Missing Coach, Girl Found; Charges Filed

BEAVERTON, Ore. – A Beaverton (search) softball coach and a teenage girl who played on his team have been found near Knoxville, Tenn., after being missing since September, Beaverton Police said Wednesday.

The two were found Wednesday afternoon in an auto accident in which neither was injured.

Police had been searching for Andrew James Garver (search), 38, and Michelle "Mimi" Smith (search), who was 15 when she vanished. She has since turned 16.

The girl had been staying with the Garver and his wife because of problems within her own family.

FBI Special Agent Robert Jordan and Beaverton Police Chief David Bishop said Garver is being held on federal interstate flight to avoid prosecution charges and state charges of custodial interference and theft, involving the car they were driving.

Smith is in protective juvenile custody.

Jordan said they were in the same car they had when they left Oregon, but that it had license plates listed as having been stolen from a Tennessee Jaguar.

It was not yet known when Smith would be returned to Oregon or whether Garver would waive extradition, Bishop said. He said Garver could face additional charges.

Bishop said it is not known how long the couple had been in the Knoxville area but said his department and the FBI had investigators continually assigned to the case from the outset.

"We knew we would find them," he said at a press conference late Wednesday. "It was just a matter of when we would find them."

A lost police report was blamed for preventing child protection workers from looking into allegations that the coach was sexually abusing Smith nearly a month before the pair vanished.

Beaverton police initially had charged Garver with second-degree kidnapping because Smith, at 15, had not reached the legal age of consent.

Smith was last seen at Beaverton High School Sept. 16.

Bounty Hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman (search) joined the search at one point. He is best known for his capture of convicted rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Mexico.

Police have said they believe Smith left willingly with Garver.

On Sept. 26 Garver cleaned out his bank accounts and Smith left a note with a friend at school saying she was running away.