Jan 21, 2008 8:13 am US/Pacific
Search For Missing Teen Couple, Girl Bipolar
VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (CBS) ―
A nationwide manhunt is under way for two Michigan teenagers who disappeared more than a week ago.
Thirteen-year-old Hannah McConnell and her 15-year-old boyfriend, Gage Petherbridge, fled their homes with Gage's mother's minivan, $680 in cash, an Xbox 360 video game system and Gage's cocker spaniel, Mandy.
Gage left a note saying he needed to be with Hannah.
Hannah, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after attempting suicide, does not have her medication with her, said her mother, Julie McConnell.
Hannah ominously wrote in her journal that she wanted to end it all and that she wanted to spend her last few days with Gage.
Petherbridge's mother, Mary Wismer, appearing on CBS's Early Show, said that Hannah called a Michigan friend on Saturday, telling him she and Gage were at a motel in Nevada and were running low on money.
It was believed that they were headed for California, possibly Huntington Beach.
The teens have been missing since Jan. 12 from their homes in Genesee County's Vienna Township, 65 miles north-northwest of Detroit. Police said they left a note saying they were running away because their families had tried to keep them apart.
"This has been portrayed as puppy love. It's not," Veronica McConnell, Hannah's 27-year-old sister, told The Detroit News on Friday. "It's more like Romeo and Juliet. These are kids who need help because the only way they may see out is to end it all."
Gage's parents, however, believe their son is trying to protect Hannah.
"I, with 100% certainty, know that he's going to help her through it," Wismer told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "He's tried to help her over the past months with issues she's been having, problems. And he truly believes in his heart that he is the only person who can help her through. And he's looking out for her. He's not going to let her harm herself. I can say that for certain."
Hannah and the boy she called Saturday met while both were in rehab, Wismer said. The boy told authorities that Hannah had called Wednesday to say she was headed for Nevada, but he didn't realize she had run away.
Police said the call was traceable, but it would take time to determine where it originated, McConnell told Detroit-area radio station WWJ.
"They believe that the boy is telling the truth, that she did call and they think it was a legitimate call, but they don't have any information on where it came from," McConnell said.
The public is asked to be on the lookout for a 1997 white Pontiac Montana, Michigan license plate number 60YW54.
If you have any information, please contact the Genesee County Sheriff's Department at (810) 257-3422.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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