BREAKING: UL student found safe in California

Amanda McElfresh | The Daily Advertiser

Show Caption Hide Caption Video released of UL student boarding bus in Lafayette This video released by the UL police department shows Caitlyn Chase boarding a bus in Lafayette this week.

UPDATE 6:30 a.m. Monday

Caitlyn Chase, the Lafayette college student who had not been seen for almost a week, was found in California on Sunday, her father Bryan Chase said in a Facebook video.

Caitlyn Chase, 18, left Lafayette last Monday on a Greyhound bus. Her father had confirmed that she had arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday. However, Caitlyn had not contacted her family or friends since Monday and her exact whereabouts and the circumstances surrounding her departure were unknown.

In the video, Bryan Chase indicated he found Caitlyn at a Popeye's restaurant.

Also found safe was Satori King, 17, whom Caitlyn had been in contact with in the previous few weeks.

"I am so unbelievably happy," Bryan Chase said. "I'm on top of the world. I can't believe it. I grabbed that girl. I scared the crap out of her but I wasn't letting go. I was so happy."

Bryan said he and his daughter planned to return to Louisiana soon.

"We've got a little struggle ahead of us and we're going to work things out," he said. "I'm just so happy that she's back in my arms."

UPDATE 7:30 a.m. Saturday

In a Facebook Live video posted Friday evening, Bryan Chase said video surveillance confirmed that his daughter, Caitlyn Chase, arrived in Los Angeles by bus around 4:30 a.m. Saturday.

The surveillance video showed Caitlyn spent about two hours at a bus terminal. During that time, she was seen drawing in a sketchpad and texting with someone, using a burner phone. Her regular cell phone was left in her dorm room at UL.

Bryan Chase said Caitlyn left the terminal around 6:20 a.m. Wednesday. The family believes she may be with Satori King, a Los Angeles teen who was last seen Wednesday morning. King and Chase had been in communication for several days prior to their disappearances.

"The good thing is this girl (King) has lived here for 17 years and she knows this area," Bryan Chase said. "She knows the places not to go. That's a positive thing ... I just pray that Caitlyn will reach out and let me know she is still OK."

Bryan Chase said he planned to visit a pop-up film festival Saturday to see if Caitlyn might attend. Beyond that, he said he isn't sure of his next moves.

"I'm never going to stop looking for her. To leave here, I don't know how I'm going to do that. But I have to at some point," he said. "I just hoped that I would leave here with her ... I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that or not. I just hope she reaches out and that we make contact again."

UPDATE 10:45 a.m. Friday

On Facebook, Caitlyn Chase's father, Bryan Chase, said he has learned that Caitlyn was calling and texting with a young woman in Los Angeles for several days before her disappearance. Bryan was able to locate the father of the young woman, Satori King.

According to Bryan Chase, Satori King disappeared on Wednesday, the same day Caitlyn's bus was scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles. King's family and Chase are now working together to try to find them.

"They have no car and no money that we know of," Bryan Chase said late Thursday. "They've both left no digital footprint and have only used cash."

ORIGINAL STORY:

A student from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette may be in the Los Angeles area, but her father said Thursday he still has not heard from her.

Caitlyn Chase, 18, was seen on a surveillance camera leaving her UL dorm Monday morning. Her car was found in the dorm parking lot. Her phone and other belongings were found in her room.

On Thursday, the UL Police Department released a timeline of Chase's last known actions in Lafayette.

According to police, Caitlyn was seen on video at 7:48 a.m. Monday exiting the hallway leading from her room to her dorm's third-floor lobby area. At 8:04 a.m., she was seen on video exiting the basement of her dorm through an exterior door.

Chase then had breakfast in the UL Student Union cafeteria. She was seen leaving the union at 8:34 a.m. Monday.

Police said documentation showed Chase bought a bus ticket at the Lafayette Greyhound station around 12:45 p.m. Monday and boarded a bus a few minutes later.

Her father, Bryan Chase, flew to Los Angeles Wednesday after learning about the bus ticket. He hoped he would be able to meet up with his daughter. However, he learned from Greyhound staff in California that Caitlyn’s bus arrived around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“They could not say if she was actually on the bus or not. There is zero proof that she even made it to L.A.,” Bryan said in a message to The Daily Advertiser.

Bryan said his family is working with private investigators. They have identified three people in Los Angeles whom Caitlyn may have been calling and texting in the days before she disappeared.

MORE: New information on Lafayette man who allegedly stole car with baby inside

Bryan said Caitlyn was supposed to drive to Shreveport on Tuesday to meet her mother, stepfather and sister for a family vacation to Michigan.

On Monday, though, Bryan said he had an “overwhelming feeling” that something was amiss with his oldest daughter.

“I felt like I needed to contact Caitlyn,” he said. “I called her and starting that morning, her phone went straight to voicemail. I continued to call all day and I posted on her Facebook asking why her phone was going to voicemail.”

By Tuesday, Bryan said he still had not heard back from Caitlyn. He called the resident assistant in her dorm, who discovered Caitlyn was not in her room.

“They found her cell phone and all her belongings still in her room,” he said. “The SIM had been removed from the phone. There was a suitcase still on the floor with the clothes that she was packing for her vacation. She left all her sketch supplies and her expensive computer that she used for art. This is highly unusual.”

Bryan said he was able to access phone records that showed Caitlyn had been texting a number repeatedly for the past couple of weeks, up until around 5:30 a.m. Monday.

Bryan said he called and texted that number. The person blocked him soon after, he said, and did not respond to his messages.

On Facebook, Bryan said the removal of the SIM card from her phone was especially concerning. He is also worried because she has never traveled extensively on her own.

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“My brain is just going a hundred miles per hour thinking about her riding on a bus with total strangers with no way to communicate,” he wrote on Facebook Thursday. “My first-born baby girl is missing and I am helpless to do anything. I held her as a baby and swore I would always protect her. I’ve let her down and now I may never see her again. I pray that she will reach out if she can to anyone. She is so loved and so missed by me and her mother and family.”

UL Police said law enforcement is limited in such investigations.

"Being a 'voluntary' missing person is not a crime," police said in a statement. "Any adult person can simply walk away, and choose to ignore family, friends, associates and employers. Since this type of behavior is not 'criminal,' law enforcement is limited on how it conduct these types of investigations. When facts and circumstances indicate a strong possibility of “foul play”, or the disappearance is the result of a criminal act, the investigation will continue."

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