pulled the car over for a traffic stop and found the pair inside. Frisina was reported missing about a week ago, after she apparently sneaked out of her house through her bedroom window.
New details emerged in the teenager’s disappearance since they were found, including signs they were in a relationship. A friend told her parents Frisina said the soccer coach wanted to leave the U.S. and the teenager felt trapped in the decision, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Action News Jax on Sunday.
“She didn’t know how to get out of it and if she did he would mess up her life,” the friend said Frisina told her.
After Frisina’s disappearance, her parents also discovered sexual messages on Snapchat had been exchanged between her daughter and Rodriguez, confirming a possible relationship between the teen and the coach. The teen’s friend later revealed to the worried parents that Frisina had previously “hooked up” with Rodriguez, the affidavit stated.
A resource officer at Fort White High School, where Rodriguez worked as a coach for the boys’ soccer team, also investigated a rumor that Rodriguez and Frisina were in a relationship, but ultimately concluded it was false.
Frisina was reunited with her family over the weekend in Syracuse. Scarlet Frisina, the teen’s mother, said the family is “looking forward to a lot more time together.”
“We had a very beautiful, wonderful, very emotional reunion with her a little while ago and we are so thankful to have her back,” she said.
The teen’s father Ward Frisina added: “It’s been difficult. I’m glad to have my daughter back where I know I can protect her and keep her safe, as a father always wants to do.”
Frisina also told CBS News he blamed himself when his daughter vanished because he had initially encouraged Rodriguez to apply for the coaching job.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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