A lot of teenage girls who run away have run away to be with an older boyfriend. In those cases the NCMEC poster (and therefore the Charley Project) casefile usually has the note that the MP “may be in the company of an adult male.” There’s rarely any details about the companion, beyond the “adult male” designation.
Speaking of such things, a few details about pedophilia and statutory rape in the United States.
- These girls’ boyfriends are almost certainly NOT pedophiles as defined by the DSM-V, or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Pedophiles, by definition, must be attracted to pre-pubescent children, and there must be at least a five-year difference between the pedophile and the child. The runaways I’m talking about are in their teens, and in any case, many of the adult males we’re talking about are in their teens themselves — eighteen or nineteen — or early twenties. It’s a big pet peeve of mine when people use the word “pedophile” to apply to all sexual offenders. Call them predators, perverts, whatever, but “pedophile” is not the correct term.
- The age of consent varies by state. I think it’s generally between 16 and 18. In some states there are exceptions to the law for cases where the person under the age of consent is close in age to their partner — i.e. a fifteen-year-old and a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old, in a state where the age of consent is sixteen. And in some cases it can make a difference if the older person in the relationship is in a position of power over the younger one — for example, depending on the state, a high school teacher can be charged with a sex offense if they’re having sex with a student who’s over the age of consent, or even over the age of 18. Also, if an underage person gets married — and in some states you can marry at as young as twelve years old, if you get permission from a parent and/or family court judge — it’s legal for them to have sex with their spouse no matter what age they are.
Anyway, here’s my current list of female runaways who “may be in the company of an adult male.”
- Emily Bracamontes
- Lisamarie Canchola
- Nachida Keota Chandara
- Danica Dianne Childs
- Kimberlyn Rosa Cubias
- Keiosha Marie Felix
- Robyn Leslie Hatcher
- Janteyl Danielle Johnson
- Heyvi Marbely Lainez-Pinot
- Bessy Edilia Mazariegos Pereira
- Eliud Maluyn Ochoa
- Karla Yulisa Portillo-Amaya
- Mariela Roblero Bravo and her baby son, Wisley Tojil
- Maria Ines Salazar
- Elsa Janell “Lilly” Wind
The Charley Project Blog 
I find semantics of whether to call someone a pedophile or not exhausting, and a lot of predators cloak their badness by saying “I’m an ephebophile” or “a minor attracted person”. Any adult who has interest in someone who’s still a minor and a lot younger than them is a bad person. What normal 19 year old man wants to date a freshman in high school? He always has bad intentions.
My boyfriend was 27 to my 16 when we began seeing each other. We were both attending Ohio State University at the time; although I was technically still in high school I never attended a single HS class and had no interaction with kids my age.
I was over the age of consent in our state but he didn’t want to have sex with me while I was under 18 because he thought it was wrong. We’ve been together 15 1/2 years and are very happy; he’s probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
Also as to your second bullet above, we had a case like this in my area. A local cop, who also worked as head of security at a local co-ed private school, had a relationship with one of the students. She was a senior, and they said the physical relations didn’t start until after she graduated and turned 18 over the summer. Somehow her very well-connected father found out in August and told the cop (43 years old) that if he quit his job on the police force and never contacted the daughter again, that he would not pursue charges. Well that didn’t happen and so a few months later he was charged with (I don’t know the terms verbatim) sexual assault by a person in a position of authority. The girl even testified on his behalf and told the court they were engaged. Cop was put on probation and one aspect was that he was to have no contact with the victim even if she was now an adult and did not consider herself to be a victim.
He violated the probation by seeing her, having an unregistered phone and gun, but the clincher was that one of his friends came forward later and said that back when the girl was still a student and still 17, she had texted the cop a topless photo of herself which he showed at the time to his buddy. Buddy finally decided to share what he knew and the charges became something like pandering explicit photos of a minor. Anyways, probation revoked and two years in prison for not leaving alone a girl younger than his oldest child.
I’m a little torn on the ruling that even though she is an adult and wants to be with him that he is forbidden to due to her status of having been a victim. I feel that’s over-reaching. Sorry for writing a book here, it’s just an interesting case that involves a bit of what you highlighted above. I’m not going to post his name, but if you want to dig around online, this was in West Virginia.
Oh, and his previous girlfriends were women his own age.
He is not, and has never been, a bad person and he has never taken advantage of me. In fact he was one of the few stable, steady people I could count on during my rocky adolescence.
The entries that really get me are the girls who are under 14, and there are a few. I don’t know what it is about the Hispanic culture that when an adult male leaves with a female of 12 or 13 years old that it is not treated like the horrendous crime that it is. I don’t think a child of that age can truly consent to leaving “voluntarily”. I feel like those cases, maybe even up to 14 years old, should be treated as abductions and not runaways, and should get the attention that abduction cases get.
I think in many of these cases, the guy is feels more comfortable around younger people because (due to immaturity or whatever) potential partners his own age are likely to reject him. I think this would have applied to Michael. He wasn’t immature but he was living with his parents for financial reasons, and he’s always been overweight, both major turnoffs for a lot of people.
I am surprised the list is so short, actually. I thought I had come across more than 15 cases of this type while perusing Charley.
Next week will be the 25 year anniversary of Lilly Wind’s disappearance.
I thought the list would be longer, too. @Terro, of COURSE it would be WV. It’s cases like this that keep certain states in the mud. Does anyone remember that gal who was 16 or so, in high school, affair with teacher, married him to keep the charges to a minimum and oddly, they are still together? I want to say Deep South but maybe Midwest. This was a few years ago, it was a big deal then. I cannot think of the names, but I remember the case.
The other question is the supposed males considered as missing. Since, I am to assume that the underage girl is livimg with his family. The male boyfriends should be identified, since quite often the girls are under the age of concent, and they are over 18.