JC Police Find Missing Teen

*** UPDATE 4:19 P.M.*** A missing Jefferson City girl is found safe today, but tonight she and her boyfriend are in juvenile custody.Police found 16-year-old Kierra McLellan hiding in an attic less than 24 hours after her parents reported her missing.Cops began searching for the teen last night after she did not show up for work or go home. This afternoon investigators located the girl and took another teen into custody on Church Street, only half a mile from where their search began at the corner of Capitol and Riverside.Police Captain Bob Cynova says, “You always start where you last saw them, and spiral your search out.”A man who lives in the house where Kierra was last seen with friends says she was with her boyfriend when he last saw her.He wished not to be identified but says the two left around 7:30 a.m., and he didn’t know which way they went.Investigators say with any missing person, they talk with close friends and family. Captain Cynova tells ABC 17 News police had spoken with Kierra’s boyfriend, Casey.”Matter fact, he was a subject that told us the last time he saw her was at the intersection of Riverside and Capitol,” Capt. Cynova said. Nearly two dozen officers spent hundreds of man hours searching wooded areas near Riverside Park. That search led them back to Church Street where they’d been before.”They located her hiding in an attic,” Capt. Cynova said. “They had searched that residence before and did not find her, so it’s unknown whether she was in there the first search or not.”Kierra was put into an officer’s car, while her boyfriend was put into handcuffs. Being a juvenile, cops couldn’t say anything about the trouble he faces, but they say one thing is clear.”Evidently the friends were helping hide her from her parents and the police.”Officers say both teens have been taken to Prenger Juvenile Detention Center.***UPDATE MONDAY 12:40 P.M.***Jefferson City police confirm the girl found in a house on Church Street just after noon today is Kierra McLellan. Police say she was found hiding in the attic when they went in.***UPDATE MONDAY 12:30 P.M.****The Jefferson City SWAT team has just completed a raid at a home in the 400 block of Church Street, east of downtown. An ABC 17 reporter at the scene says a girl matching the description of Kierra McLellan was led away from the home. A teenaged boy was also led away in handcuffs.Stay with ABC 17 News and abc17news.com for updates as they become available.***UPDATE MONDAY 12:20 P.M.***The SWAT team has apparently found Kierra McLellan at a Jefferson City home Monday. Officers surrounded the house in the 400 block of Church Street around 12:15 p.m.One person was taken into custody. ABC 17 News confirmed a boy was taken out of the home in handcuffs.***UPDATE MONDAY 10:02 A.M.***Officers are going door-to-door near Riverside Drive in Jefferson City to search for any new leads about Kierra McLellan, who disappeared Sunday morning.The police department’s SWAT team is searching wooded areas near Riverside Park, the subdivision where Kierra went missing.ABC 17 News has learned Kierra was last seen between 6 and 7 a.m. Sunday at a house near Capitol Avenue and Riverside. She was there with friends and several adults.Investigators are also interviewing family and friends Monday to learn more about Kierra.***ORIGINAL STORY***Jefferson City police have issued a missing persons report for a teen girl, citing a sense of urgency in the search.From a news release Sunday night:”Kierra S. McLellan is 16 years of age. Height 5’2”, weight 112 pounds, with brown shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. Last seen wearing a cream sweater, blue jeans, black shirt, white belt, and black moccasins.”McLellan was last seen in the area of East Capitol Avenue and Riverside Drive.A police spokesman told ABC 17 News that investigators did not know if McLellan was in danger, but said there was a sense of urgency in finding her.Her parents told officers that she did not return home Saturday night, nor did she show up to work on Sunday morning.if you have any information about Kierra McLellan’s whereabouts, you are asked to call Jefferson City police at (573) 634-6400.Stay with ABC 17 News and abc17news.com for updates as they become available.