Parents Shaken by Missing Teen's Call Home
Minn. police are looking for a teenage girl, perhaps injured, and acquaintance.
Oct. 8, 2007 — -- Kevin Lease found his daughter's Honda Accord Sunday morning, parked near a house where a homecoming party she attended had been held the previous night.
The car's driver side backseat door was dented and the window was broken. Bloodstains were found on the backseat, the driver seat headrest and center console. His daughter's iPod and purse were in the car.
At 9:17 a.m. Sunday, Kevin and Kami Lease reported to authorities that their daughter Lindsey Marissa Lease, 17, was missing.
They also informed police in Worthington, Minn., about an incident between their daughter and 17-year-old Sonny Syhavong. The two had gotten into a fight last winter, and after their altercation, according to Kevin Lease, a protective order was filed that prevented Syhavong from having contact with Lindsey.
Syhavong was sent to a work program after breaking that order in the spring, Lease said, and was released in July.
Less than three hours after the Leases reported their daughter missing, the phone rang at their home. It was Lindsey. The phone call, which was taken by Kami Lease, lasted 45 seconds and only further ignited the family's concerns about their daughter's safety.
"Her voice was real guarded," Kevin Lease told ABC News. "Kami asked if she was OK. She said, 'I'm just out of town. I'll be home soon.'"
Kami Lease then asked her daughter whether Syhavong had taken her. The high school senior hesitated, Kevin Lease said, before responding to her mother's question. "No."
The girl hung up after saying the phone call was placed with a calling card that was running out of minutes, Kevin Lease said.
A crime alert was issued by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to put the public on notice about the girl's disappearance. In it, authorities say that they believe Lindsey is traveling with Syhavong and that they could be in West Des Moines, Iowa, south of the Minnesota state line.
"We are just waiting for a call from her," Kevin Lease said, adding that it is very unlikely his daughter will cooperate with the teen. "If it's Sonny who has taken her, if he would just let her go."
