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An Amber Alert was issued for a 16-year-old mentally impaired girl last seen leaving a bowling alley with level 1 sex offender, Terrence Powell. (Image courtesy AmberAlert.com)

Missing Tacoma girl found OK with sex offender

BY KIRO Radio Staff  on November 14, 2012 @ 5:35 am (Updated: 1:19 pm - 11/14/12 )

A missing 16-year-old special education student and a 21-year-old sex offender were found asleep Wednesday morning at a north Tacoma home, police said.

Briana Troyer is OK, said police spokesman Mark Fulghum.

Detectives questioned returned Briana Troyer to her family, then questioned the sex offender, and said they would forward that information on to the prosecutor's office.

Briana Troyer's father is Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.

"It was a long 14 hours. Thanks for all your support and prayers," Ed Troyer said on his Facebook page. Troyer is the Pierce County Amber Alert coordinator but didn't want to talk about his daughter's case while it was ongoing.

Investigators will determine if the suspect, Terrance Powell, did anything wrong, Fulghum said. He's a Level 1 sex offender who left a Tacoma bowling alley Tuesday with the girl.

Fulghum issued an Amber Alert for the girl early Wednesday. He says they used a reverse directory to call about 60,000 people in the area where Briana Troyer was last seen.

"After sending out the alert," Fulgham said, "the tips came in, and one of those tips led us to her.

Police also searched for Briana Troyer with tracking dogs and officers going door-to-door.

One tip led investigators to the home of a Powell acquaintance where the two were sleeping, Fulgham said.

Briana Troyer was at Tower Bowling Lanes with other members of the Wilson High School bowling team for practice, but the coach or supervisor may not have been there at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when she disappeared, Fulghum said. She is described as having the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.

She was last seen walking away with Powell. Fulghum did not know the criminal history that led to the listing as a Level 1 sex offender. The classification is the lowest level and applied to people, many of them first-time offenders, considered at minimal risk to re-offend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

KIRO Radio Staff, Staff report
Straight from the newsdesk.
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Comments (10)


  • Add A Comment

  • spoon&fork wrote...
    If she has a mental age of 9,
    November 14, 2012 6:24 am
    why was she not being supervised better. I have an eight-year-old daughter and you'd better believe that except for when she is in school, she is with me. The entire time. Call me crazy, but when parents are doing their due diligence, things like this rarely happen. And her father being a sheriff, looks like he would know better than to leave her with anyone.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • EskieMom wrote...
    some of us are not 'hip'
    November 14, 2012 7:06 am
    please explain better. What is a do rag?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ten4goodbuddy wrote...
    bandana or the like
    November 14, 2012 7:17 am
    basically cloth or a bandana wrapped around your head. The make custom ones that fit more like a head sock. You've seen them, trust me.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dexterjibs wrote...
    geez Louise
    November 14, 2012 8:42 am
    found sleeping together? That is no bueno. Glad she was found safe though. Seems like Det Troyer has some serious issues with his kids. I feel sorry for him having to deal with that.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • tbohon wrote...
    Good News!
    November 14, 2012 9:05 am
    I'm really happy that she was found safe and hopefully Powell left her alone and didn't molest her. If it's determined that she WAS molested then Powell's designation needs to be changed to III and he needs to spend some serious time in prison. My thoughts and prayers are with the Troyer family as they work through this event.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • C&H wrote...
    AJ..
    November 14, 2012 9:16 am
    It is called duct face. Normally, girls do it and not specifically black ones. Just google the term. Hilarious pictures. So, glad the girl was found safe. I hope she is ok.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dash wrote...
    close
    November 14, 2012 12:46 pm
    http://antiduckface.com/
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    "She is described as having the mental capacity of a 9-year-old."
    November 14, 2012 10:17 am
    by the looks of the guy...

    he is on the same level she is.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • EARTHMAN911 wrote...
    Only a Yahoo would do such a thing
    November 14, 2012 12:12 pm
    For those who don't read... A Yahoo is a legendary being in the novel Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift. Swift describes them as being filthy and with unpleasant habits, resembling human beings far too closely for the liking of protagonist Lemuel Gulliver, who finds the calm and rational society of intelligent horses, the Houyhnhnms, far preferable. The Yahoos are primitive creatures obsessed with "pretty stones" they find by digging in mud, thus representing the distasteful materialism and ignorant elitism Swift encountered in Britain. Hence the term "yahoo" has come to mean "a crude, brutish or obscenely coarse person".[1] The punk is certainly a "Yahoo."
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lonestar wrote...
    Earthman
    November 14, 2012 4:43 pm
    The space ship is loading. Hurry! You don't want to miss it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }