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(Arkansas)Troubled Teen Missing In Bella VistaPOSTED: 10:19 pm CDT July 19, 2010
UPDATED: 10:32 pm CDT July 19, 2010BELLA VISTA, Ark. -- Sixteen-year-old Jade Lindsey, from the Houston area, disappeared yesterday while vacationing with his family in Bella Vista.
Police believe Lindsey ran away from his family. They said Lindsey has a history of doing so.
He was set to go back to a juvenile boot camp in Jay, Okla., on Monday, and when family members say Lindsey found out, he took a walk and didn't return.
Police said this is the first time Lindsey has ever been in northwest Arkansas and that has them worried about his safety.
Detective Michael Kugler with the Bella Vista Police Department said, "With the heat, the humidity, he's not familiar with the area, he has done this in the past, run away for several days, there's an issue where we are concerned with his health."
Officials said Lindsey has a history of hiding out in the woods.
"Just from what we have from his family, is the fact that when he's run off from the youth facility in the past is that he's run off in the woods, stayed in the woods for days at a time, at night time he'd come into town to break into cars and different things like that," Kugler said.
That's why police are encouraging Bella Vista residents and others in the area to be extra careful with their property until Lindsey is located.
"As always, we encourage people to lock your vehicles, lock your houses, make sure that everything is secure out of the vehicle, everything is out of the vehicles overnight," Kugler said,
Police said they don't expect Lindsey to return to his home in Texas because of his history of issues with law enforcement there.
Lindsey isn't accused of breaking into any homes in Bella Vista. This is all a precaution for his safety.
Bella Vista police said they are concentrating their search efforts in the Highlands neighborhood of Bella Vista. That's where Lindsey's family is staying.
They say they might use thermal imaging technology to search for Lindsey at night.
Authorities in southwest Missouri and Jay, Okla. have also been notified of Lindsey's disappearance.
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