Schools Placed on Lockdown

***UPDATE 4:30 P.M.***An 18-year-old Montgomery County man is currently in jail for kidnapping a girl and sending multiple schools into lockdown.Robert Dean Bethel allegedly kidnapped his 15-year-old girlfriend at gunpoint Tuesday afternoon. Bethel returned her safely Wednesday morning, but then made comments that sent schools in Montgomery and Callaway counties on lockdown.Authorities say the kidnapping is just one of many charges Bethel could face.Officials say Bethel forced his girlfriend into his pickup truck using a gun Tuesday afternoon. They believe Bethel and the girl spent the night in northeast Missouri before Bethel dropped her off safely Wednesday morning at her home.Statements of him visiting Montgomery County schools sent the middle and high schools into lockdown, as well as a school in Jonesburg.Bethel never made it to the schools. A Missouri State Highway Patrol officer pulled him over in Callaway County and found a loaded .22 caliber handgun in the truck. Bethel is currently in the Montgomery County Jail.Montgomery County R-II School Superintendent Michael Gray says the schools went into lockdown around 11 a.m. Gray says the school locked all doors and windows, but teachers did not barricade their doors.The superintendent confirmed Bethel is a senior at Montgomery High School. Gray says Bethel was well-behaved, however, the 15-year-old girl did have a restraining order against him. School officials did not alert parents until after the lockdown was lifted.”We would have if we would have had time,” said Gray. “Nobody comes in or or leaves on a lockdown.”***ORIGINAL STORY***Two Mid-Missouri schools went on lockdown Wednesday due to a potential threat.According to Montgomery County R-II school officials, the high school went on locked Wednesday morning. They did not specify a reason for the lockdown, but that all students and faculty were safe. The lockdown was lifted around 1 p.m.However, some parents are frustrated with the school district because administrators did not send out a notification, nor was the lockdown posted on the school district’s website.Callaway County Sheriff Dennis Crane confirmed to ABC 17 News that some South Callaway schools locked their outside doors because of a related threat. People and students were still allowed to leave and enter.Sheriff Crane says an individual connected to the missing persons case out of Montgomery City threatened to do harm to a student in Callaway County and that is why the schools locked their doors.The sheriff says that individual is currently in custody.