Southfield

Missing Southfield teen found safe in eastside Detroit

By Jessica Strachan
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo courtesy of the Southfield Police Department Kendall Leigh Fane, 13, left her school Feb. 25 and was later picked up by Detroit Police Feb. 27 after she called her family to let them know where she was. Photo courtesy of the Southfield Police Department Kendall Leigh Fane, 13, left her school Feb. 25 and was later picked up by Detroit Police Feb. 27 after she called her family to let them know where she was.

SOUTHFIELD — The family of a missing 13-year-old girl went to police last week when their daughter mysteriously left school and lost contact with friends and family. Two days later, she was reportedly found, unharmed.

Kendall Leigh Fane, a student at Levey Middle School, had recently been showing an unhealthy interest in developing relationships with older men, police said. According to Lt. Nick Loussia of the Southfield Police Department, she was found at a home on the east side of Detroit and released to her family by the Detroit Police Department Wednesday afternoon.

Fane was entered in the Law Enforcement Information Network as a missing person on Feb. 25 after she left a morning class at her school to use the restroom and never returned. Someone had reported possibly seeing the teen at a Southfield Tim Hortons around 10 a.m. the day she left school, according to the report.

“Since then, she has not been in contact with her family or friends. According to family members, she has recently been communicating with older men via social media,” Loussia said in an email the afternoon of Feb. 25, when authorities requested the public’s help in locating the teen.

Loussia said she was picked up by Detroit officers and members of her family after she called to let them know she was OK.

“She called her grandparents, who she had been staying with. It may have been because of all the media reports that she decided to contact family,” Loussia added.

Fane was reportedly not injured; Loussia said the Southfield department had no further details on who she was found with, however, since the case is now being handled by the Detroit Police Department.  

Loussia noted that Internet safety is a common issue for families and, as a word of caution, said the best thing parents can do is speak to their children about Internet safety and keep an eye on their activity.

“Parents need to monitor what their children are doing on the Internet and on social media. They also need to be aware that they can access it through their smart phones; some parents believe that because they don’t allow their children full access on the computer, they are aware of what they are doing, but they don’t realize that when they buy their child a smart phone, they can access the Internet and social media on it,” he said. “They need to have talks with their children about the dangers.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jessica Strachan at jstrachan@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1108.